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This is the story of The Woolfman – a British songwriter/producer – inspired by the words of the American film maker Spike Lee. Both are driven by the wish to “Heal the Soul of America”. In 2018 The Woolfman saw Spike Lee on BBC TV saying, “We only have to make America Love again…”. This sentiment reminded him that what happens in America affects us in the UK, in Europe, in Africa, Asia and the whole of the world. That same night – a tune came to him , a tune rooted in gospel music, the music of struggle and of hope. The lyrics emerged all at once, as if from outside himself and a new American Anthem was born.
“We only have to make America love again…” – Spike Lee
At this time in history the message – “Make America Love Again” sets a new path, an aspiration. We do not pretend everything was ever all right in America. Obama says “ –Do we care to match the reality of America to its ideals? I am not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America.”
This is the message of “Make America Love Again” – the possibility of America as a beacon of democracy, hope and justice, leading the way in an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable world. The Woolfman teamed up with UK filmmaker Tone Davies & H28 to make a music video for the track during lockdown 2021. Shot on phones by vocalists Maxine Sparkles and Francesca Confortini – the global pandemic helped shape the video.
“Make America Love Again” has won BEST SONG at the Vegas Movie Awards, BEST MUSIC VIDEO at the Atman Film Festival in Hollywood and is currently #1 in the DMOFF Film Festival Top 10 films.
“Make America Love Again” is released worldwide through W Recordings – available on all digital platforms from Friday 26th February 2021.
You can view the music video here:-
https://www.dmoffest.com/post/make-america-love-again
You can presave the track here:-
“We are all looking at life through a screen right now” – Tone Davies
(Co Director & Editor)
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Soothsayer are thrilled to announce the second instalment of CC:DISCO!’s First Light compilation series, to be released as a limited transparent orange double LP and digitally (with an additional 12 tracks) on Friday 7 May. Today, CC:DISCO! shares the first two tracks from the highly anticipated release; ‘VGF (DUB)’ from Donald’s House & Lipelis and Hidden Spheres’ ‘Laamore’.
‘VGF (DUB)’ is an 80s flecked Italo-Disco track by Melbourne brothers, Donald’s House (Permanent Vacation, Touch From A Distance) – an act that CC:DISCO! says has been on her radar since the very start of their career, and Moscow-based producer Lipelis (Animals Dancing, Public Possession), a scene stalwart who wowed local crowd’s at 2018’s Dark Mofo.
CC:DISCO!: “’VGF (DUB)’ is a Balearic core shaker I’ve always needed in my life, that guitar part just takes me to Ibiza and back again. Donald’s House and Lipelis, talk about a collaboration of my dreams!”
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UNIFIED Music Group is proud to celebrate its 10 year company anniversary in 2021 as it moves towards a milestone 20 years in the music business next year.
From its bedroom beginnings as Boomtown Records to its stake as one of Australia’s largest independent music companies, UNIFIED now offers a full suite of artist and music services from its offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles and London.
Over the last decade UNIFIED has sought to constantly grow, evolve and innovate. 2021 now finds the company with an extensive range of core business offerings (including Recorded Music, Artist Management, Merchandise and Events), while continuing to expand into new areas through partnerships in and around the industry with thought leaders and visionaries.
Click here to check out an interactive website breaking down UNIFIED’s growth over the last 10 years & detailing its company pillars in depth.
On the anniversary of both his principal company’s decade and close to 20 years since beginning in the music business, UNIFIED Founding CEO Jaddan Comerford shares that though the company has certainly innovated and evolved into its current state over the years, not a lot has changed in terms of it its driving “why”:
“In 2011, we created our mission statement that reads: ‘UNIFIED is the soundtrack of good people working together to achieve extraordinary results’. Although this didn’t exist in the very beginning, it really is what has driven us all along,” he shares, adding:
“UNIFIED is a company that aims to serve people. This includes artists, team members and the broader public and 2021 is a year where we will continue to build on this mission, our vision to innovate and improve, and ultimately dream of a world where we are celebrating in 2031, 2041….”
On navigating a year in business like never before in 2020, Jaddan shares that the forced time to slow down and reflect prompted both clarity and further innovation.
“Personally, I spent most of the last 5+ years on the road, either living in the US and travelling the globe for meetings or to see our artists play shows. Stopping made me take a look at the business and see what we were doing well and also assess what else we could be doing to evolve and adapt for business in 2021 and beyond.”
He adds that one of the most exciting elements of the 2021 milestone year is that it marks 10 years since the launch of the UNFD (pronounced U-N-F-D) record label brand.
