Tag Archives: Hip Hop

THE LAURELS + Special Guests at Hotel Gearin, Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Fri 25th Nov 2016

The Laurels
+ Special Guests
Zeahorse
Imperial Broads
Broken Chip (DJ)

Fri 25th Nov 2016
HOTEL GEARIN
Venue: HOTEL GEARIN
273 Great Western Hwy, Katoomba
Blue Mountains NSW 2780.

laurels-photo250

”Probably the best live band in Sydney…. What The Laurels are doing is special. There’s no better way to express it” – The Music

“The Laurels are one of the most compelling bands around.” – The Age *****

It’s been four years since The Laurels released their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Plains’ and many wondered if they’d ever hear from the band again. Their social media accounts were blanketed with questions about the whereabouts of new material and band members were regularly interrogated by drunken concert attendees, culminating in numerous requests to “stop fucking around and release something!”

So what have The Laurels been doing in that time and why has it taken so long for something new to surface? The relentless touring that followed the release of ‘Plains’ saw the band pushing the limits of what they could achieve as a live band and yearning for a new approach in the studio. Growing particularly fond of golden age hip hop and with classic albums from GZA, Nas and Gang Starr dominating the touring van’s stereo, the rawness and grittiness of hip hop production felt new and inspiring to a band that had become renowned for their lush sonic textures.

Rice Is Nice are freakin thrilled to announce Sonicology, The Laurels second record, will be out on October 14. ‘Reentry’ is the first single to be lifted from the album.

‘Reentry’ was written and recorded whilst camped out on a friends lounge room floor during the Blue Mountains bush fires of 2013. Forced to leave behind all valuables except for instruments and with the sky glowing red as they loaded up the car, The Laurels aimed to cause some explosions of their own when they reentered the city.

Written with the express intention of being the first song on the album, it functions similar to how a hype man in a rap crew would (something The Laurels lack as they are not a rap group and usually quite modest). Pumping up the bands own tyres, declaring their mission statement, calling out world leaders with the wrong priorities whilst referencing cool things such as monks, enlightenment and the Philadelphia Experiment for extra street cred. ‘Reentry’ also expresses the bands dissatisfaction at always being lumped in with one genre of music.

Aiming to break free of the musical tags usually levelled at them, the band recruited Drew Houston of Sydney sewer jazz collective Wild Cat Falling on saxophone to wail over the band’s signature twin guitar attack bringing a whole new dimension to their sound. Line up changes saw Kate Wilson depart and Jasper Fenton join and SPOD got behind the desk and mixed the record. Distorted synthesizers puncture the mix while heavenly church bells ring out over the building cacophony.

Contrary to popular belief, The Laurels have not spent the past four years sitting in their lounge room punching cones. They’ve overcome adversity (and hundreds of annoying questions) to craft an eclectic collection of music which they are thrilled to share with you.

It’s a band loudly broadcasting their return across the airwaves – tune into their frequency!

www.facebook.com/theelaurels
http://thelaurels.bandcamp.com/

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Zeahorse are a band based in Sydney, Australia. They originally formed in Lismore, NSW.
The Music say’s of Zehorse’s release ‘Pools’ “On Pools, the Sydney band demonstrate an evolution into a much tighter unit which maintains the baritone guitar noise fundamental to the Zeahorse sound; it wouldn’t be them without the super down-tempo of tracks like opener Career, lead single Tugboat (a personal favourite), the aptly titled Familiar Faeces and a banjo hoedown in Junktown Train. It’s music that is clearly made for their own pleasure – and fuck the rest if they don’t like it.” – Adam Wilding

Morgan Anthony – Guitar/Vox,
Max Foskett – Baritone guitar
Ben Howell – Bass
Julien Crendal – Drums

www.facebook.com/Zeahorse
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imperialbroads250

