Mistletone

CORNELIUS TOUR DATES:

FRIDAY JUNE 16: RISING MELBOURNE @ THE FORUM. Tickets on sale here.
SATURDAY JUNE 17: VIVID SYDNEY @ TUMBALONG NIGHTS. Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, free outdoor event. More info here.

Cornelius is the brainchild of Japanese multi-instrumentalist Keigo Oyamada, one of the pillars of electronic music with a dazzling career spanning four decades. A performing musician since his teens, Oyamada created his creative alter-ego (the name is an homage to Planet of the Apes), in the early 1990s from the ashes of his previous project, Flipper’s Guitar, a duo that arose as part of the influential Shibuya-kei movement. 

With the 1997 release of Fantasma, Cornelius gained international recognition for his cut and paste style, reminiscent of American counterparts Beck and The Beastie Boys. Fantasma, often considered Cornelius’ magnum opus, was released internationally by Matador Records. Dubbed as the “modern-day Brian Wilson” and “Japanese Beck” for his orchestral-style arrangements and production techniques, Cornelius subsequently became one of the most sought after producer/remixers in the world, working with a wide range of artists including Blur, Beck, Bloc Party, MGMT, and James Brown.

With 2002’s Point, Cornelius’ music took a quantum shift, going from sampling “found sounds” to looping organic elements and creating lush soundscapes. Using water drops as the rhythmic backbone of “Drop” on his vocoder-infused cover of “Brazil”, the album dazed and amazed fans and set the path for the next phase of his career. 2007 brought this philosophy to an even higher level with the release of Sensuous.

The companion piece to the album Sensurround + B Sides, earned the nomination for “Best Surround Sound Album” at the 2009 GRAMMY Awards. The summer of 2016 saw the release of Fantasma Remastered, on Lefse Records. The package, a 2LP reissue of his classic album, also included 4 additional outtakes and earned Pitchfork’s “Best New Reissue”.

Cornelius has recorded music for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, scored the anime mega-film Ghost in the Shell Arise, performed as the backbone of Yoko Ono’s reformed Plastic Ono Band, played the Hollywood Bowl with Yellow Magic Orchestra, and co-wrote and produced the Japanese artist salyu x salyu. He has continued his extensive remix series along with production work for Takeshi Kobayashi and Yoko Ono, amongst others.

Cornelius’ live shows are known around the world for spectacular visuals (all perfectly synchronized to the performance), custom lighting that doesn’t simply augment the performance, but becomes another instrument within it, and a full band of equally talented and diverse players.

 

WEYES BLOOD “IN HOLY FLUX TOUR: NEW DAWN” TOUR DATES:

Thursday  June 1 – Sydney: Vivid LIVE @ Sydney Opera House. SOLD OUT
Saturday June 3 – Brisbane: Princess Theatre with special guest Jack Ladder. Presented by Jet Black Cat Music.  TICKETS
Sunday June 4 – Sydney: Vivid LIVE @ Sydney Opera House. TICKETS
Wednesday June 7 – Melbourne: RISING @ The Forum with special guest Lost Animal. TICKETS
Thursday June 8 – Melbourne: RISING @ The Forum with special guest Lost Animal. TICKETS
Friday June 9 – Perth: The Rechabite with special guest Nicholas Allbrook. TICKETS

Mistletone proudly presents the return of Weyes Blood (American singer-songwriter Natalie Mering), touring in the wake of her overwhelmingly-acclaimed new album And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. Having sold out her first Sydney Opera House show for Vivid LIVE, and added a second Vivid show as well as an additional RISING show at The Forum Melbourne, Weyes Blood will play headline shows in Brisbane and Perth on her tour title “In Holy Flux Tour: New Dawn“. Tickets on sale now.

“The singer-songwriter’s secular hymnals and eerie psych-folk songs have an almost sacred quality when played live, leaving the crowd in a state of spellbound rapture” – THE GUARDIAN ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

A galaxy of isolation, narcissism fatigue, technological agitation. These are the new norms that keep Natalie Mering up at night, and the themes at the heart of the celestial new Weyes Blood album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. 

Weyes Blood’s dreamy torch songs of doom have never been more revealing of the present moment. If Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is in the thick of it, searching for an escape hatch from algorithms and ideological chaos.

“We’re in a fully functional shit show,” said Mering. “My heart is a glow stick that’s been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness.”

The “In Holy Flux Tour: New Dawn” shows will begin on June 1st at the Sydney Opera House as a part of Vivid LIVE and on June 7th at RISING Melbourne, with more to be announced.

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow has earned Weyes Blood praise from outlets across the globe, including album of the year honors from SPIN and Sunday Times Culture, and featuring in over 50 “Best of 2022” albums and singles lists, including MOJO, NME, Pitchfork, Stereogum, New York Times, and more. Weyes Blood was no. 5 on Sunday Times Culture’s “20 Best Singers of This Century” (alongside Sam Smith, Beyonce, Adele, and Amy Winehouse).  

