Anna Calvi is on the rise and on tour! (for theinsoundfromwayout.com)

by Poppy Reid

Having played a series of support tours with distinguished luminaries like Nick Cave’s Grinderman, and making the list for BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll; South London rising star, Anna Calvi has just embarked on a massive headline tour. Over four months she’ll tour the UK, France, Germany, Italy and basically every city on your euro-trip wish-list!
 Although we have to use our best patience skills and wait until March 4 for her debut album here in Australia, her self-titled record dropped in the UK and Europe on January 17. She’s already celebrated by press overseas; NME said her debut “is perhaps the first great record of 2011.”

Recorded in secret, in a basement studio, Calvi says “it’s a culmination of my whole life up until now.” Some tracks are intertwined with freaky Hitchcock sounding strings, others explore lust and loneliness; but every track is doused in Calvi’s powerful noir-pop grace. Plus she plays guitar and was dubbed “the biggest thing since Patti Smit” by industry magnate Brian Eno.


We think the indie kids will drool all over their beards for this one, and so will lovers of accessible pop. How do we know this? Well the record is climbing the iTunes album charts super fast and it’s already #1 in France. To help you jump on the bandwagon, check out some footage below of her performing the album’s closer, Love Won’t Be Leaving, here.

Album Review: The Go! Team, Rolling Blackouts (for The Music Network)

01 February 2011

by Poppy Reid

Seven years on from The Go! Team’s debut Thunder, Lightening, Strike, the sextet have managed to keep their sparkling pop innocence and party starting operatics intact with their third offering,Rolling Blackouts.

Kings of surprising commercial breakthroughs, The Go! Team’s latest offering holds a plethora of genres that chop and change quicker than a hypercolour t-shirt. Opening track and single, T.O.R.N.A.D.O is the UK’s answer to TV Rock’s Bimbo Nation; spelling in style and mixing indie, jazz, funk and a whole lotta bubblegum, this track is slightly off-tune but addictive.

Rolling Blackouts is full of childhood nostalgia, from the cartoon superhero theme music in Back Like 8 Track to what could very well be a 10-year-old's recorded piano lesson in the entirely instrumentalLazy Poltergeist. This is certainly not to discredit them, in fact, they could be onto something here. Indie kids of late are reverting back to childhood fixations where primary school/colours were the shit.

Last year’s single release Buy Nothing Day which features vocals byBest Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, is the best example of what the Brits have tried to achieve on the album. Ninja’s high-energy raps frenzy over Cosentino’s melody in quintessential Go! Team style; however, the sound is almost a carbon copy of their sophomore record, Proof Of Youth, in that it sounds a little too safe.

Rolling Blackouts leaves you feeling slightly torn. Yes, they stayed true to their original sound, possibly to quash any ‘I like your old stuff better than your new stuff’ sentiment from critics, but unfortunately the flip side is that to some, the album will come across as a retread. Safer than home base.

Rolling Blackouts is out February 4 through Shock Records.

Wedded Bliss... N Eso (for The Music Network)

27 January 2011

by Poppy Reid

Australia Day was a massive day for Sydney hip hop act Bliss N Eso, and not just because they scored three spots on Triple J’s Hottest 100.

Halfway through their main stage set at yesterday's Big Day Out, MC Eso (Max Mackinnon) paused to propose to his girlfriend of seven years, Megan Gander in front of over 35,000 people.

After professing his love to their fans before, Mackinnon called Gander out onto the stage. "There's someone else in my life I love; my girlfriend Megan. Come on out sweetheart," he said. "Since this is such a monumental moment I want to tell you she's put up with a lot of shit over the years and I have a very special question to ask her. Will you marry me?" he asked on bended knee. Manger Adam Jankie appeared onstage to hand over the ring which she accepted.

"She's been through a lot of crap because I'm a rapper, so I thought I'd make a lady of her," Mackinnon told Triple J this morning.

Bliss N Eso scored three tracks in the Hottest 100, with Addicted,Down By The River and Reflections coming in at #23, #41 and #53 respectively.

Jetstar apologises for kicking Jon Stevens off flight (for The Music Network)

27 January 2011

by Poppy Reid and Jason Treuen

Jetstar have issued a statement and an apology after singer Jon Stevens was “forcefully escorted” off a flight by police yesterday (January 26).

Stevens had just supported Jimmy Barnes in Perth on Tuesday night and was on en route to Brisbane on an overnight flight for a flood fundraiser when he got involved in an argument with staff about seating.