“Although I think a lot of people still confuse UNFD and UNIFIED, UNFD is in fact our heavy music label, which is essentially what Boomtown morphed into back in 2011,” he says. “So even though Boomtown is still resting on the shelf, the spirit lives on through UNFD which is now a global label, an idea that wouldn’t have even crossed my mind in 2002, other than in a dream.”
Stay tuned as UNFD announce plans to celebrate a decade of releasing music from some of the world’s most inspiring heavy and alternative artists soon.
Reflecting on nearly two decades in music and 10 years since launching the UNIFIED Music Group brand, Jaddan reiterates the importance of the company’s people as a key element to its success.
“UNIFIED is a business that invests in good people with good ideas. We build careers and we do work with people we love doing it with. We aren’t always perfect and we don’t always get it right, but looking back at where we’ve come from, and the people who have been on the journey, it definitely makes you stop to smell the roses.”
Clouds Hill/Clouds Hill Notes acquires entire Rodríguez-López Productions catalogue and partners with Wise Music Group on The Mars Volta catalogue for worldwide publishing
Clouds Hill Notes is pleased to announce that it has acquired the catalogue of Rodríguez- López Productions, Omar Rodríguez-López’s record label master and publishing rights, including a partnership with Wise Music Group to handle the catalogue publishing of Grammy winning band The Mars Volta.
Coinciding with the recent release of Omar Rodríguez-López’s Clouds Hill Tapes, a triple- album of music recorded at the Hamburg recording studio that has been his refuge and inspiration for many years, Music producer, CEO and founder of the Clouds Hill Group Johann Scheerer felt: “It’s about the right time to announce the acquisition of the RLP catalogue and The Mars Volta publishing now. After being Omar Rodríguez-López’s friend and business partner for such a long time, I am honoured and proud that he decided to also entrust me with this catalogue. Our HQ in Hamburg is now responsible to push this unique catalogue back into everyone’s minds.“
The Rodríguez-López Productions catalogue acquired by Clouds Hill includes numerous solo albums by Omar Rodríguez-López, De Facto, Antemasque and more.
The transaction for The Mars Volta catalogue was managed and negotiated by Clouds Hill Notes, supported by its Co-publisher Wise Music Group on elements of the deal.
Jeffrey Duncan, Executive Vice President, Wise Music Group (United States of America): “We are delighted to welcome The Mars Volta’s catalogue to the Wise Music Group. Their unique canon is singular and timeless, and we are privileged to provide our global expertise and musical home to this celebrated catalogue.”
Michael Ohst, Group Head of Pop & Managing Director, Wise Music Group (Germany): “We have followed the career of The Mars Volta with great interest and are very enthusiastic to represent the catalogue of a band with such lasting stylistic influence and musical say.”
Omar Rodríguez-López team was led by Matt Ash and Stuart Gili-Ross of Raw Power Management. Matt Ash: “We’re delighted to be working with Clouds Hill as they assume the role of stewards for Omar’s life’s work and also with Wise Music on the Publishing of The Mars Volta’s incredible catalogue.“
Stu Gili-Ross added: “It’s an honour for us to be representing a body of work as influential as Omar’s catalogue with Rodríguez-López Productions and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.“
To celebrate the kick-off of the collaboration Tremulant (EP) by The Mars Volta will be available on all known streaming platforms for the first time on Friday 26 February.
PRE-SAVE TREMULANT EP HERE
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Australia’s indie-folk darling Julia Stone will be bringing her soulful tunes to the Mornington Peninsula on Labour Day long weekend with Portsea Hotel announcing the singer-songwriter’s performance for Sunday, March 7.
A casualty of Melbourne’s snap five-day lockdown, the rescheduled show is ‘take two’ on the revival of live music within regional Victoria, with Portsea Hotel set to release a stellar lineup of acts over the coming months.
Portsea Hotel General Manager Felicity Muller said Australian musicians will play a pivotal role in reigniting the entertainment industry and boosting regional economies as international acts remain off the cards for the foreseeable future.
“Following the extended shutdown of hospitality venues last year, we’re gearing up for an eventful year full of live music and entertainment and what better way to kickstart it than with the much-loved Julia Stone.
“We have such talented artists within Australia and we’re excited to be able to spotlight both established and emerging talent at Portsea Hotel,” she said.
Presented by local brewery Colonial Brewing Co, the show coincides with the upcoming launch of Julia Stone’s new album, Sixty Summers.
