$30

HAWKSLEY WORKMAN TAKES LOS MANLICIOUS ON THE ROAD

His second album in eight months, Juno-winning Hawksley Workman releases a power-packed follow up to Between the Beautifuls, with Los Manlicious. Originally intended as the rock-edged follow-up to 2005’s gentle Treeful of Starling, Los Manlicious is a gritty underbelly with an itch to be scratched. Its dark places are shining examples of his artistry, and its soft spots are all the hard facts you need to cut a rug with. January’s release, Between the Beautifuls, spawned massive tours in both Canada and Europe, where Hawksley sold out bigger and better venues across the country including two magical nights at Danforth Music Hall.

Now Hawksley is back for more with an album that hits us below the hipline. Harkening back to his days as a Delicious Wolf, Los Manlicious plays upon our sexual confidence, our vices and our crutches, and the places beauty can rub off onto, go unnoticed for a while, and grow into a cultish stew of prowling sexual innuendo, anthemic city crashers, and rousing heart-pounders. Full of catchy pop-panty-hooks, gritty bass beats, 50s-esque doo-wop rock, and bouncing electro-pop for the body-image-shakers, Los Manlicious delivers a proud set of boldly inspirational songs that span age, genre, colour, creed and sex.

$15

That endearing folk/rock ensemble DEAD LETTER CHORUS continue to tour on the back of their stunning debut album The August Magnificent.

Entirely self-produced by members of the band and recorded in a studio they helped to build, design and decorate to convert from an unused basement to a creative and sonically pleasing environment, this album is an intensely personal insight to a band at work.

The August Magnificent is centered around the five core members of Dead Letter Chorus who worked on the record over a period of three weeks beginning 1st August 2008. In all there are 22 guest musicians on the record including a 10-piece mini orchestra and a 9-piece choir.

The songs on the album range from totally live-recorded acoustic tracks to elaborate compositions with orchestral arrangements. To be amongst the first to listen to tracks from The August Magnificent head to the bands myspace site - www.myspace.com/deadletterchorus

Mixed by the legendary Tim Whitten (The Panics, Youth Group, theredsunband etc.) in Sydney’s Big Jesus Burger and Sony studio’s and mastered by Don “The Don” Bartley @ Benchmark Mastering gives the project a professional world-class finish.

$12 + b/f

This summer, Popfrenzy is bringing you two of the most freewheeling, party‐starting, hyperkinetic performers, touring the east coast together, ready to kick start your 2009.

Describing his sound as a “mohawked angel with a hose full of holy water blasting the wallflowers,” Totally Michael is a one‐man music machine with a penchant for sugar‐sweet melodies, potty‐mouthed humour and extensive audience participation.

Citing Prince and Blink‐182 as influences, and bringing about comparisons to Andrew W.K., Dan Deacon and synth‐punk pioneer Atom and His Package, Totally Michael delivers dizzying, electro‐injected tracks that straddle the line between skater‐punk and bouncy‐pop and always revels in the forgotten joys of showmanship and booty shaking.

There is a reason SPOD was nominated as best live performance at this year’s augural SMAC Awards. Through Atari duels, live Nintendo DS’ moogs and so, so much more, SPOD’s live shows take you from psychedelic vintage synth‐epics about death to future‐metal anthems about bewbs, to post hip‐hop noise jams about the concept of time.

Plenty of load‐ponies have attempted to take the crown in the absence of Sir Spodlington, but after ‘08 hosted his return – with a successful album release and a national tour – it is clear the crown is once more safe and secure back on his sweet and kingly head.

In an increasingly cynical world, it’s performers like SPOD and Totally Michael who draw a line in the sand and ask you to choose wisely...

$30 PRE / $35 DOOR

NEW ORLEANS PIANO MASTER ANNOUNCES SPECIAL SOLO TOUR!

After two massive Australian tours in the last 18 months and fresh off touring the Globe in support of his recent Live Album “MO HIPPA” which was recorded in Sydney, Jon Cleary returns to Australia for a new and very special solo tour. Featuring performances at Peats Ridge Festival, The Basement, Manchester Lane, Norwood Hotel and other club dates around the country.

Amongst hallowed ranks of legend New Orleans “piano professors” such as Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint and Dr John, Jon Cleary is on a tenure track. His Australian tour history almost speaks for itself, he is repeat offender at The Byron Bay Bluesfest and has enjoyed a number of critically acclaimed national tours both with his band The Absolute Monster Gentlemen and with long time friend, the late Jackie Orszaczky. This tour marks a new milestone for Jon, an entire solo tour – showcasing his world renowned piano playing and song craft in the most intimate of settings.

