Top 5 New discoveries of 2018

Ann Vriend is an artist with one hell of a set of pipes and some seriously catchy tunes. I found out about Ann while listening to the radio and heard her talking about her Australian shows. Her EP Anybodys Different was floating around PBS also so I grabbed myself a copy and was hooked.
Her tunes range from Pop to Soul to Gospel to Jazz to Reggae and more and goddam are they catchy!
Here's her song Real Love which I heard on the radio and instantly made me sit up and take notice.

The Hypnomen hail from Helsinki in Finland a country whose music scene is well worth looking into! The sound of this band is essentially Psych Rock/Pop but with Latin and Afrobeat elements on occassion. When I stumbled across them I knew I had to play one of their tunes on the radio but which one?! They're all pretty freaking awesome! Is was a tough decision but in the end I went with this one:

P.S. Even Heather of The Psych Ward liked them enough to play them on the radio that's how good they are!

Frank Sultana is a Sydney based Blues man but he is no stranger to Melbourne town. He makes the sojourn south of the border at least once a year to make an appearance at the regular Blues Roulette night at The Catfish and I finally managed to catch one of him playing this year and I will most certainly be keeping an eye out for his next visit south. Here is a video of him doing his thang:

Grainne Duffy is a Blues Singer/Guitarist of the highest order. The highest compliment I can pay her is that she has SOUL. The tunes are catchy, her guitar playing is flashy where it needs to be, chugs along nicely when needed and her slide playing is just... wow! Add to all this that her vocals have an almost whisky soaked southern USA drawl to them despite the fact that she hails from a small town in the North of Ireland and you have all the perfect ingredients for a blues player.
Discovered due to the fact that she was touring through Europe with another favourite Blues act Thorbjorn Risager And The Black Tornado (a 2017 top 10 inclusion) I figured if she has the tick of approval from these guys she must be good and I was not wrong. If only that double bill would head down to OZ! Song no. 1 from her live album, the 1st song of hers i heard

Grey River & The Smoky Mountain were recommended by good friend Mickey Pantelous who also happens to be a great bluesman. Bluesgrass, Americana, Sea Shanties is the labels which are probably most fitting labels for this band . They released their first full length album Captain Death late in 2017 and it is brilliant! If they weren't recommended to me I would likely not have discovered them as I usually am averse to anything labelled Bluesgrass so this was a pleasant surprise. And what a great album cover!
Song no. 1 from their most recent release which is the 1st song of theirs I heard

Album Review: Banda Magda - Tigre

Banda Magda are a band whose sound is very hard to pigeonhole. The band is made up of musicians from the world over and their music ranges from sounding a little bit Jazz, a little bit Psych, a little bit Chanson Pop, a little bit Latin and many other things besides. However, perhaps the best word to describe their music is simply this: Brilliant!
They have just released their 3rd album called Tigre which has been 3 years in the making. Tigre is an eclectic release full of worldly sounds and rhythms which is pure ear candy and an absolute delight to listen to.
The lyrics are mostly in French & Greek (none are in English but don’t let that deter you) the songs are catchy, the orchestration throughout the album is sublime and the production is fantastic also. At times the sound is like something from a 60’s romance movie soundtrack, while at other times you'll want to get up and dance to the Tango & Bossa-Nova rhythms while the final song on the album Diamandi (meaning Diamond in Greek) even has a slight Massive Attack type of feel to it. This band seems to be going from strength to strength with each release. If you want to hear something slightly different to what you hear on mainstream radio and perhaps challenge your ears somewhat, then this album comes highly recommended. Without a doubt one of the best releases of 2017 so far.

Single Review: Altin Gün - Goca Dünya/Kırşehir'in Gülleri

Oh hells yes, these 2 songs are the definition of psychedelic pop bliss!
Sung in Turkish I couldn’t tell you what the lyrics are saying but it really doesn’t matter.
The A Side of this Single Goca Dünya starts off with a very Pink Floyd sounding bassline before bringing in the sounds of shakers shortly after. The staccato guitar riff with the drums (and added handclaps) kick in next and we’re off on one hell of a rollicking ride.
This is a song designed to get you out of your seat and dancing and it achieves it’s intended outcome perfectly. This is the 1st single by this band hailing from Amsterdam, Netherlands and if this is any indication of what the output from this band is going to be like in future you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be amongst the 1st people to be reaching for my wallet.
The B-Side to this tune is the equally brilliant Kırşehir'in Gülleri which has kicks things off with a great saz riff before pausing to allow for some dreamy psych vocal riffage. The song the snakes it’s way slowly back into the main surf psych saz riff again and so it goes for the rest of the song. While some of these sounds may be somewhat new or unfamiliar to some people these 2 songs are far from a difficult listen, quite the opposite in fact this is easily accessible ear candy for anybody who willing to listen.
The 500 Vinyl copies which were available on bandcamp.com have already sold out and these guys seem to be getting some well deserved attention on Amsterdam radio. Now if only I could find a reasonable priced copy of the 7 inch vinyl single!

Bandcamp link avaiable here

Big thanks to fellow PBS-ian Heather for introducing me to them via her (somewhat regular) show The Psych Ward and expect to hear another fellow PBS-ian Adriana either play it on her show or when she is DJ-ing around town in the not too distant future