Following the debut of Unreal, Break and Dance in 2020, a broody and smooth track featuring that video clip starring Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon, Julia Stone’s latest album marks her first solo record since she dropped By the Horns in 2014.
No longer content to merely explore the wildernesses of folk and indie-rock, Sixty Summers, Stone’s third solo outing, finds the celebrated songwriter diving headfirst into the cosmopolitan, hedonistic world of late-night, moonlit pop.
Tickets are available to purchase via
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/julia-stone-presented-by-colonial-brewing-co-at-portsea-hotel-tickets-138202115247 with each ticket purchased to receive a free Colonial Brewing Co can.
Those who had purchased tickets to the original show have automatically been transferred to the new date.
On Friday, Los Angeles punk rock band Sharp/Shock dropped their new single Endless Holiday. The new single was written, recorded and mixed by singer/guitarist Davey Warsop and mastered by Paul Miner (New Found Glory, Thrice).
Endless Holiday is available now on all digital platforms as well as a limited edition split 7″ with legendary Australian punk rock band Bodyjar released via Half Way Records.
ORDER THE SPLIT 7″ WITH BODYJAR
As the band name suggests Sharp/Shock deliver punk rock direct and to the point. That’s exactly what the band have achieved with their new sing along anthem Endless Holiday.
Musically, it is exactly what you might expect from kids schooled early on The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers would sound like. Then, submerse that in the sun drenched beach cities of Southern Californian surf, skate and punk culture and the sounds of Social Distortion, The Descendents or early Green Day and you will find Sharp/Shock.
“I hopped the pond to LA from Birmingham England several years ago as the result of a record deal. After spending so much of my youth and young adulthood in soul-destroying jobs in a blue collar town in England, I basically feel like I’ve won the lottery because I now know what it’s like to live in a “destination” like LA.
So Endless Holiday Is about escapism… Just DREAMING of a more exciting existence than that slightly crappy mundane one that’s handed to so many of us. I was trying to write a song that could tap into that yearning I felt as a kid in England, to just get away from it all and start actually writing my life story!” – singer / guitarist Davey Warsop.
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https://www.facebook.com/AxisRecords.official/
Toronto, ON – Canadian singer-songwriter Jordan Hart will release his debut EP ‘’Only Pieces of the Truth’’ on March 12th via Believe. On the self-produced EP, Hart exposes the desire we all share to feel connected to ourselves and each other. Through each song, he explores the highs and the lows of finding that connection in spite of our own selfish motives and pride.
The title track, ‘’Only Pieces of the Truth’’ is an emotive, mid paced and gentle song with gloriously sweeping arrangements. ‘’The central character realizes that all he wants to do is be vulnerable and that he is “holding all the cards, wishing you could see inside his walls,’’ said Hart. ‘’But even still, and especially because the stakes are so high, he can’t bring himself to take the first steps forward toward repairing the relationship (“staring at your door, I’ll never knock”).’’
The Gold-certified, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist worked with countless producers and arrangers over the years. Despite those incredible opportunities, no pieces of music truly felt like his sound. Hart was still looking for what would be his musical identity when he met the AllPoints team. Through his multiple conversations with his new creative team, he was advised to begin with a self-produced body of work. After 6 months of blood sweat and tears, Hart pieced together all the parts of himself and finally his sound. The experience birthed his new EP ‘’Only Pieces of the Truth’’.
In 2019, Hart embarked on a 100-day straight busking challenge in Toronto, through thunderstorms and snowstorms he played on. Every Sunday, 100 per cent of the money he raised was donated to L’Arche Canada, an organization that helps create communities that support people with intellectual disabilities. Since then, he has secured a record deal with Believe and AllPoints (based out of the UK). The momentum from his daily busking also culminated in a sold-out show at the Great Hall in Toronto and his career streams also increased by over a quarter of a million. As a featured artist, his work with Lucky Rose on the song ‘’Lost’’ has accumulated over 15 million streams across all platforms and the track was top 30 at Canadian CHR radio. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his debut EP, due out next month.
“I never learned how to love more purely and profoundly than through people with intellectual disabilities,” said Hart.
‘’Freedom’’ is delicate, sincere and heartbreaking. Hart sings about seeking freedom from past mistakes and maybe find a little bit of comfort. ‘’Of all of the songs on the EP, this one feels the most vulnerable to me,’’ said Hart. ‘’I am so honoured that L’Arche has chosen to use this song as an anthem to help tell the story of people with intellectual disabilities who are searching for their own freedom. These are people who are highly capable, emotionally intelligent and infinitely valuable who are often cast aside or worse, restricted from living their own free lives due to some people’s fear and lack of understanding. I hope this song will offer a window into these lives, at least enough to open the heart of others and inspire them to view these individuals with as much openness and kindness as they would to anyone else.’’
