Four On Tuesday: Steve Young - Gabrielle Portelli - The Glorious North - Feuds

Steve Young - Home for the Summer.

Background bio - The world has been the musical home for singer/songwriter Steve Young, these past years, its length and breadth travelled as his talents as a session guitarist were sought and embraced by a host of popular artists. Recently though, it has been his own magnetic fusion of acoustic pop and alternative country which has been drawing attention and acclaim across the globe with increasing success.

Steve began his musical career with a London based rock band, which took him around the UK through several national tours. From there his string craft saw him play with the likes of Lionel Richie, Peter Andre, Gareth Gates, Delta Goodrem. In 2007, Steve was invited to become the touring guitarist for Darren Hayes, the former Savage Garden front man; a job that took him from The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Arena to Sydney State Theatre, across Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia as well as a host of TV & Radio performances including BBC Radio 2’s Terry Wogan & Jo Whiley.

Steve Young is creating a stir all of his own now, and in a landscape calling out for something fresh to immerse in, his music is a tonic growing in popularity and vocal acclaim by the day. After a successful run of gigs supporting Nashville Country Star (and daughter of June Carter / Johnny Cash) Carlene Carter, acclaimed Blues Singer Jo Harman, sold out support gigs for Ramin Karimloo at the Union Chapel & Islington Assembly Halls in Jan and another sold out show for Time Out London’s ‘Rising Stars of UK Country‘ at 229 The Venue in March – 2016 most definitely started with a ‘Bang’.

As autumn draws closer, Steve announces 'Anyplace, anytime, you choose! Tour' Why…. Do I have to choose when you hear me live? Why can’t you? Who says it has to be your local venue, why can’t it be at your place of work? your favourite coffee shop? a local bookstore or even your front room? All I need is a guitar and a space to stand – you do the rest! I want to set a record for the number of gigs preformed in three months (Oct, Nov, Dec). More (Here).

I featured Steve Young over on BeeVids a while back. 'Home for the Summer' really does show just how good his music is, its a delightful, breezy song, full of good time summer vibes. As for Steve's late autumn and early winter, it looks like he is going to be a very busy man, with his unique tour plans, find out more on his website (link above).

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Gabrielle Portelli - The Voice.

Background - Gabrielle Portelli joined a choir and had her first television appearance at the age of 3. At the age of 9 she started taking individual voice lessons and competed in local singing competitions where she won first places and Grand Prix till the age of 13.

Gabrielle represented Malta abroad and won the best voice award in Romania in 2013 and first place and third overall in Macedonia in 2011. She joined a classical singing choir where she performed in live concerts accompanied by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra backing Joseph Calleja and Hayley Westenra among others.

In 2013, Gabrielle sang as a soloist with the Malta Youth Orchestra. In 2014 she was awarded by the ABRSM board of examinations for obtaining the Highest Distinction result in singing. Since then, she obtained Distinctions in music theory, piano and musical theatre. Gabrielle performs regularly in towns with live bands and orchestras. Last December she had her first experience in an oratorio.

Passionate about opera, musical theatre and crossover, Gabrielle aspires to start performing in theatres as she pursues her studies at University and travel abroad.

I'm not sure what genre I would even attempt to put this intriguing song in. 'The Voice' could so easily be from a stage musical, and yet there are operatic overtones, and to mix things up even more, Celtic styles within the music. That Gabrielle Portelli has a classical voice and a beautiful one at that is a given, and the song is pretty special. I would love to hear her explore even more musical genres, but as a starting point, she has grabbed my attention, and I cannot wait to hear more.

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The Glorious North - Strange New World.

Background - Country slackers The Glorious North aim to lead you into the beautiful darkness with songs about whiskey, woe, lost loves and loaded Lugers. Like the love children of Hank Williams and Dinosaur Jr, The Glorious North mix tremolo, twang and temerity to fashion swaggering country rock that will make you wanna cheer, cry and puke into your Stetson . . . possibly all at the same time. If you like your country music dark and a bit dog-eared, then it's time you got the glory with The Glorious North.

Welcome to the Glorious North is the Melbourne four-piece's debut album. Following up last year's EP Dang!, Welcome to the Glorious North mixes early Paul Kelly with Creedence Clearwater Revival to fashion a sound that is supercharged country pop. The opening track, ‘No Soul to Save’, sets the lyrical tone with a tale of love gone wrong on the outlaw fringe, complete with a chain-gang choir's "oohs" and "aahs".

