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TASTE release epic new album LIFE ON EARTH

Taste_Life On Earth_Cover.jpg

“The explosive vocals, stark guitar harmonies and head-banging solos are all informed by the band’s combined experience in the hard rock and jazz worlds.” (Music Injection, 6/4/16)

On iTunes May 27.       CD available from the GoSet Music Store June 17.

A clock ticks. A car alarm splits the night. A distant belltower tolls as a gun is ominously cocked in your ear. The curtain rises in a grand cinematic flourish of muscular, orchestrated rock. Drums roll and crash as the synth riff soars and the first exhilarating guitar solo tears a hole in the sky. Who makes records like this anymore?  The story of TASTE is a legend from the lost back pages of Australian rock’n’roll: the meteoric rise and fall of a mid ’70s glam-rock quartet with a fiery reputation among such lofty peers as AC/DC, Queen, Suzi Quatro and the Sweet. But history can wait.  Fast forward 40 years and LIFE ON EARTH is a document of rare craft and experience from a band split by circumstance all those years ago, now reunited with newfound passion and decades of combined expertise from the realms of hard, progressive rock to the frontiers of jazz.

“I put a couple of songs down in my home studio,” explains singer and keyboard player Ken Murdoch, “and one sounded very TASTE-like: very heavy and theatrical so I sent it to Joey and Michael and said ‘What do you think?'”

The answer was unanimous. A sign of the creative explosion that ensued, that track never made the final cut. “The songs poured out of me,” says Ken. “It took a few months to write but I knew where it was going. A few of the tracks I got from short stories that I wrote. Every song seemed to link to the last.  “It certainly has a theme. It deals with a lot of history and it deals with what a turbulent world we live in,” he says. “Even with the ballads, there’s not really a love song connotation. It keeps falling back on history as an example. It’s a big album.”

That’s a fair call for an epic suite that spans the melodic metal thunder of “I Am God” to a tender ballad of mortality titled “Is It Just a Dream”. The rage of “Fatal Shore” was inspired by horrific events in modern Australian society, while “Blood” brings it closer to home with a glam-tinted celebration of the ties that secure friendship against the odds of time.  Ken, Joey, Michael and drummer Virgil Donati were teenaged rock idols back in the Countdown dreamtime of the mid 1970s. Tickle Your Fancy and Knights of Love were two classic albums (recently remastered for iTunes) that spawned a run of hits including Tickle Your Fancy, A Little Romance and their signature tune, Boys Will Be Boys.

The latter was famously adopted by Queen as the pre-gig fanfare on their A Night At the Opera tour of 1976. TASTE was preparing to tour America with Freddie Mercury and Co. on the back of an imminent deal with Sire Records in the USA when the wheels fell off in 1977.  It was a tragic tale of mismanagement and parental control that any member of the band will philosophically recall—along with other classic yarns about kidnapping Malcolm Young, touring with Skyhooks and Sherbet and any amount of affiliated youthful hi-jinx.

What matters, though, is what remains.  “As teenagers, we took ourselves very seriously as musicians,” says Michael, best known in recent times as a jazz bassist, owner of Bennetts Lane Jazz Club and artistic director of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.  “When I listen to [the ’70s] albums now my mind boggles at how we actually wrote those songs at that age, with that quality of musicianship. There’s a lot of virtuosic playing. It’s of the time but it’s progressive. It was real. It was organic and full of integrity.”

Speaking of virtuosity, new TASTE drummer Damian Corniola boasts a fortuitous connection with the roots of the band. He studied under original drummer Virgil Donati, these days based in LA and widely considered one of the best in the world (ask anyone from Southern Sons to Dream Theater).  “To find somebody who has his capabilities, so young, is incredible for us,” says Ken. “Plus he’s a TASTE fan. That’s really the thing that got us. He knows all the songs because I guess Virgil played them for him  “The first thing I said to him was ‘Why would you want to join us?’ And he said ‘Because this is like a dream’.”

The feeling is sort of mutual. LIFE ON EARTH is an album for our times but steeped in the wide-screen colours of a more progressive era. Real strings. Layers of percussion. Walls of harmony. Crafted segues, dramatic timing shifts and a vast, unified vision that befits the grandeur of its title.

“We didn’t do anything by halves this time,” Ken says with a laugh. “It’s going to be interesting to play live.”

LIFE ON EARTH is out on iTunes May 27.  The CD album is available here at the GoSet Music Store from June 17.

TASTE – the Remasters: at last, relive the incredible lost story of ’70s rock

Ken Murdoch * Joey Amenta * Michael Tortoni * Virgil Donati

Listen. There may have been girls. There may have been contraband. This was rock’n’roll in the 1970s. But these four boys were young. And when their parents broke down the door of their manager’s South Yarra apartment, all hell broke loose.