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow’s ten tracks were written by Natalie Mering, with album production from Mering along with Jonathan Rado on all songs except for “A Given Thing,” produced by Mering and Rodaidh McDonald. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow was mixed by Kenny Gilmore at 101 Studio, mastered by Emily Lazar and Chris Allgood at The Lodge, and features guest appearances from Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Mary Lattimore.

What people are saying about And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow:

“A masterpiece.” ★★★★★ Sunday Times Culture

“Stunning…” New York Times

“One of the year’s most breathtaking records”.” ★★★★★ NME

“Natalie Mering, SPIN’s 2022 “Artist of the Year,” made an album of our time, embracing the connections, the isolations, the breakups, the coming-togethers, the hopes and the dreads with focus intimately personal and vision expansively communal (Album of the Year).” SPIN

“An urgent and gorgeous ode to human connection that washes over the listener like a revelation (#2/30 Best Albums of 2022).” The AV Club

“Her voice alone is worth preserving humanity for…(9/10).” Uncut

“And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is intricately put together, with Mering mirroring the sentiments of in head-bending arrangements.” ★★★★  Rolling Stone

“One fantastic tune after another (Album of the Week).” ★★★★ The Guardian

“…Through stark truths and dreamy poetry, brushes against big ideas about our broken world and quiet apocalypses of her own: it’s an ecosystem of intimacy, in its power to redeem and to destroy.” NPR Music

“Utterly contemporary and original (9/10).” Loud & Quiet

“Natalie Mering’s magisterial new record as Weyes Blood is her continued homage to love songs beyond the 1970s and into the 2020s (#2/The Best Albums of 2022).” – FLOOD

“…A record of remarkable consideration. Magnificently composed. Feeling like a timeless classic (9/10).” The Line of Best Fit

“...Her grandest, most elegant work to date (9/10).” Under the Radar

“An idiosyncratic set of love songs and secular hymns with lushly orchestral arrangements (8.4/10, “Best New Music”).” Pitchfork

“Never before have songs that portend certain doom for mankind sounded so sweet and catchy (The Best Albums of 2022).” UPROXX

“It’s a true gem.” ★★★★½ The Forty Five

“Gorgeous, sprawling soundscapes (8/10).” CRACK

“Even as Weyes Blood sings of isolation, societal collapse, and disastrous heartbreak, there’s a glimmer of optimism, relayed in her vivid lyricism and atmospheric, chamber-pop melodies (“The 55 Best Albums of 2022”).” Alternative Press

Mistletone proudly presents the début Australian tour by rising dream-folk singer-songwriter,  Ichiko Aoba. 

Having quickly sold out her RISING Melbourne performance at The Forum, Ichiko Aoba makes her Sydney début at City Recital Hall with special guest, Laura Jean.

ICHIKO AOBA AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES:
SYDNEY: Tuesday June 6 at City Recital Hall with special guest, Laura Jean. Tickets on sale here. * selling fast!
MELBOURNE: Wednesday June 7 at RISING, The Toff * sold out
MELBOURNE: Thursday June 8 at RISING, The Forum * sold out

“A tone so potent and pure that it suggests the subtle command of magic” — Jenn Pelly, THE NEW YORKER

“Ichiko Aoba’s greatest strength is her ability to create pockets of intimacy. The Japanese singer-songwriter’s breathy vocals and placid guitar playing, often the only sounds you’d hear on her records, create a hypnotizing shroud that makes you feel like she’s performing for you alone” – PITCHFORK

Ichiko Aoba recently release a live album, presented by The Barbican and recorded live at London’s Milton Court with a 12 piece ensemble.  Stream here and watch the mesmerising performance below:

Japanese singer and songwriter Ichiko Aoba has steadily attracted listeners in her homeland since she released her first album back in 2010, but it took more than a decade for her gorgeous sounds to start making serious international inroads. It all changed when she dropped the stunning Windswept Adan in 2020, which was reissued by US label Ba Da Bing a year later. Suddenly, Ichiko has achieved global fame — all it took was giving listeners access to her work — and has been touring the world, making even more converts.

Ichiko designed Windswept Adan as the soundtrack to an imaginary film that existed only in her own mind, set on a pair of fictional islands. For the most part Ichiko complements her beautifully soft singing with deceptively simple patterns plucked on an acoustic guitar, although at times those elements are complemented by soothing harmonium, field recordings of water lapping at a shoreline, and ultra-spare percussion (when beats are present at all).

Within those basic parameters, Ichiko delivers something transcendent, a levitating sound world embroidered with wispy melodies masterfully intoned in a voice that evokes emotions and atmospheres far more elastic and powerful than her hushed delivery initially suggests. The same can be said for the guitar playing, where every arpeggio and translucent fingerpicked phrase not only casts a meditative spell, but produces a sparkling lattice of cycling tones that expertly glides along with her exquisite vocal lines.

Born on January 28th, 1990, Ichiko Aoba has released 6 solo albums and has taken her talent to another level, taking on roles in narration, advertisement, theatre music, and installation art. She continues to create a world of fantasy where the heart warmly beats.

