2 January 2015
From her first forays into public performance, Liz Stringer displayed the signs of a true artist. In the league of Joni Mitchell and Deborah Conway, recent live shows – both solo and with Dyson Stringer Cloher – have confirmed this to be so. It’s hard to know where to applaud first; her voice is variably silken, souring and dusky and her guitar, measured where appropriate, can break out into ornate urgency. Her songs are rich in memorable melody and compelling emotion, with a canny balance of sonic space between the elements.
30 December 2014
Electric Mary has just returned from touring Europe and, as you’d expect, they have some stories from their travels. Speaking to Rusty Brown, lead vocalist from the band, the jet lag is still present as we chat but the band has hit the ground running with gigs in Frankston and Ding Dong Lounge over the weekend. “It feels like I’m still in the Paris time zone mate. We arrived back late on Tuesday night and we’ve done three gigs since then. Alex caught something whilst on the tour I think, he just came in to play last night then went straight home when we finished. I hope it’s not Ebola,” Brown says.
28 December 2014
The guys behind Hermitude, Luke Dubs and Elgusto, continue to make solitude sound cool thanks to their silky-smooth remix of Kite String Tangle’s latest single ‘Stone Cold’. But that’s not all they’ve been up to. I sat down with Elgusto recently to find out more about their upcoming LP and get the low-down on the chilled out pair’s plans for the summer.
27 December 2014
New Year’s Eve is always a memorable night, but for Midnight Juggernauts their performance at Falls Festival a few years ago topped the list for an unusual reason. “I remember one year when we played in Tasmania at Falls Festival, it was halfway during our set there was a massive storm that came in and they had to shut down the stage,” Andy Szekeres [bass/vocals] says.
25 December 2014
“It’s been so long on the road and I’m glad to be back home,” Ahren Stringer reflects on landing back in sunny Australia after a hectic schedule of touring – the most recent of which was a long stint in Europe and the UK. “It was awesome. It was our second headline tour so it was really rewarding and the crowds were huge – pretty much every show sold out. It was just rad to be able to see how we’ve gone over there,” he says.
24 December 2014
Over the new years period, many acts are converging on Australia for Falls Festival. SBTRKT is one of the electro acts on the bill and he will be playing tunes on his second album entitled Wonder Where We Land. The journey of the full album and story has somewhat been lost over the years as bands are looking to release just singles and EPs.
24 December 2014
Ivan Ooze may be the name of a bad arse villain in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but the name is also shared with a Melbourne rapper, though his friends know him as Ben Townsend. We had a chat to Ivan about his upcoming show at Beyond the Valley and what he hopes to get out of the New Year.
23 December 2014
Boxing Day is surely one of the greatest days of the year. It is a day where you can do anything without reprimand. Want to munch on a turkey leg as you watch the cricket while wearing nothing but Santa undies? Watch away. Want to steal your nephew’s new toy because, hell, he can’t use it properly anyway? Steal away. Over in Geelong, it’s all about their annual tradition, The Boxing Day Slam. Touch Me, I’m Sick is behind it all, and while they may be a little older, they still know how to have a good time – even though recovery may take a little longer these days. The Meanies, they’ll be there. Civil Civic, they’ll be there. Hell, there will be a buttload of bands there. The Barwon Club, Geelong – December 26.
23 December 2014
Having a health scare can often mean the end of a career and life as you’ve come to know it, but for Stacey Hunter, she managed to turn it into the beginning of the business she’s always dreamed of.
22 December 2014
Alternative-punk-rock Melbourne band, Ceres, released a surprise EP in mid-November, titled Selfish Prick, after the first track was released with the same name. The self professed ‘uncool’ bands sound has a very familiar quality to it, the kind of music that makes you feel nostalgic – regardless of whether you listen to them for the hundredth time, or the first.
22 December 2014
The ’90s are back in a big way – and it’s not just an abundance of Dr. Martens and crop-tops that are signaling the revival. Iconic grunge-gods, The Smashing Pumpkins, have delivered their new album Monuments To An Elegy, and with it, take us back to the sounds that rendered this era timeless.
22 December 2014
Buffy Sainte-Marie is one well-travelled woman. Straight out of college she toured her music alone, penned the song ‘Up Where We Belong’ and became one of the key faces in a generation of activists.
22 December 2014
There’s few musicians who share a love for Australia as much as Neil Murray does, and over the past 30 years in the industry he’s proved it – and then some. Also hailed as the “thinking woman’s crumpet” we had a chat to Neil about his new release and what inspired the album.
19 December 2014
The picturesque city of Malmo, near the south-western tip of Sweden, is home to two of the world’s A-list electronica producers, Marcus Heriksson and Sebastian Mullaert. While the mainstream music scene in Sweden fed on the success of pop bands like ABBA, Roxette and Ace of Base, two young and talented – but uniquely different – musicians were about to meet and change the course of their lives (and the Swedish trance scene) forever.
19 December 2014
The Smashing Pumpkins were this week added to the Soundwave line-up and have just announced that they will be adding…
18 December 2014
Beyond the Valley have release the set times for the Festivals debut year! Rüfüs will bring in the New Year…
17 December 2014
Holy wow, Soundwave Festival just got even bigger. The third announcement has brought along, The Smashing Pumpkins, Steel Panther, Millencolin, Falling in Reverse, The Vandals, Rivals Sons, King Parrot and the Raglans to the party.
12 December 2014
While The Kite String Tangle track ‘Stone Cold’ was already pretty incredible, it just got bumped up on the list a bit with a few tweaks by Hermitude.
You know the name and what he’s all about, all that’s left for you to decide is whether you like the original or the remix better, though we won’t judge if you love them both the same! Here at Forte we’re all about sharing the love.
12 December 2014
Things are better in threes right? Well they certainly are when it means we get an extra day to prepare for the good beats at the New Year’s boutique festival Beyond the Valley!
11 December 2014
Summer’s here and that means one thing: Future Music Festival is just around the corner. We had a chat with Sigma ahead of their performance at the festival and getting to enjoy an Australian summer this time around.
8 December 2014
Regardless of who you are, everyone has that one musician, artist, scientist or prolific other who they admire for one reason or another. Patience Hodgson from The Grates just so happens to be mine, but interestingly enough, The Preatures are up there for the Brisbane musician.
8 December 2014
Shep Huntly has been performing sideshow for about 15 years or more and, if you’re from the area, he was long known as the “Circus in a Suitcase”. It’s been around 20 years since Ballarat has seen the face of the freaky sideshow stuntman. As he finds Ballarat to be his second home, he is bringing some of the world’s most critically acclaimed superstars of freaks to Ballarat ONLY, in May 2015 for the World Sideshow Festival.
7 December 2014
Adrian Calvano, frontman for Hamilton’s own Buddha in a Chocolate Box, isn’t afraid to speak his mind. “Reality TV talent shows are dumbing down our nation, art-wise,” he says passionately. “People are chosen on appearance instead of actual talent and substance to their song writing. They’re just quickly manufactured. It’s very fake, very calculated – they’re chewed up and then spat out.
6 December 2014
If it weren’t for a chance meeting at Nannup music festival in Western Australia, where Mama Kin (aka Danielle Caruana) and Emily Lubitz of Tin Pan Orange were both performing, it’s unlikely We Two Thieves would have ever happened.