The year was 1977 and TASTE was over. After two Top 20 albums in two years and four hit singles including Tickle Your Fancy and their unapologetic signature tune, Boys Will Be Boys. Really. You can’t make this stuff up.
“We were just about to sign with Sire Records in the USA,” bassist Michael Tortoni recalls. “We had a tour lined up opening for Queen.” Freddie Mercury and the boys were vocal fans of Taste. They blasted Boys Will Be Boys each night before they took the stage of their A Night at the Opera tour.

“TASTE had the makings of a long-term global success in my opinion,” the bassist reflects. “Because 40 years later, we’re all still playing. None of us ever stopped. We learnt our craft in the shit-holes of Melbourne. Audiences would spit at you if you couldn’t do it. Until you got it right. And we did.”

The evidence is here. Tickle Your Fancy and Knights of Love are two classic albums that cut a glam- rock swathe through the Countdown years that nurtured AC/DC, Suzi Quatro, Skyhooks, Sweet and other household names that knew TASTE as serious contenders on stage and record.
“As teenagers, we took ourselves very seriously as musicians,” Michael says. “When I listen to these albums now my mind boggles at how we actually wrote those songs at that age, with that quality of musicianship. There’s a lot of virtuosic playing. It’s of the time but it’s progressive. It was real. It was organic and full of integrity.”

TASTE’s implosion sent ripples through Australian rock and beyond for decades, with members going on to Uncanny X-Men, Southern Sons and the highest echelons of jazz and rock from Melbourne to Los Angeles.
Their story will continue in 2016 with a stunning new album, Life On Earth. But first, remastered by Angus Davidson and released to iTunes through GoSet Music, there’s just time to revisit one of the great lost stories of Australian rock’n’roll.
Saturday 28th November 2015

The Bridge Hotel, Rozelle – Sydney NSW with guests Dellacoma Rio & The Dark Horses Tix: Oztix Ticketek Moshtix

Wednesday 2nd December 2015

Ding Dong Lounge – Melbourne VIC with guests Robot Child Tix: Ding Dong

http://www.taste-music.com www.facebook.com/TASTEROCKBAND https://twitter.com/TASTE_ROCKBAND

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MARI JEAN: Debut album ‘Restless Heart’ on iTunes

Introducing Australia’s secret pop sensation, Mari Jean. Her debut album, ‘Restless Heart’ available now on iTunes, presents a journey through the emotions of a young woman searching for her own identity while wrestling with the consuming nature of love. The video for the lead single, How it Feels is shot by acclaimed cinematographer Susan Stitt, with a hotly intimate lens that reveals an exposed and compelling vulnerability.

The album ‘Restless Heart’ offers an accomplished body of work with a pop artist whose sensibilities range from the youthful pop of Broken Doll, to the cinematic atmospheric stylings of the stunning One of a Kind. Dance pop is also a natural habitat for this artist with the chillout vibe of Let it Go, and the catchy You Got Me which is bound to tickle the airwaves beyond these shores. Such tracks are connected by a range of pop ballads that chart the emotional journey of a young woman in love and life, at once vulnerable yet finding strength in the resolution expressed in her lead single How it Feels: “I’m the one who makes my own destiny”. Mari Jean is in the driver’s seat and from the sound and style of this album, she will go far.

‘Restless Heart’ CD is due out November 30. The digital album release and the lead single, How it Feels is out now on iTunes.

MARLENE CUMMINS CELEBRATES DOUBLE DEBUT on JUNE 12 with ALBUM LAUNCH for KOORI WOMAN BLUES and FILM SCREENING for BLACK PANTHER WOMAN

MARLENE CUMMINS, Australia’s foremost Indigenous blues musician and writer releases her debut full-length album, KOORI WOMAN BLUES on Thursday 12th June through GoSet Music and iTunes. To celebrate, Marlene will be playing a live band show at THE LAIR at the METRO THEATRE, 624 George St Sydney on Thursday 12th June at 8pm.

The live show will be held immediately following the worldwide film premiere of BLACK PANTHER WOMAN, directed and produced by RACHEL PERKINS (Bran Nue Dae, Mabo, Redfern Now) for Blackfella Films/SBS, screening as part of the Sydney Film Festival at Event Cinema 9, George St Sydney at 6 pm on June 12.

BLACK PANTHER WOMAN tells the story of Marlene Cummins’ time as a member of the short- lived Black Panther Party in Australia, part of a global black revolutionary movement. Forty years later Marlene is invited to speak at a conference of ex-Panthers in New York, and this gives her an opportunity to finally share her memories and in doing so, deal with her demons.