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS TOUR DATES:

TUESDAY MARCH 28: FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE with special guests Erasers. * SOLD OUT!
THURSDAY MARCH 30: KAMBRI @ ANU CANBERRA with special guest John Sharkey III. Tickets on sale here.
FRIDAY MARCH 31: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE CONCERT HALL. * SOLD OUT!
SATURDAY APRIL 1: MEADOW FESTIVAL VICTORIA. Tickets on sale now.
MONDAY APRIL 3: THE PRINCESS THEATRE BRISBANE with special guest Mess Esque. * SOLD OUT!
WEDNESDAY APRIL 5: NORTHCOTE THEATRE MELBOURNE with special guest Mick Turner. * SOLD OUT!
THURSDAY APRIL 6: NORTHCOTE THEATRE MELBOURNE with special guests Martin Frawley + DJ Tony Pepperoni. Extra show by popular demand. Tickets on sale here.
FRIDAY APRIL 7: CASTLEMAINE STATE FESTIVAL. Tickets on sale here.

Mistletone proudly presents the return of Kurt Vile & the Violators. Over a couple of decades, Kurt Vile has perfected his own strand of blissed-out guitar rock, balancing catchiness with being “fried,” as he likes to put it. Fresh from an acclaimed new album (watch my moves) via Verve Records / Virgin Music Australia, and a whirlwind Australian trip which saw him share the stage with long-time pal and collaborator Courtney Barnett, opening for Nick Cave and Warren Ellis at Hanging Rock, Kurt Vile brings his slow-burnin’, free-wheelin’ jams back to Australia for a full band tour.

“He’s one of the last examples of a rock‘n’roll frontiersman who’s going to be famous. He’s like the Mars 1 mission” – SEAN YEATON (PARQUET COURTS), 2016

Kurt recorded (watch my moves) in his home studio in Philly’s Mount Airy neighbourhood of Philadelphia, with help from longtime collaborator Rob Schnapf (Richard Thompson, Elliott Smith). Across the record, which includes 14 originals as well as a version of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Wages of Sin’, Vile pulls his talents in unexpected directions, resulting in a vibrant, yet meditative album propelled by his trademark laid-back charm and curious spirit. The album’s artwork features Kurt’s daughters Delphine and Awilda, who recently joined their dad for a festive version of Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa”.

Reflecting on the record, Vile shared: “When Waylon Jennings became an outlaw country artist, he liked to record at Hillbilly Central, which was Tompall Glaser’s studio. OKV Central is my version of that in Mount Airy. I’ve come into my own here, and at the same time I’m getting back to my home-recording roots,” and continues, “It’s about songwriting. It’s about lyrics. It’s about being the master of all domains in the music. I’m always thinking about catchy music, even though it’s fried, or sizzled, out. It’s my own version of a classic thing—it’s moving forward and backward at the same time.”

In addition to Schnapf, Vile’s longtime band, The Violators and James Stewart, the album features special guests Chastity Belt, Cate Le Bon and percussionists Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett) and Sarah Jones (Hot Chip, Harry Styles). 

(watch my moves) is Kurt’s ninth solo full-length studio album and first since 2018’s Bottle It In, which Rolling Stone named #9 on their 50 Best Albums of 2018: “The long-haired poet-king of Philadelphia surveys his realm in high style on this 78-minute whopper…virtually no one else was making rock records like this.” 

The New York Times calls him “indie rock’s charming riddle,” while The Guardian adds: “such an instinctive facility for melodic logic that behind the shaggy locks and purple haze, there’s a clear-headed, big-hearted songwriter at work.”

In addition to his solo work, Kurt has collaborated with numerous artists including John Prine, Courtney Barnett, The War on Drugs, The Sadies and more, and is featured on 2021 compilation I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Kurt Vile lives in the Mount Airy neighbourhood with his wife and two daughters.

CRITICAL KURTY ACCLAIM: “Kurt Vile is an ambling, amiable presence; gently psychedelic, in no particular hurry” —The New York Times   “You’re treated to the surrealistic, psychedelic mind and sounds of his trippy universe…It’s magical and meditative.”— NPR Music “(watch my moves) is damn near transcendent” —Rolling Stone “Vile’s limitless charm and languid drawl have a way of making even the heaviest affliction seem bearable, if not a low-key hoot.” —Pitchfork “..a reminder of what makes his music so seemingly effortlessly affecting”—AV Club “(watch my moves) gives Vile another opportunity to create the blissed-out guitar rock he’s perfected over the last several decades”—Consequence “the sort of easy groove that Vile does so well”—Stereogum “…serene in mood, with lo-fi folk elements that transcend the typical conventions of the genre to incorporate elements of psychedelia.”—Spin “a sprawling, psychedelic meditation”—Paste

artwork by Carl Breitkreuz

Legendary New Zealand band and innovators of the Dunedin sound, The Chills tour Australia for the first time in six years with a setlist packed with timeless gems like ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’, ‘Pink Frost’, ‘Doledrums’ and ‘I Love My Leather Jacket’. Tickets on sale now!

