CARIBOU

CARIBOU (a.k.a. Manitoba a.k.a. Daphni a.k.a. Daniel Snaith) is long respected multi-instrumentalist, mathematical genius and musical wizard respected for his genre-bending releases that meld psychedelia, folktronica and dance. Dishing up consistently brilliant records since 2001, Caribou has toured the world with the likes of Four Tet, Kwabs and more, captivating fans with an eclectic catalogue of organic dance tunes. After the release of the universally adored Swim in 2010, Caribou delivered his sixth studio album Our Love in October, a career-best LP that stands to be one of the most dynamic of the year.

Listen to Our Love on Soundcloud
Read – Pitchfork Feature

SUNNYBOYS

Following a sold-out tour of the major cities earlier this year Sydney’s Sunnyboys return this October for exclusive shows in Sydney & Newcastle.

The Sydney show is a limited capacity event at Marrickville’s Factory Theatre and gives fans the chance to experience Sunnyboys up close and personal, a rarity ever since the bands rapid rise way back in 1980.

For Newcastle fans it is the bands first headline appearance in over 20 years having only performed in the region once since their 2012 reformation as special guests to Elvis Costello for A Day On The Green, Maitland.

Tickets for Sunnyboys Newcastle show are on-sale Friday 22nd August while the Sydney show is on-sale now!

…the legendary Sunnyboys enter the fray to a heroes reception and pound into As I Walk like they’ve never been away. There’s so much love and respect in the room it’s quite remarkable, and the four-piece return the favour with Love To Rule and the irrepressible Tunnel Of Love preceding the first true banger Happy Man, which prompts the euphoric crowd into a singalong frenzy from the very first note. The band seem genuinely touched by the positivity being willed at them by their ecstatic acolytes, frontman Jeremy Oxley in particular seeming overjoyed, and the energy flowing both ways between band and followers is almost tangible – Steve Bell The Music March 2014

Don’t miss the legendary Sunnyboys live this October.

THE MARK OF CAIN

To celebrate the release of a new single, Grey-11, from 2012’s Songs Of The Third & Fifth, The Mark Of Cain have announced their first national tour since March 2013. The tour will take in the usual hot spots and also includes a return to Newcastle (for the first time since 2002) and a trip to Hobart for the first time in almost 20 years.

Grey-11 is the third single from TMOC’s much lauded 5th album Songs Of The Third & Fifth and features Henry Rollins – recently of Double J DJ fame – in a short spoken word piece. Says John Scott, frontman and song writer for TMOC of the collaboration:

I wrote about someone coming back from a bad conflict anywhere, and that the thought of coming back to their family or girlfriend or boyfriend is what kept them going thru Hell, only to find they’ve even been betrayed by the very people they relied on – and who else would get that but Rollins who tours war zones and visits combat casualties in Europe and the US. He wrote a middle verse that was spoken and I’d designed would be something I did or he could do if interested, and it turned out he was interested. Rollins gets us, he knows our shit. When called he responded….. John Scott

The relationship between The Mark Of Cain and Henry Rollins started way back in 1990 when TMOC played support to Rollins Band in Adelaide and was fostered when Rollins mixed the band’s breakout album Ill At Ease. Henry has continued to support TMOC so far as releasing their debut album Battlesick on his own 2.13.61 label and most recently playing the band on his weekly LA based radio show.

Grey-11 (edited version) will be released as a free download available to those already on The Mark Of Cain’s mailing list and all new subscribers. Simply sign-up via http://www.tmoc.com.au/contact-us/ and the download will be sent on August 11th.

For these live appearances The Mark Of Cain will again comprise brothers John & Kim Scott with boy-wonder Eli Green again taking the honours behind the drum kit.

There’s not a dull moment in the 80 minute set and every song is delivered with raw, no bullshit intensity and power. During the encore The Mark Of Cain really ram home just how good they are with a trio of their strongest songs. Battlesick is amazing, the repetitive and hypnotic droning bass propelling the song as John Scott spits out the lyrics and Green smacks the hell out of his kit. – InPress 2013

Melbourne two-piece King Of The North will appear as special guests at most shows with further support from Wollongong’s Bruce!, Brisbane’s Turnpike, Perth’s Scalphunter and Hobart’s Captives.

Live outings from The Mark Of Cain are rare so it’s inevitable that when they do tour all shows sell out. Be the first in line when tickets go on sale Friday August 15th.

The Solo & By Request tour is in support of Ed’s latest release ‘Return Of The Mail-Order Bridegroom’ acoustic reinterpretations of songs from Ed’s long and prosperous career and others besides.

Some songs here, such as The Saints’ ‘Swing For The Crime’, are punk songs played acoustically, creating a type of urgent folk. Others seem to have been made specifically for this format, such as the spot-on Skip James cover ‘Cypress Grove Blues’ and Laughing Clowns’ ‘Eternally Yours’. The arguable highlight of the set is ‘No Regrets’. Originally by Tom Rush, the mournful lyrics benefit from Kuepper’s straightforward voice, and he makes the song his own. – 4/5 THE BRAG

Live too Herr Kuepper has been in all-time form, performing for upwards of 2 hours each evening and backing his own remarkable musical abilities with the wit only a seasoned raconteur knows how to deliver.

He teased, playing the familiar intro to I’m Stranded, before a smock and a ‘Nah’. But then the silly to the sublime – the not-often-played Horse Under Water offered to a pin-drop silent crowd. Messin’ With The Kid churned hugely, But then completely invoked audience participation as we ‘sang’ the trademark brass parts of Know Your Product, and even the choo-choo noises for Last Of The Steam Powered Trains. Calls for other Kuepper classics like Eternally Yours (“Really, you want to hear it this early in the set?”) and Everything I’ve Got (Belongs To You) were answered and everybody went home happy. The Music May 2014

Don’t miss Ed Kuepper: Solo And By Request.

BEN WATT – SOLO: ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRIC

Following the release of Hendra – his first solo album in over 30 years – sometime DJ, sometime author and one-time Everything But The Girl songsmith Ben Watt, makes his debut Australian visit this August performing solo and in intimate mode for shows in Sydney and Melbourne only.

Watt marked a return to his solo career in August 2013 when he performed two sold-out shows at tiny folk n’ blues basement, The Slaughtered Lamb, in London’s Clerkenwell. Accompanied by ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, Watt showcased a dozen new songs to sell-out crowds. A mini-UK tour followed in November in the midst of the recording sessions for Hendra.

Hendra is the meeting of worlds: languid folk, distorted rock and fizzing electronics. The upshot is ten songs. Unsentimental. Impressionistic. Songs about close family and strangers, resilience and hope. All set in vivid landscapes where the outside comes inside and clings to the stories.

Hendra (live)

Apart from a life in music, in 1996 Watt’s autobiographical memoir, Patient – the True Story of a Rare Illness was published to wide acclaim by Viking/Penguin in the UK (a Sunday Times Book of the Year, Esquire Non-Fiction Award finalist) and Grove Atlantic Press US (a New York Times Notable Book of The Year.)  In Feb 2014 Bloomsbury published his second book, Romany and Tom. Both a personal journey and a portrait of his parents, it is a vivid story of the post-war years, ambition and stardom, and family roots and secrets. Bloomsbury US publish it in June 2014.

Performing solo: acoustic and electric, Ben Watt brings material from Hendra (plus other works) to Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria on August 22nd as a part of their Friday Nights At Italian Masterpieces musical selection and also Sydney’s The Basement on August 21st. Tickets for these rare performances are on-sale Wednesday 7th May.