Nicki Minaj Brings “Pink Friday” Tour to Oz

Nicki Minaj is one of the biggest names in music right now, and she’s bringing her incomparable Pink Friday show to Australia for two big shows in May.

If you blink you just might miss her. Nicki will play Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on May 16 and then wing her way to Melbourne for a show at the Hisense Arena on May 18.

Tickets for each show will go on sale from Ticketek this Friday, March 30. As an extra bonus, fans can pre-order Nicki’s highly anticipated new album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded when they buy their tickets. The album doesn’t hit stores until April 2, so the pre-order is the best way to ensure you hear it first.

Image source: Christopher Macsurak/Wikimedia Commons

Hilltop Hoods Still Number One

Hilltop Hoods have maintained their grip on the ARIA album charts. For the second week the band’s latest offering Drinking from the Sun sits at the number one spot.

An Aussie release also rounds out the week’s top ten. 360’s fallen to number ten, from number six last week, with Falling & Flying. It’s a similar story on the singles charts where his track “Boys Like You,” the sole Aussie entry in the top ten, has dropped from number six to eight.

Click below for this week’s complete ARIA top ten charts.

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Twisted Affection’s Rapid Rise

Those twisted kids from Twisted Affection are sending a pretty strong message with this month’s Stop F%kin with my Head tour.

It’s been a rapid rise for the Perth pop-punk band, who played their first show late last year, released their first single “That’s What She Said” in January, and released their debut album this month. Most bands would wait a lot longer to announce their first tour, but Twisted Affection seem to love operating on fast-forward.

As you might expect, the tour doesn’t take its foot from the throttle either. Twisted Affection will travel from Australia’s west to the east in little less than a month. Tickets are available at the doors to each venue for the following shows.

30 March 2012 – YMCA HQ, Leederville
5 April 2012 – The Basement, Brisbane
7 April 2012 – Miami Shark Bar, Gold Coast
8 April 2012 – Between The Walls, Brisbane (All Ages)
11 April 2012 – The Loft Youth Centre, Newcastle (All Ages)
12 April 2012 – Hot Damn, Sydney
13 April 2012 – The Lair @ Metro, Sydney
14 April 2012 – Spectrum, Sydney
18 April 2012 – ANU, Canberra
19 April 2012 – The Bendigo Hotel, Melbourne
20 April 2012 – The Royal Melbourne Hotel, Melbourne
21 April 2012 – The John Curtin Hotel, Melbourne
22 April 2012 – The National Hotel, Geelong
24 April 2012 – The Newmarket Hotel, Bendigo
27 April 2012 – Enigma Bar, Adelaide

Image used with permission from Alpha Entertainment

Julia Stone Announces Solo World Tour

Julia Stone will launch her forthcoming solo album By the Horns with a whirlwind world tour. The folk singer will play one show in every country she visits on this exciting launch tour.

The tour will take Julia to intimate venues in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, before she arrives home in Australia. By the Horns will hit Aussie record stores May 25, so local fans have a little time to familiarise themselves with the songs before the Sydney show on June 13.

Tickets are on sale now for the following album launch shows. With just one show per country, I don’t expect any of those tickets to last too long!

20 April 2012 – De Duif, Amsterdam
23 April 2012 – Rotor Salon, Berlin
24 April 2012 –Café de La Danse, Paris
26 April 2012 –Studio Private, London
1 June 2012 –Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles
13 June 2012 –Cell Block Theatre, Sydney

Image used with permission from Pod Artist Services

Seth Lakeman & Carus Thompson Tour Oz Together

Good pals Seth Lakeman and Carus Thompson figure that slots at Bluesfest won’t offer quite enough time in front of the music loving public, so they’ve announced a double-headliner tour.

Seth is a British multi-instrumentalist renowned for his fiddling prowess, while Carus is an Aussie singer-songwriter who seems to be a citizen of the world these days. Seth has never visited our shores before, so with his sixth album Tales from the Barrel House hitting stores in April 6, Carus figured the time was right to show Seth some of the country’s best venues. And after spending the last eight years relentlessly touring Europe, Carus is no doubt excited to get back in front of Aussie audiences.

The quality of these musicians and their enduring bond will make these shows something very special. Tickets are available from the venues.