The album was recorded and produced by Dave Rogers (Ben Lee Band) at The Channel Studio, Melbourne Arts Centre. Warm valve amps and even warmer guitars shape the sound, with fiddle, harmonica, Hammond organ and mariachi trumpet adding to a soundscape that swells and shrinks like like the tide of a river (with bodies dumped in it, of course). Being ensconced in the Melbourne pub scene since 2014, The Glorious North are adept at adapting their live sound without straying from their slacker country style -- the gents are as at home in the intimate acoustic surrounds of the Gem Bar & Grill as they are fully amped up in front of 5,000 juiced-up punters at Brisbane's Beer InCider Festival.

Upcoming Shows:
10 September @ The Brunswick East, Brunswick
16-17 September @ Beer InCider Festival, Brisbane
18 September @ Woolly Mammoth, Fortitude Valley
2 October @ Standard Hotel, Fitzroy
14 October @ The Gem Bar & Grill, Collingwood
30 October @ Yarra Hotel, Collingwood

'Strange New World' is a mixture of country rock and Americana, so much so, that I had to double check the band are from Melbourne as I am writing this. There are twelve glorious (pun intended) songs on the new album 'Welcome To The Glorious North' and there is not one that lets the collection down. If this type of music is your thing give them a thorough check, there is something really cool going on here.

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Feuds - River Of Wine.

Background - Brisbane band Feuds today release their debut EP Stay Lost, which they will launch at Brisbane's The Bearded Lady on Thursday Aug 26.

Stay Lost was recorded largely at guitarist Perry Walker's farm in Noosa over what was supposed to be just one week. But the band found that the freedom of working outside a studio was the perfect nurturing environment to hone their sound, and the EP ended up taking the better part of a year to complete.

The result? An impactful and honest exploration of life - and all the uncertainties it brings. Says frontman Jeremy Hunter, "None of the songs resolve in a lyrical way, they just ask questions, or pose difficult realities, and refuse to give closure on them. That’s sort of the meaning behind the EP title Stay Lost - sometimes you have no choice but to remain confused. But the title is also a suggestion, in that you can choose to live with uncertainty, you can choose to be lost, and that might be a good thing. Nobody is more dead inside than someone who thinks they know everything; they’ve stopped growing."

Feuds is the reinvigoration of a project that's existed for some time now. Having previously performed alongside Holy Holy, Bad//Dreems, The Belligerents and Harts, the band now have the perfect setup to start afresh and launch their new vision. The release of Stay Lost threatens a formidable force in Feuds, and it's only the beginning. 

With a jangly guitar sound and easy vocals the song 'River Of Wine' waits until the first chorus before it explodes into a more rock based track. It's less reliant on riff's and more on energy and melody, and it works.

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Blonde Redhead - Masculin Féminin (Vinyl/CD Album Release).

Blonde Redhead - This Is The Number Of Times I Said I Will But Didn't (4 Track Demo).

Background - Blonde Redhead has always produced at a furious rate, and the early years of the band were some of their most fruitful, with two excellent albums on Steve Shelley's wonderful but short-lived label imprint Smells Like Records, as well as a handful of stand-alone singles which all contained album-worthy tracks. Numero Group has lovingly compiled this release to document this period in the band's history - these singles are all long out of print and the albums are being made available on vinyl for the first time ever (having originally been issued in that weird period around 1995 where some labels were CD-only).

Weighing in at 37 tracks, Masculin Féminin compiles the band’s first two albums for Steve Shelley’s Smells Like Records (self-titled and La Mia Via Violenta), their period singles, extant demos, and radio performances across four LPs or two CDs. Dozens of previously unpublished photographs illustrate two lengthy essays on this essential New York band’s formative years.

Tour Dates:
10/11 –  New York, NY – The Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph
10/13 – Washington DC – The Howard TheatrE
10/14 – Durham, NC – RJ Reynolds Industries Theater

Featured song 'This Is The Number Of Times I Said I Will But Didn't' is the second track from the forthcoming release we have featured you can find our June feature (here). Having had a chance to listen to the whole collection now, I am reminded just how good the band were at that time. Beyond the original album re-issues we have something of an eclectic assortment of songs. There are a couple of 4 track demos plus the featured song, KCRW session material, 7 inch single releases, an outtake and other rarities. This is all fascinating and makes an excellent account of the period, alongside the two original album releases. Genre wise, its a mixture of indie rock, post punk, and just plain out there alternative rock songs. This was for many of us, our introduction to the band some twenty years ago, somehow I envy those who may hear their material for the first time through this release. It's still as vibrant, passionate and natural, enjoy!

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Quality Not Quantity: Fatal Jamz - The Pressure Kids - Solid Effort

Fatal Jamz - Jean Paul Gaultier.