THE CHILLS AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES:

WED FEB 15: BRISBANE POWERHOUSE with special guests PRIMITIVE MOTION. Tickets on sale here.
THU FEB 16: CITY RECITAL HALL, SYDNEY with special guests MERE WOMEN. Tickets on sale here.
FRI FEB 17: MONA FOMA, LAUNCESTON. Tickets on sale here.
SAT FEB 18: MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE with special guests PARSNIP. Tickets on sale here.

Mistletone proudly presents the return of The Chills, one of the most storied and accomplished bands of our times. Fronted by Martin Phillipps, The Chills have garnered a large and loyal cult following on the strength of their diverse sound — melding jangle-pop with punk rock ethics. 

The songwriting skills, vision and conviction of Phillipps have carried The Chills across the decades, and since last visiting Australia six years ago, The Chills have released their highly acclaimed seventh studio album Scatterbrain, another peerless collection of pure pop. The Chills bring a three-decade, career-spanning setlist to swoon for, packed with timeless gems like ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’, ‘Pink Frost’, ‘Doledrums’ and ‘I Love My Leather Jacket’.

“The fact that the New Zealand legends at the peak of their powers, radiating health and good cheer while weaving their way through a set from their 40+ year career, is enough to reaffirm your faith in the goodness of the universe” – Spectrum Culture USA

The Chills circa 1990

“I can see now where we were in the history of things,” Martin Phillipps told a recent US interviewer. “With the success of R.E.M., the major studios were looking for other indie bands that might have crossover potential. And we were obviously seen as a kind of New Zealand possibility for that.”

History has indeed been kind to The Chills, and has made them one of the most loved New Zealand groups of all time. Torchbearers of the legendary Flying Nun sound, The Chills reign triumphant after 40 tumultuous years. Helmed by the enigmatic Martin Phillipps, creator of endless jangle-pop wonders, The Chills are in a buoyant new phase of creative vigour and consistently brilliant showmanship that has wowed fans the world over.

Martin’s determination has carried The Chills across the decades, through a series of lineup changes and tragedies, building a large and loyal cult following on the strength of their albums and live shows in over 40 countries worldwide. Inspired by the punk scene, Martin formed The Chills with Peter Gutteridge in 1980. Peter soon departed, precipitating a series of lineups, with Martin the only constant. A significant loss for the band was Martyn Bull, whose death in 1983 inspired ‘I Love My Leather Jacket’, the jacket being a bequest Martyn Bull had left to Martin. In the past decade The Chills have solidified, with the same lineup of impressive and devoted musicians, who enable Martin to build on the legacy of his ever-growing collection of timeless songs.

The Chills were riding high in the 1980s: touring the world extensively, recording three John Peel BBC sessions, releasing two major label albums (Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb), and returning to a hero’s welcome, with Submarine Bells going to #1 in New Zealand. College radio favourites in the US, The Chills were predicted to follow in the footsteps of major successes like The Pixies and R.E.M. An upheaval in the musical landscape and Martin’s poor health during the late 1990s slowed him down, yet the band released a three-CD boxed set, EPs, an album of home recordings and a tribute to NZ music legend, Chris Knox.

Through a fortuitous meeting in 2011, the band was offered a new path forward, signing with London’s Fire Records. A very productive period ensued with a live double album, three new singles, and the John Peel BBC Sessions released in short order. The band travelled to Thailand to begin recording their first full length album in 20 years, 2015’s highly acclaimed Silver Bullets. Steady touring throughout NZ, UK, Europe and US followed, along with a short film, The Curse of The Chills. In 2018, the band went back into the studio to record Snow Bound, which they performed at a sold-out Sydney Festival, along with a 22-date US tour, culminating in eight performances at SXSW, where the band was awarded The Grulke Prize for International Career Act.

The Chills’ history, and Martin’s life story, were poignantly documented by filmmaker Julia Parnell for 2019’s acclaimed The Chills: The triumph and tragedy of Martin Phillipps. Martin gives a candid account of his rollercoaster musical career and his demons, a testament to the power of the creative urge in overcoming adversity. Martin’s health having improved markedly, the band again went into the studio to record Scatterbrain (2021), a mature and honest reflection on life, destiny and the fate of our times. Like all Martin’s offerings, Scatterbrain is pure pop for the new normal, from one of the living greats. Martin’s determination stems from the punk rock ethics of his musical awakening, and proximity to people like Chris Knox who drove home how crucial it was to deliver music always with intensity and conviction. It’s the live energy and the consistent quality of their songs which have established The Chills as one of indie music’s all-timers.

The Chills are:

Martin Phillipps (Guitar and Vocals)
Callum Hampton (Bass and Backing Vocals)
Todd Knudson (Drums and Backing Vocals)
Erica Scally (Guitar, Keyboards, Violin and Backing Vocals) Oli Wilson (Keyboards and Backing Vocals)

 

artwork by George Gillies

London based, South African-born powerhouse Nakhane — musician, novelist, actor and queer activist — has announced their return to Australia next March. Fresh from collaborations with Nile Rodgers, Perfume Genius and Moonchild Sanelly, Nakhane is a star in the making, who makes the dancefloor a place of tenderness. Tickets on sale now!