5 & 6 April 2012 – Byron Bay Bluesfest, Byron Bay
7 April 2012 – Harvester Moon, Bellarine
8 & 9 April 2012 – Bennetts Lane, Melbourne
10 April 2012 – The Vanguard, Newtown
12 April 2012 – Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle
13 April 2012 – The Hyde Park Hotel, North Perth
14 & 15 April 2012 – Fairbridge Festival, Fairbridge

Image used with permission from Heapsaflash

Morgan Joanel Fashion at Zara Stores

Fashion and music has always enjoyed a special relationship. Our favourite artists wear the best threads, many score the runway shows of leading designers, and some musicians even create their own collections. And if you’re Sydney singer-songwriter Morgan Joanel, you find your face on a T-shirt.

When she’s not creating music, Morgan maintains her fashion blog Mojomade. The T-shirt’s candid image is actually from one of the very first posts on that very blog. It was snapped on a humble Canon camera, yet now it graces a tee from designer store Zara. This isn’t just an Australian exclusive either; the T-shirts are available at Zara stores all over the world. Fashion fans across the globe might not know who Morgan is or what she does, but they’ll be wearing her face!

Global awareness may come yet though, as Morgan’s been busy in the studio. She’s also got a song writing trip to Los Angeles and New York in the works. But before all that she’ll play a few shows around her hometown to promote her current single “Devil’s in the Details.” Sydneysiders, you can catch this hot new talent at the following venues.

24 March 2012 – The Vanguard, Newtown (with Butterfly Boucher)
1 April 2012 – The Vault, Windsor (with Eilen Jewell)
24 April 2012 – Brass Monkey, Cronulla (with Blind River Running)
9 May 2012 – Notes, Newtown (with Tim Chaisson)
18 May 2012 – The Beresford, Surry Hills

Image used with permission from Revolutions per Minute

Q & A with Jack Colwell

I’ve been gaga for Jack Colwell since I heard his single “Captain’s Melody.” I caught up with this exciting new Sydney artist ahead of the album’s official launch at The Conservatorium of Music on March 30.

You’ve just released a new single “Captain’s Melody.” What was it about that song that made you want to share it with Australia?
“Captain’s Melody” was a really important song to me as it was written at what seemed a really transitional time, on that edge of accepting responsibly for your actions, especially when you’ve hurt others during a relationship and then realise that you want them back. The song has a catchy sound and everyone loves a ‘la la la’ melody.

You’re launching the single at the Conservatorium of Music, which is a world away from the pubs and clubs most modern bands play. Why did you choose this unusual venue for your single launch?
The Conserservatorium of Music is where I studied and gained most of my musical education, I have a lot of really important memories growing and learning inside the famous institution. The Con association CHAOS (Con High Association of Old Students) invited me back to perform as a guest performer and with my album on the way they were the ones to suggest I make it my second single launch. It is a real honour.

The song comes from the album Picture Window, which you’ll release in May. What can you tell me about the album?
Picture Window is a chamber pop album (Andrew Bird, Patrick Wolf, Joanna Newsom) which is heavily influenced by ’60s folk arrangements. The songs were written mainly around the piano and then fleshed out for an acoustic backing band ‘The Owls’ and on recording a small string ensemble. It deals with change and loss and like most good first albums, lots of leftover heartbreak.

You’re a classically trained composer. What do you think that education has brought to your music?
I think it probably just influences the sound or arrangements I choose to use. It certainly dosn’t make you a better songwriter or composer than anyone else. You can write away at a song for days using lots of compositional techniques and tricks but songs always tend to be one of those more intuitive things that people prefer to ‘feel’ or just go with.

Classical music is quite different from the alternative pop you’re producing now. What inspired you to change direction?
I think quite honestly I knew I couldn’t be a great classical player. I just didn’t have the commitment to practice for five-six hours every day like so many of them do and I found so much of the ‘alone’ time in a practice room to be really anti-social and depressing at times. Songwriting came naturally to me and I just continued to do it and do small shows. I never imagined I’d get the opportunity to be on radio and have my album performed with a Chamber Orchestra. It’s exciting to say the least.