Background promo - LA powerpop songwriter Fatal Jamz will release his sophomore album 'Coverboy' on September 30 via Lolipop Records. Fatal Jamz' Marion Belle has long been one of LA’s most whispered about cult stars. Lauded by punk legends Steve Jones, Kim Fowley, Don Bolles and more, he has helped keep the frontman alive with a voice linked to the feral and lush past of rocknroll. His early aughties groups The Drugs, and later Bowery Beasts put him on the map as a flamboyant torch singer, but it was 2013’s underground anthems Rookie and One of the Girls that established him as a seminal pop auteur. Without a doubt the music behind his Johnny Thunders-esque image has cast a shadow on his generation, while he has fallen, uncategorizable, through the industry cracks for almost a decade. Until now.  

"Fatal Jamz was born out of a desperation to keep pursuing music at a time when almost all seemed lost for me," Belle says. “I was working with Autistic kids and had given up my day job. I was eventually living off of everyone around me, and felt pretty much rejected by the path I had chosen.” With a small budget he hooked up with bass savant Dan Horne (Beachwood Sparks, The Lily's) and recorded Fatal Jamz’ debut ‘Vol.1’  at Horne's Lone Palm studio in Echo Park. The album was later released on Portland's infamous Gnar label, as well as Burger Records, but despite critical acclaim the group was unable to tour. In 2014 the music found it's way to Cullen Omori of Smith Westerns who became an overnight devotee and asked the band to support their Western Sky Tour with Sky Ferreira. My girlfriend and I had a trip to Europe planned and that turned out to be a turning point for me. She found this book in the Roughtrade shop in London called Bowie in Berlin that I read on trains while we were traveling, all about the albums he made with Iggy and Eno, that fertile time, and I had the idea to make my own trilogy, but about L.A. and my journey there as a lead singer.” 

On February 8th 2016, Lolipop Records released Obsession, a limited edition EP, mixed by New Wave legend Gavin McKillop (Echo & the Bunnymen, Adam Ant, Heaven 17) which sold out overnight. In June, 17 & Hung, an EP produced with reclusive ingenue Evan Collins Conway (Holy Shit) was released on San Francisco weirdo label Death Records. With the upcoming release of 'Coverboy', a manifesto recorded over 3 years in a skid row penthouse, and the first taste of his Lead Singer Trilogy, Belle and cohorts open up the gates on a sunlit inferno where today’s starlets and ravishing poor boys play for glory.

'Jean Paul Gaultier' has all the vital power pop ingredients. Upbeat, melodic and distinct in sound, it also has that "little something" that L.A. seems to add to this type of song. With an album due late September, this track sets things up nicely.

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The Pressure Kids - Catherine in Moonlight.

Background in brief - Nashville-based indie rock favourites have just released “Catherine in Moonlight,” a sparkling anthem that’s the first single off their newest project, a forthcoming collection of songs that will have staggered release dates throughout the band members’ upcoming senior year of college.

The band met as college students after moving to Nashville, Tennessee, having arrived there from different parts of the USA.

Live Dates:
Aug 27 2016 - Exit/In Nashville, TN          
Sep 16 2016 - Concerts on the Dock Huntsville, AL.

Bright sounding guitars launch 'Catherine in Moonlight' and as the vocals and band fully kick in, the whole thing just shines. Melodic indie rock, with really pleasing vocals and harmonies, this is one very good song.

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Solid Effort - Too Far Gone.

Background - Solid Effort are five young men (Amaan, Harry, Nick, Patrick and Phanos) from Australia creating scrappy, high energy tunes that come with a laid back coastal sensibility. Taking time between Sydney and Wollongong (south coast New South Wales), Solid Effort have been working on their self-characterised genre of "leisure punk" since forming last year. "Too Far Gone" is their new single and first on Popfrenzy Records.

Solid Effort's 2015 debut EP, "Ballad of Bulli" was created, recorded and dedicated to guitarist, Patrick's garage secured them praise in press, radio play and a three show EP launch.

Fitting between the frantic pace of Minuteman and the soft, woozy synth of kraut hero's, Solid Effort's live performance makes for exciting viewing - with the band often going off script, repeating a well liked melody, or extending the never-ending finale of their barraging anthem "Automatic Wives". Over the last eighteen months, they've supported home-grown heroes, Hockey Dad, The Pinheads, Palms, Gooch Palms and The Goon Sax as well as international indie familiars, Fat White Family, Alvvays and The Courtneys. More recently, Solid Effort have once again taken to Patrick's garage and are working on their debut LP to be released in 2017.

There is something of a classic indie rock feel to 'Too Far Gone'. The vocals swagger with rock attitude over the rich guitar fronted soundtrack, that in itself swirls around, and before you know it, the songs over! Oh well play it again (and again)... 

