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

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

Live review: Vampillia live @ The Evelyn Hotel - 11 March 2016

"What on earth did I just witness? That didn't really happen, did it? Such a thing couldn't possibly exist in this world can it?!"
This is what I was was asking myself after walking out of the Evelyn Hotel the other day at the end of the show put on by the 10 piece band Vampillia who were visiting our shores from the land of the rising sun. No matter what words I use I doubt there's any way to accurately describe what these guys are all about, I will however do my best.
Describing themselves as a "Brutal Orchestra" this only touches on one facet of what this band does. The music they play has elements of brutal Thrash Metal (never something I've gone out of my way to listen to), Classical, Funk, Opera and many other things besides (including a comedy act to kick off proceedings). I'm not sure how it's possible to effortlessly shift from one of these genres to the other and have it not sound out of place but also perfectly natural yet somehow Vampillia are able to do it.


They only way I can think to describe the unique experience that is listening to music by Vampillia is something like this: Image you're taking a nice little boat ride on calm crystal blue ocean waters, enjoying the sun on your face, the cloudless blue skies and the soft bobbing of your little boat on the tiny little waves as said waves lap against the bow. You suddenly hear the boom of thunder not too far off so look up to the sky and see black storm clouds rolling in at a rapid pace. Frantically you try to turn your boat around to try head back to shore knowing full well that you'll never make it in time but damned if your not gonna try! the waves slowly get bigger and bigger and before long the storm is upon you tossing you around like a rag doll. You hang on for dear life hoping the storm will pass over soon (is that a patch of blue sky you spot just behind the black clouds?) thankfully the storm does quickly pass and your boat is left bobbing on the water again (albeit at a much funkier pace) and your heart rate has gone up by something like 100 BPM. "Well that wasn't so bad after all" you think to yourself, so you check the what the weather is supposed to be like for the rest the day and see the forecast is for clear skies and only a slight breeze "Might as well head back out" you think to yourself "Maybe I'll even drop a line into the water and see if I can catch my dinner". So back out into the water you head to do exactly that. You find what looks like the perfect spot amidst a school of fish, drop anchor, cast your line and all is well with the world again. "Huh...? That wasn't thunder I just heard was it...?" You look up to the sky... "Ah shit!"
When the ordeal is finally all over and you have both feet back on solid ground you start to head back home thinking "I never want to go through anything like that ever again" straight after which you say to yourself "I wonder what the weather is going to be like tomorrow?"
If this description sheds no light for you well then you can simply click here to listen back to Vampillia's live performance on PBS FM here in Melbourne.
Thanks to Chris Pearson host of Pojama People for putting me onto this band. And while I doubt you will hear Vampillia played on the Connections show anytime soon I still highly recommend catching them next time they are in the magical land of OZ just to see what they are all about. Credit also to all the opening acts
Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Ruins Alone and co-headliners Laura  who also put on a great show.

Top 10 full length releases of 2015

Okay so there's still some weeks left in the year but why wait? Here's my (Chris) Top 10 releases of 2015.
These are releases that will not be appearing on the PBS end of year Top 10 list as they were not featured albums but which I believe deserve to be shown some love.

Well this was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Melody Gardot decided to explore some new territory on this release going down the Blues and Gospel path and oh boy are the results jaw dropingly awesome!

 

My favourite Swing band from Europe The Speakeasies Swing Band release their 1st full length album & it is everything I was hoping it would be. Full review here

Snarky Puppy performing with a full orchestra...? What were the chances of this not being brilliant. Funk, Cinematic, Jazzy and... well... a whole lot of awesome.
Highlight would definitely have to be the 20 minute closing track The Clearing. They were our feature artist just last episode http://pbsfm.org.au/taxonomy/term/782/2015-11-23

Why settle for one genre when you can cover many at once & yet still make it sound consistent?
These sister albums from Glasfrosch should be considered to be the measuring stick for any other Artists attempting to do the same thing (i'd like to see them try).
Full review here

Warren Haynes of the mighty Gov't Mule can do no wrong. Going down a slightly more folk path which usually I would not be a fan of, the songwriting here is absolutely top notch & each song really paints a picture.
I'm even finding myself listening to the sounds of banjo and finding that *gasp* I'm actually enjoying it!

It's Samantha Fish doing what she does so very very well.
Review available here

So Beth Hart appeared on my 2014 Top 10 list also & if she releases something in 2016 odds are her name will appear in my 2016 Top 10 as well.
She has said that she was asked to write from a more positive point of view for this album which is interesting seeing as I personally find this album to be a much more melancholy sounding album. Am I the only one who found this?

HEAVY, DOOMY, SLUDGY, RAWKING, RIFFING, GEETAH DRIVEN CHOOOOOOOOONS!!!
Get it from https://outoftheearth.bandcamp.com/releases
and don't you dare type in €0 when you are naming your price!

Suze DeMarchi of The Baby Animals doing a covers album produced by Shane Nicholson... Couldn't possibly work out right? Wrong! Worth the asking price for the track "Homeless" alone which was written by Mick Skelton

Joe Bonamassa seems to bring out the best in his collaborators & Mahalia Barnes is no different. Another covers album this time featuring the songs of Mahalia's "muse" Betty Davis. Oozing sassyness & attitude I would say Mahalia really found her footing with this release. Now if only the footage from the Melbourne & Sydney Launch shows would be be released as either DVD or Blu Ray then you'd have a very happy radio host

Album Review: The Ivory Elephant - Time Here is Up

The Ivory Elephant - Time Here Is Up

Well once again those doomsayers talking about rock music's demise will be eating their words after hearing this EP by Melbourne power trio The Ivory Elephant. Foot stomping, thigh slapping, head bobbing, beer swilling heavy riffage abounds on this corker of an EP. While this release has been out for a little while now I only recently found out about this band when they were playing on the same bill with another great local act Wichita (better late than never right?). The blistering guitar work from frontman Trent Sterling (who is also a member of the afrobeat band The Seven Ups) will have you dusting off your air guitar and jumping around the house imagining you are on the Woodstock stage playing in front of a half a million strong audience, while the rhythm section of Arthur Witherby & Donald Sargoog on Bass & Drums respectively provide a rock solid foundation which hits you right in the chest and leaves you gasping for breath like you have just been sucker punched. Further adding to the kaleidoscopic/tie-dyed feel is some tasty uncredited keys/organ playing which sits perfectly and unobtrusively in the background allowing the power trio sound to be the main focus.
While the sound on the 5 tracks of this EP unashamedly hearkens back to the classic rock era of the 60's & 70's and you could quite rightfully pin many "they kinda sound like..." tags to this band there is still something very much their own in the psych/rock/blues songs and sounds they are producing.
If you are a fan of rock music or just a fan of good songs grab yourself a copy of this latest EP and their previous self titled release and be sure to check them out when they are next playing live.