Cleary, born in England, is an adopted son of the Crescent City, a quick study having recorded five soul-soaked R&B funk albums on his own. As a session man, he’s played with Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Van Morrison, Dr John, Ryan Adams, Eric Burdon and Bonnie Raitt, to name a few, and is a longstanding member of Raitt’s touring band. Cleary just recorded with John Scofield and will be touring with the legendary guitarist as well as George Porter Jnr (of The Meters) starting in November. Next year Cleary will also be embarking on a special solo piano tour called “The Keys to New Orleans,” featuring Allen Toussaint and Henry Butler but Australia gets the first taste of Cleary Solo!

$8

Jacob S Harris - “The settings are sparse, acoustic, hovering like a morning fog on the creek, focusing the attention on the timeless imagery and haunting melodies, some of which might just as easily been written in 1906 ...” (Noel Mengal, Courier Mail). This is Jacob’s final Brisbane show before he relocates to Melbourne in February.

Kate Jacobson (Texas Tea) - performing solo - “When Kate sings, it sticks a dagger in the sky so hard that it almost rains” - Carmen Keates, Rave Magazine. The lonesome cowgirl and alt-country songstress performing a rare solo show before heading off to Tamworth with Texas Tea in late January.

Conor MacDonald (The Gin Club) – performing solo – Conor MacDonald is a unique local songwriting talent and has been member of the Gin Club since their conception. Conor combines the sincerity of Townes Van Zandt with the quirk of Bill Callahan.

$15

Melbourne’s gangster swing act Frankie Wants Out is touring Australia to launch their debut album ‘Prohibition’ and they’ll be hitting B-Town for the Rockabilly vs Swing night, coming up on Saturday January 17.

Frankie Wants Out is a nine-piece swing band playing original, red hot tunes guaranteed to make you jump about the room, regardless of whether you’re in a rocking pub or a classy cocktail lounge like The Troubadour.

Forming in September 2005, Frankie Wants Out is heavily influenced by the music of the New York dance halls of the 20’s and 30’s with a modern impact from acts such as Royal Crown Revue and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Rockabilly fans can expect just as much energy from the intergalactic Men Into Space and the hot rod rockin’ Ten Fours. Hosting the night will be DJ Lori Lee who will be spinning rockaswing tunes to keep the joint jumping.

Rockabilly vs Swing ~ Frankie Wants Out, Men Into Space, The Ten Fours, DJ Lori Lee

$8

Launching her debut, self-produced mini-album Living the Grey, Georgia’s vibrant compositions, heavily laden with fresh philosophy, imagery, politics, pathos & humour are lead by her powerful vocal freedom & sassy yet sincere stage manor. Featuring lush keyboards, violin & harmonies, this Brisbane six piece blends the timeless singer/songwriter tradition with smooth soul & reggae grooves.

$20 presold
$25 at the door

Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg) was a founding member of 90’s Lo-Fi indie band Pavement. Hailing from California, Pavement’s 11-year career produced five highly memorable records and established them a cult following around the world.

Since the dissolution of Pavement in 2000, Spiral Stairs has put out two albums with Preston School Of Industry. The first one, ‘All This Sounds Gas’, was everything fans hoped for – an immensely tuneful, memorable album that MOJO called “an album of joyful, desperate and messy songs, as honest and delicious as any on Pavement’s 1992 classic, ‘Slanted And Enchanted.’”

The second album, ‘Monsoon’, continued in the vein of many of Spiral’s classic songs, setting a confident, effortless beat to a literate and mischievous rock sound as informed by Echo and the Bunnymen, the Clean, The Fall, Neil Young, Lou Reed, and John Prine.

Currently in the final stages of recording the next ‘Spiral Stairs’ album, it will take a different path to previous recordings with Pavement and Preston School. We look forward to hearing it in May 2009.

$25+bf presale
$28 door

San Francisco’s STILL FLYIN’ have been spreading the word of the almighty HAMMJAMM since 2004, demolishing minds, souls, and any notion of personal space with equal abandon. Combining the kinetic energy of 60’s era rocksteady with the catchy hooks and DIY aesthetic of today’s best indiepop, STILL FLYIN’ are an event rarely paralleled in music.

Following their performance at Laneway Festival earlier this year, where the hitherto largely unknown STILL FLYIN’ won over the entire crowd, organisers, and most other bands on the bill (many of whom found themselves on stage shaking maracas and hi-five-ing the band’s gangly afro-clad dancer dude, Thrill Phil), STILL FLYIN’ now release their highly anticipated début album, NEVER GONNA TOUCH THE GROUND. Invited back for another crack at Laneway ‘09, this STILL FLYIN’ sideshow (as with all their shows) is likely to enter the all-time superjamm record books — so don’t miss it!