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Genre Wander: Rainbow Reservoir - Audience Killers - Sunshine & The Blue Moon - Anna Of The North

Rainbow Reservoir - Coco Sleeps Around

Background promo - Cardiff-based DIY pop imprint Odd Box Records are releasing the brilliant new 7" - Coco Sleeps Around - from Oxford's insatiable Rainbow Reservoir. With the full EP to be released September 10th the band are now sharing the title-track from the new record.

Despite being a relatively new band this is melodic power-pop at it's absolute best and is sure to thrust the band into popular acclaim. On one side the track is sublime, quirky pop but there's a feisty, angst-ridden undercurrent beneath the track. If you're a fan of Tullycraft, Cars Can Be Flue, Waxahatchee and Horowitz then this will definitely be your bag. Vocalist Angela was asked to describe their wistful pop, explaining that "it's punk in spirit and upbeat, has lots of rhythm, and can be romantic but with a dark side".

From the first note 'Coco Sleeps Around' demands attention. Rainbow Reservoir create a measure of punk angst surrounded by melodic hooks, feisty vocals and good old no nonsense rock. The four song EP is more of the bands most welcome and addictive music.

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Audience Killers - Patterns.

Background - Latvian synth-pop trio, Audience Killers, release the music video for their next single, "Patterns". The track is from the group's debut album, Floating Islands, which was released in May 2016.

Audience Killers create a fluid blend of synth-pop and electro-pop that often draws comparisons to Mew and Passion Pit. Their debut album Floating Islands delivers this and more with warm, inviting synths, dreamy guitar lines, and ethereal vocals. Petrovs's striking falsetto is sure to bring to mind flashes of M83's Anthony Gonzalez. Lyrically, Floating Islands acknowledges the idea that one person has the ability to affect the lives of many with positivity and inclination.

Childhood friends Normunds Petrovs (vocals/guitar) and Arletta Supe (keyboards/backing vocals) only began writing and making music in 2009. Rounding out the trio, Petrovs and Supe met Edgars Oplucans (drums) during a live studio session in early 2010 and swiftly released their first two singles.

Audience Killers then released their debut EP Footprints And Heart in July 2012 and have since performed across much of Europe at The Great Escape, Reeperbahn Music Festival, and Tallinn Music Week, and released a standalone single, "Two Bare Feet," to much acclaim. This year's debut album release marks a major step for the promising Latvian band.

'Patterns' is a dreamy, atmospheric song that gently glides along, slowly building momentum until it becomes a melodic and vibrant piece (almost a case of three songs in one). The music video really is an ideal match.

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Sunshine & The Blue Moon - Sunshine & Lucy.

Background from the band - I'm a bit of a sap, I love the idea of Love. Is there true love? Do we create this love based on instincts or fantasies, or is love itself an instinct? When it comes to how love is created, I don't mind any which way, I'm just happy to have experienced, or at least to have witnessed it. I wanted to try to capture that with a warm music video shot on film, giving the impression of a long lost burgeoning romance captured on warm film, maybe found in a dusty box, on a dusty shelf somewhere, to be viewed with a smile, as a reminder, a vignette of the very thing that drives us. Our debut album comes out on September 16th via The Hand, we're calling it 'Welcome To The Future'.

Sunshine & the Blue Moon choose to experiment not only with sound, but mood as well, expanding their aural landscape beyond common signifiers. Blending influences and ideas from across genres and eras spanning from early blues, folk and country, to 60's rock and soul, through eclectic 90's grooves. One listen may place you on a rural road with your sweetheart, feeling the summer breeze as it rolls through the trembling leaves. While another might place you in a pulsing dream wanting nothing more than to escape the hot city streets, to shake and dance the through the night.

One of nine songs on the debut album, 'Sunshine & Lucy' gives a flavour of where the band go with their music, it's certainly not the only style you will hear though. For example the following song (Depression) is a mixture of funk, blues and energy. What's consistent is the really tight musicianship and some exceptional vocal styles. As debut albums go, this is of a very high standard, the band have set expectations high, and I reckon they will deliver on that.

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Anna Of The North - Us.

Background - Anna of the North is the music project of Norwegian singer Anna Lotterud and her producer Brady. She has just got off tour with Kygo and is a staple on Spotify playlists.

Originally from a small town north of Oslo, it was in Melbourne that she met Brady, and gained the Anna of the North moniker.

Two songs The Dreamer and Baby, have gained the top spot on Hype Machine, establishing a sizable listenership and following. The new song 'Us' confirms that Anna of the North are far more than a one two hit wonder!

Live Date:
Sep 20th 2016 - The Lexington, London, United Kingdom.

'Us' is a smooth electro song with a hypnotic groove and Anna Lotterud wonderful vocals. In what is a crowded part of the music world, Anna Of The North stand out, in part because they focus on the key ingredients of the song and deliver an uncluttered and yet expansive pop sound.

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