Your band still appears to have that classical influence, with instruments that rarely grace mainstream pop recordings. What do you think the strings and woodwind instruments bring to your sound?
I’d like to think it makes it quite unique, but in recent years there’s actually been a renaissance of this sort of style of music and writing. The guidelines for a single, album, video etc. have all been thrown out the window these days. Hopefully at the very least it can show people that instruments shouldn’t be locked into set genres and they can have the ability to do all sorts of things before adding laptop effects. Certainly during the golden age of songwriting (’60s, ’70s) these instruments were used in their prime.

You’ve got such a unique sound. Who are some of your musical influences?
I spent a large part of my teens listening to Tori Amos’s Boys for Pele, that album really spoke to me along with Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside. Recently I’ve been listening to Goldfrapp’s Seventh Tree, the Beach House album, and believe it or not some Katy Perry! “California Gurls” is a great dancing song and I do love dancing.

So your hometown fans will get to see you at your single launch. Do you have any plans to take your live show to the rest of the country?
Last year I was lucky enough to do a small tour for the “Hopechest” single, to Canberra and Melbourne and in the past I’ve also been to Newcastle for the TINA (This is Not Art) festival, but due to weather complications was a difficult show to perform. I’d like to plan another tour in the works for Picture Window around Australia and am looking at going to the UK as well where my music has a small popularity.

What do you enjoy most about being on stage?
To be honest I don’t really. I get very anxious before I go on and during but I’ve learnt to overcome that in time. Live performance is always unpredictable, as though some kind of beast and anything can go right or wrong. I think though, having the songs be able to stand up on their own, in front of people who are hopefully connecting with them gives the songs a chance to really exist and live.

Do you have anything else in the pipeline?
Album launch in May with launch party TBA! Keep your eyes out. Rainbow Chan and I have our show on March 30 at The Conservatorium and are discussing writing and recording a duet in the near future. UK tour and a possibility of a main-stage Oxford Art Factory show in June. Big wheels turning.

Image used with permission from Positive Feedback

Major Label Signs Mildlife

General Pants Co.’s innovative Major Label initiative is celebrating its second birthday with a brand new signing.

Melbourne electro-pop quartet Mildlife are the latest indie act to join the program with their new single “Milk & Wool.” Their sound is an interesting blend of retro influences and contemporary innovation. No wonder it caught the ears of the General Pants Co. crew.

You can head to the General Pants Co. website and click on Major Label to hear “Milk & Wool” for free. If you love it you can also purchase it from iTunes, secure in the knowledge that General Pants Co. returns all royalties to the acts it signs up.

And remember if you’ve got a band you might be Major Label’s next signing. Simple submit your track via General Pants Co.’s website or take your demo into your nearest General Pants Co. store.

Image used with permission from AVM Publicity

DaniElle DeLaite Cracks American Dance Charts

Kiama’s DaniElle DeLaite is a relative unknown here in Australia, but she’s burning up the American Billboard dance charts with her new single “Love Sex Goddess.”

“Love Sex Goddess” is the current number five breakout artist on the US chart, an honour which sees her placed with big names like Nicki Minaj and Paulina Rubio. However unlike these acts she doesn’t have the backing of a big record company. Instead DaniElle is going it along with her independent label Lizard E.D.

DaniElle honed her craft in Sydney’s nightclubs before heading to Paris with the promise of a dream licensing deal. When that fell through, DaniElle followed her brother to America. She was an instant hit in the clubs that nurtured Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Lady GaGa, and with her current single’s success it seems her star is definitely on the up!

Image used with permission from DaniElle DeLaite

The Getaway Plan Announce Groovin’ The Moo Sideshows

The Getaway Plan are the latest act to announce Groovin’ The Moo sideshows. The Aussie rockers will play three club shows in the major capitals to complement the regional festival dates.

The dates are well timed to support the release of the Melbourne band’s latest single “Move Along.” I’m in love with the film clip, which showcases some of the most gorgeous spots in Western Victoria. It’s inspiring me to do my own travelling!

Tickets are on sale now for the following Getaway Plan shows.

3 May 2012 – The Corner Hotel, Richmond
5 May 2012 – Groovin’ The Moo, Bendigo
6 May 2012 – Groovin’ The Moo, Townsville
11 May 2012 – The Standard, Sydney
12 May 2012 – Groovin’ The Moo, Maitland
13 May 2012 – Groovin’ The Moo, Canberra
18 May 2012 – The Amplifier, Perth
19 May 2012 – Groovin’ The Moo, Bunbury