The influence of the folk music community that Hart grew up in, is still very present in his songs where the singer-songwriter thrives to respect the power of an honest story told through a simple song.
Award-winning mental health music charity Listen Up Music will host 12 artists during a day festival at Brisbane’s West Room on the 10th of April.
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Follow Listen Up Music
https://www.listenupmusic.com.
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Spending his time between Geneva and Cannes, the house, which used to belong to his great-grandfather Pablo, is an exceptional place of inspiration for Florian who produces most of his music there. For this occasion only, the room was transformed back to its original state to resemble what it used to look like when Pablo was working there, filled with paintings, sketches, and sculptures. During Florian’s set, artist and graffiti pioneer Cyril Kongo brought a sensational extra dimension to the show by painting several artworks beside him. To make the show even more memorable, Kongo painted a CDJ 3000 donated by Pioneer DJ, creating a one of a kind piece.
“It was such a blessing to be able to serve a good cause and give back to my roots by combining music and art” says Florian.
Both being of Vietnamese origin, the two artists decided to auction all the pieces Cyril created during this special show and to donate all the proceeds to an orphanage in Vietnam. This was made possible in collaboration with Maria Bravo and Eva Longoria’s Global Gift Foundation.
Click here to watch the spectacular show again
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Arts Centre Melbourne is excited to announce that the break-out musical FANGIRLS, from award-winning playwright Yve Blake will make its Melbourne debut at the Playhouse Theatre from 28 April – 9 May as a part of a national tour.
This energetic musical will be showing in Melbourne for the first time following sell-out crowds for Belvoir’s season at the Seymour Centre.
“We’ve been dreaming of coming to Melbourne for years. When we premiered in 2019, some industrious teens started a petition to bring the show to Melbourne and I’m so happy that we can finally deliver on that wish,” says the creator of FANGIRLS – Yve Blake.
“Even though this show is called FANGIRLS, it’s not just about fans or girls. It’s a show for anyone that has felt the sweet torture of a first crush, or who knows what it’s like to be obsessed with something that isn’t ‘cool’.”
The prolonged intermission between shows at the Playhouse Theatre will add an extra element to this performance, mirroring the excitement around the show as Arts Centre Melbourne create offerings for audiences to embrace the arts once again.
“It’s incredible to have FANGIRLS as a part of our re-opening of the Theatres Building at Arts Centre Melbourne. This has been made possible thanks to the generous support of all those who donated to our Recovery Appeal,” says Arts Centre Melbourne’s Creative Producer, Theatre & Contemporary Performance – Daniel Clarke.
FANGIRLS follows the uproarious story of Edna, a plucky misfit scholarship girl who believes that she alone can win the heart of the world’s biggest pop star: Harry. Sure, he has 38 million other fans, but for Edna, that’s merely a hurdle. Because there’s nothing she won’t do to prove to Harry that she’s the one.
With a dazzling cast including AYDAN from The Voice, Danielle Barnes, Chika Ikogwe, Shubshri Kandiah, Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Karis Oka, Tomáš Kantor and Shannen Alyce Quan, this critically acclaimed show is captivating and will leave you wanting more.
This show is founded in Blake’s fascination for the way that society can see a mob of screaming fans as “embarrassing” if they’re female and at a pop concert, but “passionate” if they’re male and at a footy match. She set out to write the show she wished her 14-year-old self could have seen: a comedy all about the ways that the world tries to convince young women that they’re not as worthy as their brothers.
“The response from audiences so far has been unreal. I’m so shook by all the fan art, the memes, and the crafts! I’ve seen people bring handmade signs like it’s a pop concert, and even make custom jewellery,” says Blake.
“People should see this show because it’s a love letter to the awkward teenagers that we have all been, and also it’s the perfect antidote to 2020. This show was designed to feel and sound like a thrilling pop concert, and after a year of no concerts, it really does hit differently.”
Yve Blake is a decorated performer and playwright, awarded with the Inaugural Rebel Wilson Theatre Maker Scholarship (2016) and has been widely recognised for FANGIRLS with the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Mainstage Musical (2019), Matilda Award for Best Musical or Cabaret (2019) and AWQGI AWARD for Music Theatre (2020).
Tickets on sale from 12pm, Wednesday 23 February via artscentremelbourne.com.au