Imperial Broads make garage music that’s big on three-part harmonies and melodies you can hum on your way home.
Consisting of Pip Smith (guitar/vox), Lauren Crew (bass/vox), Eve Lande (guitar/vox) and Nick Kennedy (drums). The band started as three girls in a garage, in Marrickville, in winter, freezing their tits off, with ambitious ideas of making harmony packed punk music and learning their instruments along the way. Fairly quickly they realised they weren’t exactly punk but there was an interesting sound developing and they needed a drummer to make it less Marine Girls and more Saints. Enter: Nick Kennedy on drums (phew), ready to go nuts and have a lot of fun doing it. Drunk people at shows have described the band as: “blasting”, “mad”, “doo-wop-punk”, “garage”, “like something off the Aussie 80s Ugly Things comp” and (their most coveted) “CBGBs 70s era”. With a rhythm section aiming for New York punk, three lead vocals layered with harmonies and guitar influences equally Roland S Howard and The Shadows, we are hell bent on making our own brand of interesting noise.

www.facebook.com/imperialbroads
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With a contempt for conventionality and a love for experimentation, Broken Chip creates music that is electronic yet organic, machine yet human. Traditional instruments and homemade software are used for this expedition into the sonic wilderness; this Australian artist conducts an orchestra of fat wet boots crunching through snow, of dark leaky basements, of wind whispering through winter wastelands. It’s a lesson in evoking mood.

www.facebook.com/brokenchip
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Venue: HOTEL GEARIN
273 Great Western Hwy, Katoomba
Blue Mountains NSW 2780.
*Please note that Hotel Gearin shows are over 18’s only.

Doors Open 8:30pm.
Show Starts 8:30pm with a DJ set from Blue Mountains local Broken Chip.

General Admission. Room configuration is a mix of cabaret seating and standing/dancing.

Tickets pre-sale $15 available from KATOOMBA MUSIC, 140 Katoomba St, Katoomba, NSW 2780 (Tues-Sat. Cash Only) or the Hotel Gearin front Bar during open hours.

Or online $16.50 (Including booking fees): www.stickytickets.com.au/43558

Or $15 on the Door from 8:30pm (Unless Sold Out)

CONTACT DETAILS:

THE CROOKED FIDDLE BAND + DVA (Czech Republic) + Vanessa Caspersz & Gaia Scarf at Hotel Gearin, Katoomba Blue Mountains, Fri 1st May 2015

Nomadic Fish and Fusion Boutique Present:
THE CROOKED FIDDLE BAND
+ DVA (Czech Republic)
+ Special Guests – Vanessa Caspersz & Gaia Scarf (Blue Mountains)

Fri 1st May 2015
HOTEL GEARIN
Venue: HOTEL GEARIN
273 Great Western Hwy, Katoomba
Blue Mountains NSW 2780.

One Show Only – Don’t miss your chance to enjoy this unique musical experience!

The mesmerising and fiery acoustic 4-piece that is THE CROOKED FIDDLE BAND deliver high-energy Chainsaw Future-Folk. Post-Apocalyptic World Music. Celtic Energy. Swamp-Stomping Hoe down. Dance-Inciting Mayhem. Hardcore Gypsy Passion!

The Crooked Fiddle Band formed in 2006 through their mutual love of the energy and intensity of various traditional world music. Whilst writing and arranging, they discovered that this energy was shared by the other music they love: there seems to be a common thread between the frenetic accompaniment of gypsy, klezmer and punk rock; between the twisting rhythms of math-metal and balkan folk; between the clear tonalities of Scandinavian folk, Celtic folk, and cinematic post rock.

All these influences went into the mix, but what came out was The Crooked Fiddle Band. The sound they love is dark and often driving, but also writhing and ecstatic. They have jumped around with whirling crowds at festivals, bars and dirty warehouse parties throughout Europe and Australia and also played their more cinematic sounds in the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House.
From whirling dances to intense battle-scene climaxes, this four-piece spurs the dance floor into a post-apocalyptic hoe down.

This music they have sometimes called ‘chainsaw folk’ – even though they are pro-conservation – but others have called it “14th century Romanian metal”, “thrash folk”, “whirlwind gypsy” and even “what Sepultura would sound like if they provided the soundtrack to a hyperactive version of O Brother Where Art Thou.” So whilst the search continues for a name for their genre, they are mainly concerned with making music with melody, energy and intensity.

Driven by the beautiful and furious fiddling of Jess Randall (also on Lennart Lovdin Nyckelharpa), and underpinned by a rhythm section featuring Gordon Wallace (Gilet guitar, a Wheeler Customer Lutherie guizouki and a Fylde mandolin and cittern), Mark Stevens (double bass, Appalachian dulcimer, charango) and Joe Gould (drum kit, hand percussion, garbage bin, vocals) the Crooked Fiddle Band sound blasts, rocks and grooves to the point of dementia, compelling listeners into a joyous frenzy.

