SLB BLOG

The local music community continues to throw its support behind efforts to rebuild Queensland in the wake of record floods and Cyclone Yasi,

Q Music recently launched an online Rock N Roll Auction to raise money for The Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal – an online event featuring items and experiences generously donated from artists around the globe.



‘Money-can’t-buy’ experience auctions include a private show by The Gin Club, the chance to meet Katy Perry at her Brisbane concert and a VIP trip to the massive Coachella Festival in the USA flying courtesy of V Australia.

To view and bid on auction items go to www.rocknrollauction.com.au. The auction bidding is happening on eBay and all money raised will go to The Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal, which has been extended to help those affected by Tropical Cyclone Yasi as well as those affected by the Queensland floods.

Dew Process outfit Last Dinosaurs have recently taking the wraps off a wonderful new clip. Check it out here...

Over the next few months, you're going to be hearing a lot more about SLB - particularly those of you in the Northern Hemisphere.

Thanks to the support of the Queensland Government's Arts Queensland, SLB is about to launch a major online campaign to promote the city's indie label scene.

We will also be having a presence at a number of major international trade events - including this month's MIDEM - thanks to support from the wonderful Sounds Australia Initiative.

So, if you're heading the MIDEM make sure you drop by the Sounds Australia stand to grab a sampler, drop card, and get your head around the SLB project.

You can also download the special industry sampler featuring tracks from the SLB labels here. The sampler features tracks across a wide range of genres and artists including: Regurgitator, Halfway, Jackie Marshall, Steve Grady, Tom Cooney, The Optimen, Re:Enactment and plenty more.

And stay tuned for more updates soon!
 

Brisbane artists Steve Grady and Dan Parsons are currently trecking around regional Australia as part of a unique tour dubbed 50 First Dates.

You can follow the pair - and grab the tour dates - on Facebook here. The pair is also releasing a video diary of the tour with the latest installment below...

Australia's leading music industry event - Brisbane's BIGSOUND - will be turning 10 this year.

The event, which will announce it's first batch of speakers shortly, will be held from September 7-9 2011.

Until then, check out the promo clip below...

Red Tape outfit The Optimen are currently on the road for a national run of dates. For details just click the poster above or head to http://www.myspace.com/theoptimen.

And while you're at it, check out their new clip for Drop That.



Drop That from TheOptimen on Vimeo.

It's been getting plenty of love on the radio, and now Plus One artists The Gin Club have released the new clip for the track 'Pennies'.



The band is touring extensively over the coming months, so keep an eye on http://www.plusonerecords.com.au.

Brisbane hip-hop outfit The Optimen have more than delivered the goods with their new album The Out of Money Experience - out now through Red Tape.

Grab a free slice by downloading the track "Fire Fighters" here.

Having just launched the album in Brisbane - check out Andrew McMillen's review on The Vine - The Optimen have a busy few months ahead.

Keep track at http://www.myspace.com/theoptimen

El Nino El Nino artist Carry Nation is earning plenty of fans with the release of the exceptional new album 'Like a River Does'.

Grab a taste today with this exclusive free download of the track 'Phil Spector'.

Just click here

"Though she takes her performance name from early-1900s anti alcohol activist Carry A Nation, a cantankerous dame who went around smashing up bars with a hatchet, it's not likely a planned act of government support that Brisbane's Jessie Warren has delivered her debut album just as the Queensland capital is facing further absurd liquor licensing restrictions.

Like A River Does is far from a bar-smasher of a folk record, though it's also not grown from the kind of late-night barroom whisky-swilling much of the city's inner-city songwriter output has etched scenes in recent years. There's something far more domestic and welcoming to this, akin to the nuanced but accessible stuff Gorgeous once made.

Not attempting anything in the way of a grandiose statement of sounds, Warren relies on her ability to pen a simply affecting tune and nurses her songs primarily with an accoustic guitar and her broadly accented (well, she's from Queensland) voice, with a gathering of local friends to add extra, though subtle, instrumentation.

The waking notes of trumpet rise from the delicately picked Respect Your Elders; cello leads the down-facing slow-dance of the Beth Orton-touching Braking Is For Heroes; droned harmonies, wooden percussion and a few piano twinkles happen somewhere in the background of Phil Spector, a tale of regret that manages to give weight to lyrics like darkly humorous (given the title) opening line, "Uh-oh, the secrets we keep, the white lies that we say," and leads into, "In rage I killed my wife".

It's those kind of lyrics, too, that reveal Warren as a deft storyteller who never once loses your ear. Hers is a conversational but wrenching voice: the girl next door done wrong, the singer who could probably wow with a long-held note but uses her ability to far more grabbing and emotive effect. Like A River Does is evidence that sometimes it takes a less complicated approach to get through; and get through Carry Nation does." Inpress

News in from Valve

"While I Heart Hiroshima's Susie is currently on expedition in New York enroute eventually to Berlin...  Paul Ranking completed a second video for the track RIVER.

It was shot before Susie's disembarkation and their great going-away-show at Brisbane Powerhouse in late Jan where they play both albums in their near completedness. Paul has pieced together another spirited visual interpretation drawing forth the pagan in a dark river forest. Online now and desecrating television shortly."

Find it on YouTube and Vimeo

Other news...

THE RIP will be released in Europe on Cargo Germany in July.

The album is now available in other territories online... and discussion is underway for a US album release.

Shakeytown was picked up for US TV show The Deep End as well as new Brisbane film JUCY





I Heart Hiroshima – River from Paul W. Rankin on Vimeo.