Mistletone

Mistletone is elated to announce Beach House, DIIV and METZ as part of the humungous Laneway Festival 2016 lineup. Laneway tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday 30 September at 9am (local time) from here.

Saturday 30 January: Laneway Singapore @ The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay, Singapore.

Artwork by Greedy Hen

We are overjoyed to announce a lineup to sizzle your heartstrings for our SUMMER TONES party at The Shadow Electric, Abbotsford Convent on Tuesday, January 26. Tickets $55 + booking fee on sale now from The Shadow Electric. Proudly presented by Mistletone and Triple R.

Summer Tones will be headlined by KURT VILE (USA) and also features guest of honour VIC SIMMS (La Perouse, NSW), plus MICHAEL HURLEY (USA), MEG BAIRD (USA), RYLEY WALKER (USA), and local champions MONTERO, TOTALLY MILD, THE ORBWEAVERS, TERRY and WINTERCOATS, plus courtyard DJs JONNY (HTRK) and KATE REID; and a few surprises to be announced. A smouldering Summer Tones lineup curated with love to induce deep heat and joyous states on a summer day.

Headlining the outdoor stage at Summer Tones will be Philadelphia’s own KURT VILE, in his first ever solo Melbourne performance. Kurt Vile‘s solo performances are a beauty to behold; as the Sydney Morning Herald wrote of his Sydney Festival solo performance last year, “Yes, tonight’s show ends too early. That would have been my complaint had it gone ’til dawn”. Summer Tones guest of honour is the legendary VIC SIMMS, one of this country’s most entertaining of entertainers; a Bidjigal man from La Perouse, NSW who made the long-lost classic album The Loner, an Australian masterpiece recorded in Bathurst jail in 1973. The Summer Tones lineup features three more esteemed North American guests; much-loved rollicking folk troubadour MICHAEL HURLEY; rising Chicago psych-folk guitar great RYLEY WALKER, hailed by Uncut and The Guardian as a worthy successor to Nick Drake and Tim Buckley; and the illustrious MEG BAIRD, a master of deep psych-folk vibrations whose collaborators include Will Oldham, Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn and Sharon Van Etten; Meg Baird is revered as a solo artist as well as a founder of thunderous doom-folk outfit Heron Oblivion (recently signed to Sub Pop Records). Local champions on the Summer Tones lineup include the eagerly-awaited return of MONTERO, led by travelling stargazer and celebrated comic book artist Ben Montero, who’s been recording a new album in London with Jay Watson (Tame Impala/Pond/Gum) in Mark Ronson’s Tileyard Studio; indie popstarz TOTALLY MILD, who ruled the Meredith ‘Sup with their melancholic masterpiece Down Time, one of the best Australian albums released this year or any year; treasures of Melbourne THE ORBWEAVERS, deep in the process of creating their visionary new album Deep Leads, drawing on stories from Melbourne’s natural and industrial history and exploring themes of mining, botany, poisons, working life and folklore; the misshapen glam pop glory of TERRY — divide Terry into four and you get Al Montfort (UV Race, Total Control, Dick Diver etc.), Amy Hill (Constant Mongrel, School Of Radiant Living), Xanthe Waite (Mick Harvey Band) and Zephyr Pavey (Eastlink, Total Control, Russell Street Bombings); the sumptuous one-man symphony who is WINTERCOATS, soon to unveil a debut album of much wonderment; plus cosmic courtyard DJ action from DJs JONNY (HTRK) and KATE REID (Psychedelic Coven / It Records).

In announcing this event, Mistletone’s founders — husband and wife team Ash and Sophie Miles — made the following statement: “Summer Tones is a celebration of summer and beautiful music. We are very conscious that our event falls on Survival Day / Invasion Day, and we acknowledge the deep cultural pain of this day. We pay our respects to the Wurundjeri people on whose land we are holding our event. Always was, Always will be, Aboriginal land. We hope that in the future, Australia can find the maturity and sensivity to nominate a more inclusive date to celebrate a true national holiday and will be donating $1 per ticket sold to a local Aboriginal community organisation.”

Artwork by Aaron Billings

RYLEY WALKER plays MELBOURNE: Monday January 25 @ The Toff with special guest Palm Springs. Presented by Triple R. Tickets on sale now from Moshtix.

Mistletone is proud as punch to present the first Australian tour by rising Chicago guitar virtuoso and neo-psychedelic singer-songwriter par excellence, Ryley Walker. Making the journey to Australia by invitation of Sydney Festival and riding the velvet coat-tails of his brilliant and hugely acclaimed album Primrose Green (released earlier this year on Dead Oceans via Inertia), Ryley Walker plays flawless, crisp jazz-folk songs in the vein of the end-of-the 1960s zeitgeist — but imbued with a fire, spirit and youth that transforms his every show into a mesmeric, jaw-dropping wig-out.

• “Ryley Walker’s Primrose Green may take notes from shaggy-haired ’70s dudes — hell, just look at the cover art — and root itself firmly in Walker’s dexterous acoustic guitar skills. But its spirit is beyond and is unruly. This is rock ‘n’ roll” – NPR
• “Crests warm currents of jazz, folk and rock as, say, Van Morrison and Tim Buckley did… (but) while Walker has absorbed these admirably free-roaming influences, this is clearly someone reaching for their essence” – UNCUT (9 out of 10)
• “Stoned, summery 70s-style jazz-folk” – The Guardian (4 stars)

Artwork by Aaron Billings

RYLEY WALKER TOUR DATES:

• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Friday January 22 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 8pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Saturday January 23 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 5:45pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
• BRISBANE: Sunday January 24 @ The Junk Bar. Tickets on sale now from Oztix.
• MELBOURNE: Monday January 25 @ The Toff with special guest. Presented by Triple R. Tickets on sale now from Moshtix.