NAKHANE AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES:

• FRI MAR 3: SYDNEY WORLDPRIDE @ CITY RECITAL HALL. Tickets on sale here.
• SAT MAR 4: BRISBANE POWERHOUSE. Tickets on sale here.
• SUN MAR 5: PERTH FESTIVAL. Tickets on sale here.
• MAR 10-13: WOMADelaide. Tickets on sale here.
• WED MAR 15: MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE. Tickets on sale here.

Mistletone proudly presents the return of Nakhane, the rapidly-rising South African polymath whose fans include Elton John and Madonna (who name-dropped Nakhane as one of the influences behind her 2019 album Madame X). Multi award winning singer, songwriter, actor, and novelist Nakhane has been hailed as “a real star in the making” (The Observer) who “makes the dancefloor a place of tenderness” (VICE).

Nakhane’s latest single, ‘Do You Well’, brings the funk in a sweaty, sensual collaboration with Perfume Genius, accompanied by a video with explores queer Black love and lust:

It followed hot on the heels of ‘Tell Me Your Politik’, featuring Nile Rodgers on guitar and a ferocious rap from fellow South African artist, Moonchild Sanelly. Mutually political and erotic, the song is a call to action, demanding that prospective lovers be ideogically aligned; a bold declaration that sex is a political act. With a polyrhythmic wall of sound echoing the sounds of South African Gqom and kwaito, these two striking singles are a stunning return to music for Nakhane after a four year break.

Nakhane’s previous album, You Will Not Die, garnered acclaim from Pitchfork, The New York Times, The Observer, MOJO and Noisey; Q magazine called it “remarkable; defiantly modern and unashamedly emotional” while Pitchfork wrote that the album was “an instant revelation on its own terms and strikingly intimate.” Madonna called Nakhane out as one of her two favourite artists, and Elton John interviewed Nakhane on his Beats 1 radio show.

In their many guises in music, film and literature, and as a non binary artist, Nakhane has been instrumental in challenging the status quo in conversations about gender and sexuality; steadily building a body of work of cultural importance that hits every dancefloor sweet spot.

media queries: Sophie Miles @ Mistletone – sophie@mistletone.net

artwork by George Gillies

KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH TOUR DATES:

SATURDAY JANUARY 7 – SYDNEY FESTIVAL: CALL TO THE MORNING. Dawn ambient performance, Sydney Harbour foreshore. Tickets & info here.
SUNDAY JANUARY 8 – SYDNEY FEST: THE WEARY TRAVELLER. Club show. Tickets & info here.
MONDAY JANUARY 23 – MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE with special guest COOL MARITIME. Tickets & info here.

“Art is awe, art is mystery expressed,” writes Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. “Art is somatic, even if it is experienced cerebrally. It is felt.”

The central mysteries of Smith’s ninth studio album, Let’s Turn it Into Sound, have to do with perception, expression, and communication: How can we communicate when spoken language is inadequate? How do we understand what it is we’re feeling? How do we translate our experience of the world into something that someone else can understand?

For Smith, a self-described “feeler,” the answers are inspired by compound words in non-English languages, translation, sculptural fashion, dance, butoh, wushu shaolin, and other forms of sensory and somatic experience. Just like fashion uses lines, shapes, colors, textures, and silhouettes to communicate on a sensual level separate from the conscious mind, Let’s Turn it Into Sound strives to use sound to communicate what words alone cannot.

“The album is a puzzle,” Smith says, “a symbol of receiving a compound of a ton of feelings from going out into a situation, and the song titles are instructions to breaking apart the feelings and understanding them.” The energized “Is it Me or Is it You” comes from traversing the gaps between how you see yourself and how another might see you, through a filter of their own projections. The hushed sense of revelation that brackets “There is Something” refers to the feeling of walking into a room and being subconsciously aware of the dynamic present. All the while, Smith interprets these feelings through sound.

This auditory interpretation process, driven by earnest curiosity, led Smith to record some thoughts and questions that popped up along the journey in Somatic Hearing — a booklet which accompanies the album.

Over three frenzied months, recording alone in her home studio, Smith allowed herself to pursue new experiments to accompany her usual toolkit of modular, analogue, and rare synthesizers (including her signature Buchla), orchestral sounds, and the voice. She created a new vocal processing technique, and gave herself permission to pursue a pacing that felt intuitive, rather one that followed typical song structures. She walked around in the windiest season with a subwoofer backpack and an umbrella, listening to the low end of the album amidst 60mph gusts. She listened to herself, and, in doing so, to an inner community which suddenly opened to her.

Underlying the album is a dynamic relationship between what Smith describes as six distinct voices, each a multifaceted storyteller. By acknowledging these characters, she was acknowledging her whole being: the woven plurality of self, the complex process of noticing and resolving inner conflicts, and the joy of finding harmony in flux.