’the Living & the Dead’ is a work between worlds, of moving on and finding something new, of missed chances, and promises on distant horizons. From the past (the haunting simplicity of “Love Henry,”which Bob Dylan tells us pre-dates the Bible)the future(the stunning emotional complexity of her song,”The Future”), theTexas-bred singer-songwriter navigates a new rock approach that is built upon the folk, blues and jazz spectors that populated her three acclaimed previous albums.

Holland composed these songs in her old home town of San Francisco, as well as on the road across North America and Europe. A few were born during a writing retreat in New Zealand. Arising out of her life stories, and from the rich estuaries of the mysterious tales of other adventurers, her songs are grounded by true experience.

’the Living and the Dead’ is an exhilarating ride with a higher voltage than the previous albums, music that had already left fans and critics at a loss to describe her singular vision as performer and writer. Holland worked with co-producer Shahzad Ismaily (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Two Foot Yard, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog) in sessions both in Brooklyn, New York and Portland, Oregon. With contributions from guitar maestros Marc Ribot (who played with Tom Waits and Elvis Costello) and M. Ward (who also produced one song and helped shape the sound of others) and drummer Rachel Blumberg (M. Ward, Bright Eyes, the Decemberists), Holland has created an album that serves as a career statement. Holland’s voice is the same beautiful instrument, which has never before sounded so confident, relaxed or emotive.

With 2003’s Catalpa (essentially home-made demos released due to popular interest and then nominated for the prestigious Short List Music Prize by Tom Waits), 2004’s Escondida and 2006’s Springtime Can Kill You (which Rolling Stone said “feels better than a good cry”), she evolved a sound that existed in its own time, as if it could have been recorded anywhere between God knows when and yesterday. the Living & the Dead shares that same quality, but its timelessness is rooted in the present. Take Holland’s description of the song “Your Big Hands”:

”It’s just terribly naïve—it’s the kind of song Daniel Johnston made me feel brave enough to write,” she says. “It starts out with these beautiful dirty guitar chords from M Ward, almost like a Rolling Stones song...the overall feel of this song owes a debt to Waits’ version of rock ala ‘Downtown Train’...then, in the middle of the song, all that has disappeared...you feel as though you’re wandering around in the woods--there are owls and shooting stars…but then the song burns out with a mess of distorted guitars.”

In many ways, this album is a chronicle of her own journey. The driven “Corrido Por Buddy” (about a friend who sunk so far into addiction that Holland didn’t recognize him on the street) is both character study and self-examination/recrimination–a sense magnified for the singer by not just one, but two instances of eerily identical poltergeist phenomena in the studios while the band was recording “...Buddy.” The phenomena were witnessed by three band members, and occurred both in Portland and New York, during the song’s production.

”The Future” is a presentation of beautiful poetry which arose out of personal misery – “When I wrote that I was really kind of crying and holding on to the piano—it’s about the hell of breaking up and moving out at the same time.”

”Palmyra” is a prayer for the broken-hearted and traumatized, both individuals and communities. The first half paints a picture a love-lorn traveler pulling herself back together after a disastrous affair. The second half is lovingly and respectfully dedicated to the hard-pressed people of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, hallowed estuary of some of the finest music the world has ever witnessed.

Upon hearing the completed album, Holland says, “I hear a lot of interesting connections between the songs that I didn’t premeditate. ‘Sweet Loving Man,’ (a very modern love song, based on South Louisiana dance music) is sitting right next to ‘Love Henry’ (which is ancient as hell.) The first song is about a lover who sets out to attempt a life free from heart-break, by any means necessary. And the second is a twisted tale of a scheming rich woman who kills her lover in a fit of jealousy. It’s like putting two opposite colors next to each other on a painting.”

The perceived space between ancient and modern seems to fade away. If something speaks to you and is meaningful, dates can become irrelevant. In that way, Holland’s work has always been characterized as timeless. This album lives and breathes through memories of the past via reflection and resurrection, and grows into the present tense. the Living and the Dead reflects those timeless elements that make Holland’s songwriting so powerful. It’s multi-faceted, emotionally rich, and a continuation of one songwriter’s existence within her own worlds and outside others. Enjoy Yourself.

Two of alt-country’s giants team up for a co-headline tour of Australia for the first time culminating with a very special one-off combined set at Golden Plains Festival.