There will be a 20 minute Q&A session with Marlene Cummins and Rachel Perkins following the film at 7.15 pm, after which Marlene will head across the road to treat her audience to a Marlene Cummins KOORI WOMAN BLUES live show. The show celebrates the double debut of the film and album on the same day.

To support the release, the song THE BLUES IT KNOWS YOUR NAME, taken from the album is released to radio May 12. Inspired by Marlene’s life, the song was written for her by Murray Cook, Marlene’s long time music colleague and friend. THE BLUES IT KNOWS YOUR NAME also appears over the closing credits of the film, BLACK PANTHER WOMAN.

METRO THEATRE BOX OFFICE for KOORI WOMAN BLUES SHOW: Phone 9550 3666 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL TICKETS for BLACK PANTHER WOMAN: CLICK HERE

GRAND SOUTHERN ELECTRIC out today May 2

DEWOLFF release their new album GRAND SOUTHERN ELECTRIC May 2nd available on iTunes and through MGM at all good record stores and online through the GoSet Music Store.   A perfect blend of great song writing and next level riffery combined with some of the grooviest drum grooves known to man all topped by a stellar vocal performance by Pablo van de Poel.

Produced by Grammy award winner Mark Neill at Soil Of The South Studios in Valdosta, Gerogia it sounds like a classic. Tone Deaf asked the band to take us through track-by-track on how each song came to be and the experience they had working with Neill. Click here to listen to the album stream and read the band’s track-by-track comments.

Missing Myself by Jane Walker

 

Missing Myself, the new single from Australian singer/songwriter Jane Walker’s album, Walk Gently, deals with the theme of losing and finding oneself.

For some it is substance abuse – alcohol and drugs. For others it is gambling and for many it is the wrong relationships or not finding your life’s passion. “For Jane Walker, it was the early morning she found herself curled around the toilet bowl, regretting yet another massive night out.” (Claire Harvey, Sunday Telegraph).

Sitting at the piano, something she hadn’t done in a long time, Jane wrote Missing Myself and in the process, reconnected with herself and what was most important.

The song is produced by Steve James at Rockinghorse Studios, Byron Bay. The video is shot around Jane’s home environment in Sydney by acclaimed director James Marshall with Andrew Dowling.

The Missing Myself video will have its debut screening at a special event to celebrate the single release with a live performance by Jane upstairs at the Imperial Hotel, 252 Oxford St, Paddington on Thursday 3rd April, 2014 from 7 p.m.

Jane is currently collaborating for her next album with English producer James Sanger (Dido, Keane, Brian Eno).

The album Walk Gently is available throughiTunes and at janewalker.com.au/store

DEWOLFF – WOLFMOTHER JAM & NEW DOUBLE SINGLE TO RADIO – CRUMBLING HEART / GOLD AND SEAWEED

Triple headed space blues rock monsters DEWOLFF release a new double single in Australia through GoSet Music. ‘Crumbling Heart’ from their self-titled opus DEWOLFF IV and ‘Gold and Seaweed’ – a must listen for any fan of psychedelic rock.
DEWOLFF blew audiences away with their organ-fuelled brand of rock on their March 2013 tour of Australia, including WOLFMOTHER’s bassist Ian Peres, who invited them to jam at Dave Atkins’ Hydrofunk Studios on the Gold Coasst.
The fruits of their jam is available as a free download, CLICK HERE.

Described by reviewers as ‘Wild and Exciting’, with a growing live reputation that has earned them Europe’s ‘Must See Live Band’ tag by Rolling Stone, stay tuned for news of their new upcoming album and Australian tour. “DEWOLFF IV is a feast for the upper astral psyche, a manifest of geniuine space rock. Featured on this double sided musical compendium is the 20-minute, seven volume opus “A Mind Slip”, full of higher dimensional swagger, exotic wave modulations and mojo”. GoSet Music has also released DeWolff’s back catalogue, their first two studio albums Strange Fruits & Undiscovered Plants (2009) recorded when the average age of the band was just 16 and Orchards/Lupine (2011) in a special double album Australia Only edition. Crumbling Heart / Gold and Seaweed is released Friday 20th December 2013, via GoSet / MGM. DeWolff perform ‘Crumbling Heart’ at Music Feeds, Sydney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF90dEg-DHs DeWolff Live on a Melbourne Tram! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84yfJttI3S4 Click here to view DeWolff LIVE at Pinkpop Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyhZg6r93CU RELEASE INFO ARTIST: DeWolff TITLE: Crumbling Heart / Gold & Seaweed FORMAT: Double A-Single REL. DATE: Friday, 20th December 2013 LABEL: GoSet / MGM