“I started to feel so embodied by all of these characters. This is all the felt, unsaid stuff [my inner community] wants to communicate but it doesn’t have the English language as its form of communication, and so this album was a form of giving space to let it talk and not judge it and just let it play.” By not adhering to expected song structures, each song feels even more like a conversation, with each character getting to express themselves in full. 

Smith has never fit neatly into the ambient genre conversation she’s most often associated with, and here she forges even further outside of it, traversing avant-garde pop, neoclassical, and the otherwise unclassifiable. The result is a playful, inquisitive, excitable work which appeals to us as social, sensitive animals, and invites listeners into a wholly idiosyncratic world that is both experimental, and, feels like the most human thing in the world. Proceeding through Let’s Turn it Into Sound is like peeking into a secret realm: one that delights both in the discovery of the magic hidden in the everyday, and the shimmer that lingers long after the portal itself shuts. 

Mistletone proudly presents BIKINI KILL, touring Australia for the first time since 1997.

BIKINI KILL TOUR DATES:

SUN FEB 26: MONA FOMA, HOBART Tickets on sale here.  TUE FEB 28: PERTH FESTIVAL @ THE RECHABITE with Cold Meat.Tickets on sale here. WED MAR 1: PERTH FESTIVAL @ RECHABITE with Cold Meat. * SOLD OUT Extra show added, see above. FRI MAR 3: BRISBANE @ THE TIVOLI with Queerbait  *all ages * SOLD OUT SUN MAR 5: ADELAIDE @ LION ARTS FACTORY  with Stabbitha & the Knifey Wifeys   * SOLD OUT * all ages * presented by PAK Music  TUE MAR 7:  MELBOURNE @ THE FORUM with Parsnip  * all ages * presented by Triple R * extra show added by popular demand Tickets on sale here. WED MAR 8:  MELBOURNE @ THE FORUM   with K5 * SOLD OUT * all ages * presented by Triple R Extra show added, see above. SAT MAR 11: GOLDEN PLAINS Ticket ballot now closed. https://goldenplains.com.au SUN MAR 12: BIKINI KILL SPEAKS – TALK EVENT AT SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE. Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail & Kathi Wilcox join Marieke Hardy for an exclusive conversation about activism, music, and women taking up space. Tickets on sale here. MON MAR 13: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, CONCERT HALL * all ages Tickets on sale here.

“We’re Bikini Kill and we want revolution Girl-style now! ”

Bikini Kill is the infamously fierce, riot grrrl band feminist punk band that was based in Olympia, Washington and Washington DC, forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (a.k.a. Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Sometimes they switched instruments. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early ’90s via their political lyrics, zines and confrontational live show.

The band started touring in June 1991. In addition to touring the US, Europe and Japan, they toured Australia in 1996 as part of the Summersault touring festival, followed by a headline tour in 1997. Bikini Kill recorded and released a demo tape, two EPs, two LPs and three singles. Their demo tape was self-released, while their first two records came out as a full-length CD/tape, and their singles were posthumously collected on CD. The band recently pressed the Bikini Kill EP as a limited edition vinyl issue to celebrate its 30th anniversary, and 10 years of Bikini Kill Records. Their iconic song “Rebel Girl” was recently named “10th best song of the 90s” by Pitchfork. 

Bikini Kill believed that if all girls started bands, the world would change. They actively encouraged women and girls to start bands as a means of cultural resistance and to be and enjoy themselves even with resources online that tell you where is the gspot in women so they can enjoy even more. Bikini Kill was inspired by seeing Babes in Toyland play live and attempted to incite female participation and build feminist community via the punk scene. They used touring as a way to create an underground network between girls who played music, put on shows and made fanzines. This independent media making and informal network created a forum for multiple female voices to be heard.

Bikini Kill reunited in the spring of 2019 playing sold out shows in NYC, LA, London and headlining Riot Fest in Chicago; their international touring continues in 2023, with original members and feminist punk pioneers Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail, and Kathi Wilcox touring Australia for the first time in 25 years next Feb/March for a slew of festivals and all ages shows.

artwork by Carl Breitkreuz

Mistletone proudly presents Niger psych-rock guitar sensation Mdou Moctar, bringing his mighty band to Australia. Tickets on sale now!

MDOU MOCTAR TOUR DATES:

THURSDAY MARCH 2: PERTH FESTIVAL. Tickets on sale now.
SATURDAY MARCH 4: NINE LIVES FESTIVAL, BRISBANE. Tickets on sale now.
SUNDAY MARCH 5: NATURAL BRIDGE FESTIVAL, ELTHAM HOTEL. Tickets on sale now.
THURSDAY MARCH 9: BRUNSWICK MUSIC FESTIVAL @ ESTONIAN HOUSE with COOL SOUNDS * SOLD OUT!
FRIDAY MARCH 10: THEATRE ROYAL, CASTLEMAINE with COOL SOUNDS. Tickets on sale now.
SATURDAY MARCH 11: GOLDEN PLAINS XV. ticket ballot here.
SUNDAY MARCH 12 + MONDAY MARCH 13: WOMADelaide. Tickets & info here.
TUESDAY MARCH 14 + WEDNESDAY MARCH 15: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE @ UTZON ROOM. Tickets on sale now.