Mistletone is proud as punch to present the first Australian tour by rising Chicago guitar virtuoso and neo-psychedelic singer-songwriter par excellence, Ryley Walker. Making the journey to Australia by invitation of Sydney Festival and riding the velvet coat-tails of his brilliant and hugely acclaimed album Primrose Green (released earlier this year on Dead Oceans via Inertia), Ryley Walker plays flawless, crisp jazz-folk songs in the vein of the end-of-the 1960s zeitgeist — but imbued with a fire, spirit and youth that transforms his every show into a mesmeric, jaw-dropping wig-out.

• “Ryley Walker’s Primrose Green may take notes from shaggy-haired ’70s dudes — hell, just look at the cover art — and root itself firmly in Walker’s dexterous acoustic guitar skills. But its spirit is beyond and is unruly. This is rock ‘n’ roll” – NPR
• “Crests warm currents of jazz, folk and rock as, say, Van Morrison and Tim Buckley did… (but) while Walker has absorbed these admirably free-roaming influences, this is clearly someone reaching for their essence” – UNCUT (9 out of 10)
• “Stoned, summery 70s-style jazz-folk” – The Guardian (4 stars)

• SYDNEY FESTIVAL present QUIET MUSIC FOR CURIOUS EARS: MICHAEL HURLEY & MEG BAIRD, Sunday January 24 @ St Stephen’s Church. Doors open 6pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.

Artwork by Michael Hurley, layout by Carl Breitkreuz

MICHAEL HURLEY: SAT JAN 23 – Northcote Social Club with special guest Joel Silbersher plus DJ Downpat (A G Picks, O’Tomorrow). Presented by Triple R.

This show has now sold out. Stay tuned to Mistletone’s Facebook page for further announcements.

Mistletone could not be more overjoyed to present the first ever Australian tour by one of the last of America’s true outsider folk troubadours, Michael Hurley. We at Mistletone (Ash & Sophie) have been long-time loving fans of Michael Hurley; he is an artist whose music means a great deal to us, and our hearts are overflowing with gratitude that he is finally coming to our shores!

Michael Hurley’s music sounds old, like it has always existed, and simultaneously singular, like something you’ve never heard anyone else play quite like that before. This timeless quality ensures that Hurley’s audience constantly renews itself. From the the beatniks in the NYC Village where he started in the early 60s, to the hippies in Vermont, to the Americana fans, indie rockers and freak folkers from the last two decades, and those who have covered and championed his songs — from Cat Power to Calexico — Michael’s music never fails to find fresh new ears. Pressed for a description, Hurley has called it “jazz-hyped blues and country and western music”.

Michael Hurley grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As a teenager in the 1950s he fell in love hearing the music of Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley blast from the radio, and was enthralled by the records of Blind Willie McTell, Hank Williams and Uncle Dave Macon that he sought for his own. This love for music, true and unvarnished, supplied him with a finely tuned musical compass he has not wavered from for 50 years and counting.

Hurley’s early records were released on Folkways, Warner Brothers/Raccoon and Rounder, while in recent years stalwart independent labels like Gnomonsong, Mississippi and Tompkins Square have been carrying the torch. A new album on the Mississippi label is due this spring. Besides being a truly unique musician, Hurley is also a cartoonist and watercolor artist of note — the instantly recognizable results of which grace his album covers.

Hurley now resides on the northwest coast of the USA, so appearances outside that region have been scarce the last decade; so we are doubly grateful that he is making the long and we hope, fruitful journey to Australia’s shores at long last.

Artwork by Aaron Billings

RYLEY WALKER TOUR DATES:

• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Friday January 22 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 8pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
• SYDNEY FESTIVAL: Saturday January 23 @ The Famous Spiegeltent, 5:45pm. Tickets on sale now from Sydney Festival.
• BRISBANE: Sunday January 24 @ The Junk Bar. Tickets on sale now from Oztix.
• MELBOURNE: Monday January 25 @ The Toff with special guest. Presented by Triple R. Tickets on sale now from Moshtix.

Mistletone is proud as punch to present the first Australian tour by rising Chicago guitar virtuoso and neo-psychedelic singer-songwriter par excellence, Ryley Walker. Making the journey to Australia by invitation of Sydney Festival and riding the velvet coat-tails of his brilliant and hugely acclaimed album Primrose Green (released earlier this year on Dead Oceans via Inertia), Ryley Walker plays flawless, crisp jazz-folk songs in the vein of the end-of-the 1960s zeitgeist — but imbued with a fire, spirit and youth that transforms his every show into a mesmeric, jaw-dropping wig-out.

• “Ryley Walker’s Primrose Green may take notes from shaggy-haired ’70s dudes — hell, just look at the cover art — and root itself firmly in Walker’s dexterous acoustic guitar skills. But its spirit is beyond and is unruly. This is rock ‘n’ roll” – NPR
• “Crests warm currents of jazz, folk and rock as, say, Van Morrison and Tim Buckley did… (but) while Walker has absorbed these admirably free-roaming influences, this is clearly someone reaching for their essence” – UNCUT (9 out of 10)
• “Stoned, summery 70s-style jazz-folk” – The Guardian (4 stars)