2013 Deadly ‘Band of the Year’ Street Warriors release new single and video with Treach (Naughty by Nature)

Groundbreaking hip hop brothers Street Warriors release their new single and video titled Champions featuring Treach from the legendary US hip hop group Naughty by Nature on Monday 17 June to iTunes.
“Naughty by Nature had always been a favourite group of ours and when we got to know them last time they were in Sydney, we hit it off. When the opportunity came to collaborate on this track we jumped at it,” says Wok.
Filmed in New York, it is the first time the Street Warriors have been overseas to collaborate but stay tuned, as it certainly won’t be the last.
Street Warriors have been electrifying stages for many years, recently playing to a crowd of over 80,000 at Dreamtime at the G in Melbourne and will launch NAIDOC in the City at Hyde Park, Sydney July 8th.
In 2013 the Street Warriors won three major awards this year recognising their role in indigenous hip hop – garnering the Lyle Munro Urban Legend Award and Best Hip Hop Album for Unstoppable Force at the 2013 BUMP Hip Hop Awards in Cairns and at this year’s biggest indigenous event, the Deadly Awards, they won the prestigious ‘Band of the Year’ award.

VIEW VIDEO HERE

NEXT GIG:
Mon 8 July 2013 NAIDOC IN THE CITY
HYDE PARK, SYDNEY at 1PM, FREE


Jane Walker to make next album with top UK producer James Sanger (Keane, Dido, U2, Brian Eno)

Jane Walker’s next album will be produced and co-written with leading UK producer/writer/programmer James Sanger whose client list includes Keane, Dido, U2 and Brian Eno.

Meeting Sanger and visiting his studio in France last September, the two hit it off immediately and Walker returned to Sydney with a commitment from him to produce her album, as well as a swag of tracks to begin writing to.

Walker has launched a Pozible crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to enable her to immerse herself in writing the next album in collaboration with Sanger. http://www.pozible.com/janewalker
She released her first album Walk Gently in Australia two years ago on the independent Australian record label GoSet. The album has been drawing acclaim for its intimate and uplifting chillout pop style. Her song and video of Ancient Land (feat. Predator from Street Warriors) is receiving airplay on national TV and at radio stations both locally and overseas. Check out the video here.

A percentage of proceeds from Jane Walker’s song Walk Gently on the Earth goes to Ocean Recovery Alliance, which is dedicated to cleaning up the world’s waterways. The Walk Gently on the Earth video was screened at the Hong-Kong San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival in April and the song is currently receiving radio airplay.
Walker’s support of environmental and humanitarian causes will continue with the new album so any support via the Pozible campaign will help make this happen.
Her current album Walk Gently is available on iTunes and janewalker.com.au. All enquiries to Lorda Omeissah m: 0413 044 332 e: lorda@gosetmusic.com

More about Jane Walker:
‘With warm delicate grooves, Jane’s songs speak in the hidden language of the soul – definitely one not to miss!’ Claire Scobie, Daily Telegraph UK
‘Ethereal ballads’ – Sydney Morning Herald
‘One of this city’s finest emerging acts’ – Drum Media
‘Jane Walker’s song ‘Ancient Land’ featuring Predator from Aboriginal hip hop act, Street Warriors
is wonderful… Jane tackles environmental and social issues -another of her songs, ‘Walk Gently On The Earth’ is accompanied by a very moving video with shocking images of plastic pollution.’ – Jim Gellatly – Amazing Radio, UK
‘Jane Walker’s Do it With Love is a brilliant single’ Davina Reichmann, TalkMag, New York ‘Standout single’ Sunday Telegraph
Sydney singer/songwriter Jane Walker’s debut album Walk Gently features leading Australian and international musicians, including NY guitarist, Adam Levy, Chris Difford (Squeeze), Steve Hillier (Dubstar), Pete Lazonby, Stu Hunter, James Cruickshank (The Cruel Sea), James Haselwood, Hamish Stuart, Warwick Scott (Skunkhour) and Bobby Flynn.
The album was recorded in two sessions – four songs with UK producer/mixer, Steve James at Rocking Horse Studios in Byron Bay, and eight songs with NZ producer Barbara Griffin, co-produced by Walker, at Billy Field’s Paradise Studios on the NSW Central Coast and mixed by David Hemming.
Walker’s first single, Ancient Land includes a rap by Aboriginal group, Street Warriors and is described by NSW Reconciliation Ambassador, Aden Ridgeway as ‘a timely celebration of Australian identity’ and ‘a call to unity’.
Past Australian performances include Lizotte’s, Notes, The Vanguard, Bondi Pavilion, World Youth Day and the Dreaming Festival, alongside artists including Holly Throsby, Bertie Blackman, Elana Stone, Liz Martin, Karl Broadie and Street Warriors. Jane has performed for notable corporate clients including Barnardos, Tourism Australia and Christopher Kennedy-Lawford.
INTERVIEWS, IMAGES AND SONG SAMPLES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
www.janewalker.com.au