A self-taught Tuareg guitar prodigy, Mdou Moctar boldly reforges contemporary Saharan music and “rock music“ by melding Eddie Van Halen pyrotechnics, full-blast noise and guitar shredding, field recordings, drums rhythms, poetic meditations on love, religion, women’s rights, inequality and Western Africa’s exploitation at the hands of colonial powers to rip a new hole in the sky.

Mdou Moctar’s home is Agadez, a desert village in rural Niger. Inspired by YouTube videos and traditional Tuareg melodies, he mastered the guitar which he himself built and created his own burning style. A born charismatic, Mdou went on to tell his story as an aspiring artist by writing, producing & starring in the first Tuareg language film: a remake of Purple Rain called Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai –  which translates to “Rain The Color Of Blue With A Little Red In It”, winning the approval of his family and his community. 

The word and the sound travelled across West Africa via mobile phone data cards, a popular form of local music distribution. Gruelling DIY world tours and albums on the independent US label Sahel Sounds followed, including 2019’s landmark Ilana: The Creator album that earned Mdou Moctar an ecstatic international audience.

Afrique Victime, the latest Mdou Moctar album, was a combined effort of Mdou and the members of the band that shares his name. Mdou’s crucial collaborator is Ahmoudou Madassane, who’s been his rhythm guitarist since 2008; their two guitars are an alchemical combination. As a songwriter, producer and recording artist, Ahmoudou is the premier musical ambassador to Tuaregs in Niger, empowering young musicians with instruments, recording opportunities, and visas. Masassane helped form the revolutionary first woman-fronted Tuareg guitar band Les Filles De Illighadad, whose debut album and tours caused an international sensation in 2019. Along with bassist Mikey Coltun and drummer Souleymane Ibrahim, it’s an alchemical combination that has seen Mdou Moctar hailed everywhere as one of the greatest live bands in the world. 

The band‘s youngest member is prodigal drummer Souleymane Ibrahim, also a member of both the well-known Niger band Sultanat Star De L’air and the longest running wedding band in Agadez, Etran De L’air. Souleymane’s playing on this album ferociously sets a new standard for the “rock” drumset.

Producer & bassist Mikey Coltun flies 20 hours from Brooklyn, NYC, then takes a 28 hour bus ride to reach Agadez so the band can practice and record. With no support from a major label or a manager, they made this journey out of Niger every time they toured. In the past three years, Mikey’s played over 500 shows on three continents as Mdou Moctar’s bassist, road manager, producer/recording engineer, and friend. Coltun recorded and produced Afrique Victime around the band’s travels in 2019- in studios, apartments, hotel rooms, venue backstages, and in field recordings in Niger. 

Recording and honing songs as a touring outfit forged a livewire new sound, and If Ilana was a late ’60s early ’70s ZZ Top and Black Sabbath record – Afrique Victime is mid ’70s to early ’80s Van Halen meets Black Flag meets Black Uhuru. The ferocity of Moctar’s electric guitar and the band’s hypnotic rhythm section are on awe-inspiring display on songs like “Chismiten” and the mournful yet incandescent title track.

Moctar finds inspiration in highlighting lesser known facets of the group: “While people have gotten to know Mdou Moctar as a rock band, there is a whole different set of music with this band done on acoustic guitars which we wanted to incorporate into this album in order to go through a sonic journey,” he says. Mdou pays homage to one of his heroes Abdallah Ag Oumbadagou, the legendary Niger musician and political revolutionary, on songs “Habibti” and “Layla”. “Abdallah was a contemporary of Tinariwen and helped to pioneer the sound of Tuareg guitar music blended with drum machines and electronic sounds”. 

“From prison to Nobel prize. They ceded to Mandela / Africa is a victim of so many crimes / If we stay silent it will be the end of us / Why is this happening?” Moctar asks on the heartfelt and rallying title track. “I want the world to know that we are making music to promote world peace and be with everyone on the same level, fighting against racism”, he says. “All colors and genders are equal. Women, Men and children all suffer in the desert due to the colonization by France and therefore there is a lack of the basics – hospitals, drinking water, schools.”  

The needs of Agadez are a major part of what drives Moctar as an artist, and promoting the region’s youth through music is an especially personal cause. “I know what it’s like to have been in that position,” he says, “to not have the support of your family, or the money for guitars or strings, it’s really hard. I have a lot of support from the younger generation, because I help them out a lot. When I get back from tour, I give them gear that I bought while I was away so they can go out and form their own bands.”

Says Coltun:  “In Agadez the music and feeling at Tuareg weddings is exactly like the best of Western DIY/Punk shows. It’s loud, energetic and powerful. There is a sense of everyone helping out. Tuaregs are a tight community. If you’re Tuareg you’re considered family.”

