duggup

Passion Pit are the audio equivalent of a hit and run. It took me a week to find out who the hell it was doing it.
I mean when you think about it, how hard can it be to find a song with big wooofy kick drums, Scritti Politti vocals done with tons of helium (well [...]

was given some NO AGE to listen to after they were here in Melbourne last month. The person who gave it to me said “They’re loud and weird – you’ll like them”
They were right.
So lets run down the checklist.
Guitar? Check.
Drums? Check.
Yep – That’s it. Just the two instruments.
No Age is a two-person noise [...]

Circus Envy are from Hull in the UK and as their website tells us:
Circus Envy are a rootsy five piece based in East Yorkshire, with a sound equally influenced by classic rock, folk rock and Americana.
Diverting from the mainstream by using instrumentation as exotic as the cajon, and the bouzouki, Circus Envy delight audiences [...]

Lets get started by heading you straight over to http://www.myspace.com/bellx1 , press play on the “The Great Defector” sit back and enjoy what is currently my favourite song of the year. OK I suppose it would be a bit churlish to stop there – lets try Soweto style guitar (shades of Johnny Clegg and Hilton Rosenthal), David Byrne / Talking head vocals and rhythm section that dance along the thin line between chaos and pop perfection. Weird ass lyrics (OK , I just wish I had written them). Here’s a hint they pull off the pop perfection.

Sara Bareilles is an American singer-songwriter and plays piano. I first heard her playing on the Live From Abbey Road series (which turns out to be a gem). On the show she explains how her 2007 Billboard topping “Love Song” came about. First have a listen to it over at http://www.myspace.com/sarabareilles, its [...]

Wendy Ealey has a voice that takes me back to smoke filled folk venues of Melbourne 30 odd years ago. With good reason, she has been a performer on the folk scene both in Australia and in Britain since the 70’s.

Hers is a big beautiful voice that resonates with passion as she sings songs penned by herself and others accompanying herself on guitar. Political songs nestle comfortably with love songs to form a quilt of human experience.

A song written by Mary Caruana with Brent Parlane called “Bigger Than This” can be found on on her MySpace site, is a ballsy dig at the treatment of “illegal” immigrants. “Child of My Heart” is the story of grief felt by an infertile woman.

The Guggenheim Grotto showed up a couple of weeks ago on NPR Second Stage and didn’t they just make my day. I had this stuff on the MP3 player faster than you could blink.
Kevin May and Mick Lynch began playing together on the Dublin songwriter circuit back in 2003.They recorded a a 5 track which [...]