In his own statement issued by management, the former Noiseworksfrontman and one-time INXS singer explained that as the plane was taxiing, he moved into a seat in an empty row behind him. A steward asked him to return to his seat and told him he could move back after take-off.

“The steward then stood there glaring at me,” Stevens stated. “So I asked him why he was glaring at me. The steward replied with ‘Are we going to have a problem?’ and I said ‘We already have a problem’”.

The steward then went to the cockpit, the aircraft turned around and Stevens was requested to disembark.

“I said ‘You’ve got to be kidding’, and told the steward I would not leave the aircraft, and that I needed to get to Brisbane to perform at a fundraiser concert for the Queensland flood relief.”

According to Stevens, police officers heavy-handedly escorted the singer off the plane where he was met by Federal Police and told there was a 24-hour ban imposed on him by both Jetstar and Qantas airlines. He flew with Virgin Blue Airlines later that morning.

Today Jetstar have defended their actions, with a spokesperson telling The Music Network:

“Safety is our number one priority and we want all of our customers to have a good experience when flying with us.

“We have guidelines we follow and our cabin crew were not confident of his willingness to follow instruction.

“We do apologise if Mr Stevens thought we were being heavy-handed and our senior management have reached out to him to resolve this issue.”

The Naked And Famous: Going International (for The Music Network)

25 January 2011

by Poppy Reid

“We managed to get to #1 with Young Blood and we’ve remained in the charts with a few of our singles now. The album itself has had huge success and we’ve done quite a few big shows as well. We’re at a point where there’s no next step to being big in New Zealand.”

Self-professed I.T geek and synth whiz, Aaron Short takes our interview during a break from work on some B-sides and is, just as his surname suggests, short and to the point when he explains the band’s need for greener pastures. Upon considering the quintet’s achievements last year, it’s no wonder he’s restless.

Prior to the release of their debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You, the indie kids had already played in the UK, New York and Australia, been shortlisted on BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll, won an APRA Silver Scroll for Young Blood, had their music feature on various television ventures and landed a spot on the bill for this year’s Big Day Out tour. According to Aaron, these triumphs have been a long time coming.

“We’re not just your quick make-one-song-bang- bang-bang-there-you-go band, there was a lot of work before that. People don’t really notice, but up until Young Blood came out we had been going since the very beginning of 2008,” he says.

TNAF had already released two EPs on indie label Round Trip Marsand although the record was released through their own label, theNine Inch Nails-hailing Somewhat Damaged; the initial hype surrounding the band and sequential signing to Universal Music (NZ and AUS), and Fiction Records (UK) have the success of that first single to thank. The band’s ennui has resulted in the type of success that’s almost unheard of in GFC-recovering New Zealand.

“In New Zealand it’s difficult for musicians to do [music] as a full time job regardless of whether you have a number one spot on the chart or not, it’s still not an easy thing to rely on your music as a full time career.” His dissecting of the industry and business-like mentality has contributed to the band’s progress, even before Universal signed them TNAF made sure they were as “appetising” as possible.

“We’d got everything up and running and held our hands up saying ‘here’s our finished piece of work,’” says Aaron. “With everything there, there’s less risk in what they’re about to invest in. It can be much more difficult if you’re a band that’s still forming and still putting songs together... Every move is very thought out for us.” 

Unsurprisingly, the next move for the troupe is one overseas, scotching any plans Australia may have had to make them the nextCrowded House patriots. They’ll return to their homeland for a week after the Big Day Out tour before migrating to London in early February. “We can’t really do more than five or six gigs a year here before we start playing for the same audience over and over again, there’s only so far you can push things.

“We are properly relocating over to London, it’ll definitely be better to be based there in terms of touring; you’re not doing 30-hour flights to get to your gigs,” jokes Aaron. What comes across as slightly snobbish is just a business stratagem for these social climbers. More importantly though, this move could represent a broader cultural shift, where that long white cloud over the ditch can be seen to still produce music as internationally recognised as Crowded House - but don’t try to tell them that.

Echoing their own lyric, “we’re only young and naïve still” Aaron admits, “we’re only a couple years into the industry so when someone asks what we think about the New Zealand music industry, we may have hit singles and all of that, but we are still young and we don’t know what we’re talking about that much.” 

With their rapidly growing success, both in the New Zealand industry and overseas, the band may become experts sooner than even they realise.