Their music has been described by Brian Eno as “…completely surprising: the music is original and quixotic. I can’t say I’ve ever heard anything else like it!”

“This band really is a national treasure and testament to the infinite talent that keeps manifesting in our backyard… this group have re-invented folk music as it is known… The Crooked Fiddle Band charmed the audience into submission.” – Vanessa Lahey, Australian Stage

“When The Crooked Fiddle Band took to the stage, it was as though someone had put 10,000 volts through the dance floor.” – BEAT magazine.

www.crookedfiddleband.com
www.facebook.com/crookedfiddleband

DVA (Hradec Králové / Pardubice / Czech Republic) create alt-pop-songs / kitchen beat box / tango / cabaret / cirkus / radionoise!

Operating in their own microcosm, DVA have stood out with an idiosyncratic sonic lexicon – “pop for non-existing radios” or “folklore of non-existing nations”, as they say. The duo – it takes two “dva” in Czech, to tango – Bára Kratochvílová and Jan Kratochvíl, have carved out a niche with their rich musical landscape. Established in 2006, the Czech project have toured the world, playing at esteemed festivals including SXSW, Eurosonic, Fusion or OFF, charming their growing global fan base with smart sophisticated pop. In 2012, DVA toured the US twice and played more than 80 concerts in 10 countries. DVA’s soundtrack for the computer game Botanicula scooped the main prize at Independent Games Festival awards in San Francisco last year, and was also nominated for the UK Sound & Music Awards.

DVA’s much-acclaimed debut album Fonók was released in 2008 which was followed by Hu in 2010, and an eponymous soundtrack for the aforementioned video game in 2013 with a new record Nipomo. Their lyrics, written in an imaginary language, remain abstruse, yet universally comprehensible, while the music is similarly peculiarly universal – an aural collage of “pop, kitchen beatbox, tango, cabaret, circus, radio noise”, bearing their unmistakable stamp – quirky, but accessible. Championed by critics – from the BBC to national and specialist music press and beyond – and fans alike, DVA are one of the most successful Czech bands to emerge in the last decade. Aside from music, they are also active in theatre whose features they have transferred into the music as well. It is not surprising then that the project’s seeds were sewn during the recording of the science fiction radio play by I. Asimov – Victory Unintentional. DVA are a living and breathing aural organism, its own thing.

www.2dva.cz
www.facebook.com/hudba2

Blue Mountains locals Vanessa Caspersz and Gaia Scarf will be opening up the evening with their own endearing and quirky blend of Jazz / Folk / Hip Hop / Beatbox.

“I like to pretend that I am a dj but only have my mouth and a ukulele” Vanessa Caspersz.
She holds an orchestra of drums, vocals and trumpet in her mouth, a ukulele in her hands and a loop pedal at her feet

Vanessa Caspersz is an up-and-coming artist from the Blue Mountains, home of Australian hip hop sensations Hermitude, Urthboy and Thundamentals. Starting off performing acoustically, Vanessa branched out into developing her beat boxing skills when she moved to London in 2011. She worked closely with well-established beat boxing artists Reeps One and Shlomo, and joined the London Contemporary Voices choir, incorporating vocal percussion into their performances and touring at festivals across the country. Beyond her tight beat boxing skills, Vanessa has a hauntingly striking voice and plays a mean ukulele that captivates her audience and brings her beats to life. She competed in both the UK and Australian beat box championships, and is currently performing and collaborating with various artists.

www.facebook.com/vanessacaspersz
www.youtube.com/user/vanessacaspersz

 

Doors Open 8:30pm.
Support Starts 9pm.
General Admission. Room configuration is a mix of cabaret seating and standing/dancing.

Tickets $15 pre-sale available NOW from:
KATOOMBA MUSIC, 140 Katoomba St, Katoomba, NSW 2780 (Cash Only)

Online $16.50 (Including booking fees):
www.trybooking.com/HDTG

$20 on the Door from 8:30pm Friday 1st May 2015 (Unless Sold Out)