segunda-feira, 22 de agosto de 2011

Geoffrey O'Connor



It isn't easy keeping track of the many musical guises of Geoffrey O’Connor. Best known as the singer and songwriter behind bookish pop heroes the Crayon Fields and the group’s side project Sly Hats, he’s also been spied standing to the side of many a Melbourne stage, guitar in hand, helping others fill out their live sounds, from Jessica Says to the lush new project of former Treetrops front man Bjenny Montero.
While he’ll continue to wear those masks (and more, we’re betting), O’Connor is now strutting into the spotlight under his own name as he prepares to release his debut solo album, Vanity Is Forever, this September via Guy Blackman’s local imprint Chapter Records. Following a whirlwind visit to New York City in May to play the four-day Popfest alongside The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, O’Connor has dropped the album’s lead single, Whatever Leads Me To You, which he launches at the Buffalo Club on Saturday August 20.

The song’s ice-cold synths and flanged guitars match the saturated hues of its accompanying video, which O’Connor directed, filmed and edited in his North Melbourne home. The clip also features some familiar female faces enacting (pretty chirpy) revenge on their inattentive lovers: Jessica Venables (Jessica Says) and O’Connors’ keys player Esther Edquist (also of drone outfit Superstar) get their Alida Valli on as O’Connor croons about the shameful things he’d do to get close to his crush. It’s cool, lust-fuelled and tongue-in-cheek – and very promising of what’s to come from the Melbourne pop prince.

Geoffrey O’Connor plays with Teeth & Tongue and Dreaming And Delicious at the Buffalo Club on Saturday August 20. Doors from 7.30pm.

TIGER WAVES

Only Good Bands Have Aninmal Names

Only Good Bands Have Animal Names by Tiger Waves

domingo, 21 de agosto de 2011

Monique Ortiz

Sixteen years ago Monique Ortiz met one of her musical heroes, Mark Sandman, the late leader of the Boston rock trio Morphine. Ortiz managed to get backstage at a Morphine show in Philadelphia and the young musician griped to fellow-bassist Sandman about the town’s lack of musical job opportunities. Recognizing a kindred spirit, Sandman suggested that Boston might be the place for her.

Sandman’s instincts proved correct. For the past decade-plus Ortiz has been a local favorite, leading the bands Bourbon Princess and A.K.A.C.O.D. With a deep voice and a striking stage presence, the singer/bassist is one of the few to build something personal out of Morphine’s rhythm-driven “low rock” sound. Some of Boston’s best players, including ex-Morphine saxophonist Dana Colley and drummer Jerome Deupree, have been in her bands.