TOUR DATES 2011

21 Jan – Big Day Out, Auckland
23 Jan - Big Day Out, Gold Coast 
26 Jan - Big Day Out, Sydney 
30 Jan - Big Day Out, Melbourne 
4 Feb - Big Day Out, Adelaide 
6 Feb - Big Day Out, Perth

Sideshows:

28 Jan - The Corner Hotel - Melbourne
2 Feb - Oxford Arts Factory – Sydney

Passive Me, Aggressive You is out now through Somewhat Damaged and Universal Music.

Live review: Plan B (for The Music Network & inthemix.com)

25 January 2011

by Poppy Reid

Plan B
Metro Theatre, Sydney
Monday, January 24 

If Plan B fans were told they’d be attending a soul concert from the same cockney rapper who released Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, they may have laughed in your face.

Yet, here he is, standing before us looking dapper in a silk waist coast and tie, his six-piece accompaniment seemingly having stepped straight out of the 1930s and onto the Sydney stage before a teeming (and screaming) audience. Sydney is one of two Big Day Out sideshow’s Plan B a.k.a Ben Drew will perform in support of his 2010 effort, The Defamation Of Strickland Banks.

Opening with an experimental version of Writing’s On The Wall, the Brit seemed a little stiff as he resorted to the ol’ box step and hide-behind-your-mic trick. However, by the end of a grimey version of Prayin’ where distorted guitar clouded our vision to hoax us into thinking we were at a Prodigy gig, Plan B found his soul and became his moniker, Strickland Banks.

Even his sneaker-clad, b-boy fans knew every lyric to Welcome To Hell and Love Goes Down; he threaded his rap verses sporadically through these tracks, evenly catering to the eclectic crowd.

Now matching the room's energy, Plan B seared into The Recluse, using the stage for the first time and interacting with his two spandex-garbed back up singers. It was here you had to remind yourself that the rapper and the crooner were indeed the same person; his effortless switch between roles a testament to his success.

“Who the fuck wants to hear some more?” It may have worked in East London, but this generic riling was unnecessary.

“This is gonna turn into a karaoke night,” laughed Plan B. He was right, an encore fit for a wedding turned out to be devoid of cheese and a whole lot of fun! Mixing in tracks like Lean On Me, My Girl, Stand By Me and even Seal’s Kiss From A Rose, Plan B had won us over.

Closing the night with Stay Too Long, this rapper-turned-crooner may have left the grime-hop scene behind but judging by his screaming acolytes, he has certainly proven he is talented enough to do both.

Album Review: Cold War Kids, Mine Is Yours (for The Music Network)

20 January 2011

by Poppy Reid

Cold War Kids have marked themselves as a band with many faces with their third offering, Mine Is Yours. The obvious change in sound from debut Robbers & Cowards to follow-up record, Loyalty to Loyaltywas largely put down to new styles and interests; and also marked their entry into the stage every American indie-rock group goes through when they become annoyingly political.

Mine Is Yours however, again proves their style ephemeral with a throw-back to the modern rock and introspective lyrics that caught our attention in 2006. Vocalist Nathan Willett stays front and centre for all eleven tracks, his deep voice transcends over thundering guitars and rolling drums in tracks Louder Than Ever and Out Of The Wilderness. Willett sings about the pathetic side of adoration, a friend’s betrayal and the cock-and-bull that is permanence. However, what should compliment the bluesy guitar progressions and shallow tapping percussion seems to actually rail against it. This juxtaposition would have been brilliant if it was on purpose, but the credibility’s not there.

The titular opening track introduces the quartet’s chosen style for the record. Epic feel-good instrumentals and Willett’s catchy, dare I say it, Tracy Chapman-like vocals turn the blues into accessible pop. Possibly the only time when comparing the voices of opposite sexes should be taken as an accolade.

Bulldozer, the longest track on the album at just over five-minutes, has several edge-of-your-seat interludes that keep you guessing right up until the drop. Sensitive Kid begins with heavy synths and drums not unlike Nine Inch Nails’, Closer. Interestingly, the track then mutates into smoky backing vocals and keys from Jonnie Russell that morph it into the most 'indie'-sounding song on the record.

Cold War Kids have evolved into an act that can still incorporate angst and honesty without losing to the illusory love story ideal, often heeded by youths.

Mine Is Yours is out January 28 through Co-Op/Shock Records.