Jim White shot to acclaim as the star of the BBC documentary Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus and has since plotted a stellar trajectory with two massively acclaimed albums Transnormal Skiperoo and Drill A Hole in That Substrate And Tell Me What You See. The soundtrack to the documentary has also been hailed as one of the top two alt-country releases of all time in Mojo magazine.

John Doe is the founding member of the legendary LA punk band X – who also featured in a massively influential documentary on the early LA punk scene The Decline Of Western Civilisation (which spawned the notorious Decline of Western Civilisation 2 – The Metal Years). Doe’s musical career has been littered with critically adored albums that have spanned punk, rockabilly, roots, blues and pure country. His latest on-line only release The Golden State features a cover of his track The Golden State by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder teamed with Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker, tucked in amongst four different Doe performances of the track.

Jim White
Jim White traveled many a junkyard road to get to Transnormal Skiperoo. Raised in Pensacola, Florida, a town crushed between the church and heroin, Jim’s songs reach deep into the underbelly of the South. One time Pentacostal, fashion model, New York taxi driver, drifter, pro-surfer, photographer, film-maker, his music is the conduit for all the stories he collected along the way.

Jim also starred in the BBC4 film Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, an award-winning road-movie exploring Southern culture through its music and stories. Now living in an old farmhouse in the backwoods of Georgia, Jim White may have finally reached a place called home, but his other search, for what he calls ‘the gold tooth in God’s crooked smile’ continues in this new set of backyard tales.

Jim White is a highly original voice in the immense Southern gothic tradition. When broken humanity aches for grace, music like his may give you a shot at redemption.

“Transnormal Skiperoo is a name I invented to describe a strange new feeling I’ve been experiencing after years of feeling lost and alone and cursed. Now, when everything around me begins to shine, when I find myself dancing around in my back yard for no particular reason other than it feels good to be alive, when I get this deep sense of gratitude that I don’t need drugs or God or doomed romance to fuel myself through the gauntlet of a normal day, I call that feeling ‘Transnormal Skiperoo.’ “ Jim White / 2007

Transnormal Skiperoo was produced by Joe Pernice and Michael Demming , recorded with the band Olabelle , and also features tracks with Tucker Martine and Laura Veirs, local Georgia legend Don Chambers & Goat , bluegrass duo Jeff & Vida and percussionist Mauro Refosco .

“Though the waters charted here will be familiar to veteran White watchers, newcomers can expect to be plunged headlong into a turbulent though ultimately uplifting baptism of discovery and wonder on his best album to date.” bbc.co.uk review of Transnormal Skiperoo

“…a surreally gothic alt-country crooner with a Gram Parsons bent. Jim White’s Joe Pernice–produced fourth record deftly melds Southern-flavored soul with California twang. Stompers like “Turquoise House” and “Crash Into the Sun” are unusually buoyant for White. Much like his hometown, Transnormal Skiperoo is sunny and dark at the same time.” Spin Magazine review of Transnormal Skiperoo.

John Doe
John Doe was born John Nommensen Duchac in 1954 in Decatur, Illinois. He is singer, songwriter, actor, poet and bass player who was the founder of the legendary and massively influential LA punk band X. His musical compositions and performances also include country and folk music. X’s latter-day albums exhibited a rockabilly and country influence, but it wasn’t until Doe’s 1990 solo debut Meet John Doe, recorded during a hiatus in X’s career, that he recorded a pure country album.

“The highlight of the night was a country-fried cover of Bo Diddley’s “Pills” - which makes for a shockingly good country song. There, in one hell-bent cover converted into a hoedown ditty, was the history of alt-country in less than four minutes. sublime …performances mixed with some borscht-belt banter.” No Depression Live review Carnegie Hall, Nov 2008

“the tightest, finest and most morally acute music of the last 20 years,” Q Magazine review of Meet John Doe

“John Doe proves again that this punk legend/journeyman actor can still make great music.” Rolling Stone review of 2005’s Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet

In typical John Doe fashion A Year in the Wilderness’12 tracks feature an array of guest appearances including players he has worked with in the past—guitarist Dave Alvin, bassist Dave Carpenter and Jamie Muhoberac on piano and organ—as well as first time collaborators such as Kathleen Edwards who sings on three tracks, “A Little More Time,” “Lean Out Yr Window,” and the stand out single, “The Golden State.” The album also features singers Aimee Mann and Jill Sobule, guitarist Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and acclaimed pedal steel player Greg Leisz.

Doe’s career has also seen him taking on the silver screen, appearing in such films as Roadside Prophets, Salvador, Boogie Nights, and music videos for The Doors’ “LA Woman” and The Ramones “Something to Believe In”.