The music listeners are the beneficiaries of the staggeringly powerful do-it-yourself musical ethic of Mdou Moctar – the man and the band – who’ve worked so hard to bring the spirits of families and communities in Niger to the West. Afrique Victime sounds and feels like a Tuareg hand reaching down from the sky, and we are very lucky for this chance to get lifted.

A force of nature at the height of her powers, Sharon Van Etten brings her full band down under in the wake of her brilliant new album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong. 

SHARON VAN ETTEN TOUR DATES:

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE CONCERT HALL: THURSDAY DECEMBER 1
Tickets on sale now;
ticket link

BRISBANE:  THE TIVOLI: SATURDAY DECEMBER 3
special guest: BATTS
Tickets on sale now;
ticket link

FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE: MONDAY DECEMBER 5  (sold out), TUESDAY DECEMBER 6
special guest: Banjo Lucia
Tickets on sale now;
ticket link

MELBOURNE / NORTHCOTE THEATRE: THURSDAY DECEMBER 8
FRIDAY DECEMBER 9 * extra show by popular demand * sold out
special guest: BATTS
both shows have now sold out.
These events are part of ALWAYS LIVE, a new state-wide celebration of contemporary live music supported by the Victorian Government through Visit Victoria.
Presented by ALWAYS LIVE, Triple R and Mistletone.

MEREDITH MUSIC FESTIVAL: SAT DEC 10
mmf.com.au

Mistletone presents Sharon Van Etten (Shazza to her mates), returning to Australia with her stunning touring band: Jorge Balbi on drums, Devon Hoff on bass, Teeny Lieberson on vocals and synths, and live musical director Charley Damski on synths and guitars.

Special guest for the Brisbane and Melbourne shows will be BATTS (Melbourne producer/singer-songwriter Tanya Batts), with whom Sharon recently collaborated on “Blue”, the first single from the new BATTS album The Nightline (out October 14 on Mistletone Records).

Sharon Van Etten has always been a wholehearted artist — the kind of songwriter who helps people make sense of the world around them. Her newest work concerns itself with how we feel, mourn, and reclaim our agency when we think the world – or at least, our world – might be falling apart. How do we protect the things most precious to us from destructive forces beyond our control? and how do we salvage something worthwhile when it seems all is lost? In considering these questions and her own vulnerability in the face of them, Van Etten creates a stunning meditation on how life’s changes can be both terrifying and transformative; articulating the beauty and power that can be rescued from the wreckage.

Alongside her impeccable back catalogue, with such undeniable classics as Remind Me Tomorrow (“an album of hope, intimacy and perseverance” – NEW YORK TIMES) and Are We There (“one of the great albums of the century”– ROLLING STONE),  Van Etten has collaborated with COURTNEY BARNETT, ANGEL OLSEN and NORAH JONES, as well as Melbourne’s own BATTS; and last year released epic ten, a tribute to her 2019  album epic, with covers by everyone from Lucinda Williams and Fiona Apple to Idles; celebrating Sharon’s legendary status as one of the great songwriters from the very beginning. 

As always, we are at the mercy of Van Etten’s voice: the way it loops and arcs, the startling and emotive warmth of it. What started as a certain magic in Sharon’s early recordings has grown into confidence, clarity and wisdom, even as she sings with the vulnerable beauty that has become her trademark. Sharing her songs remains an optimistic and generous act which tells a larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience; all held together by Sharon’s uncanny ability to both pierce the hearts of her listeners and make them whole again.

When the time came to return to her solo work, Van Etten reclaimed the reins, writing and producing the album in her new recording studio, custom built in her family’s Californian home. The more she faced – whether in new dangers emerging or old traumas resurfacing – the more tightly she held onto these songs and recordings, determined to work through grief by reasserting her power and staying squarely at the wheel of her next album. In fact, that interplay of loss and growth became a blueprint for what would become We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong. The album artwork reflects that, too, inspired as much by Sharon’s old life as her new one. “I wanted to convey that in an image with me walking away from it all. Not necessarily brave, not necessarily sad, not necessarily happy..” 

Sharon’s new work is intensely personal, exploring themes like motherhood, love, fear, what we can and can’t control, and what it means to be human in a world that is wracked by so much trauma. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is as much a reflection on how we manage the ending of metaphorical worlds as we do the ending of actual ones: the twin flames of terror and unrelenting love that light up with motherhood; navigating the demands of partnership when your responsibilities have changed; the loss of centre and safety that can come with leaving home; how the ghosts of our past can appear without warning in our present; feeling helpless with the violence and racism in the world; and yes, what it means when a global viral outbreak forces us to relinquish control of the things that have always made us feel so human, and seek new forms of connection to replace them.

Sharon Van Etten’s Melbourne show is part of ALWAYS LIVE, a new state-wide celebration of contemporary live music supported by the Victorian Government through Visit Victoria.

artwork by Carl Breitkreuz