Peach Melba

Peach Melba

The Grand Salvo seventh album Sea Glass (Mistletone Records) is an old-school concept album with a maritime theme. 

It’s been half a dozen years since the previous Grand Salvo album and the material is exceptional. Sea Glass has garnered accolades including Album of the Week from both 3RRR and 3PBS. 

The driver man of Grand Salvo is Paddy Mann, brother of Oliver Mann, the great operatic rock singer. Paddy is in career-best form with this latest Grand Salvo album. Engineering and production reminiscent of Not Drowning Waving, maybe with a few extra milliseconds of reverb on the piano. Think The Same Heat feel. 

Sea Glass is the contemplation of an artist living by the sea, taking an afternoon stroll along the beach, sighting the first star of the evening.
The pivotal song of the Sea Glass album is In The Water, a track that goes for almost 10 minutes. A compelling live performance of In The Water can be seen on the YouTube Random TV channel, filmed at XO Studios in Brunswick where Grand Salvo put in a towering performance of this song. 

The video captures well the awe and respect audiences have for this musical project. There is great evocative lyrical content in this most dynamic song. The line A Row of Faces Green and Blue is reminiscent of an Albert Tucker painting from his series Images of Modern Evil. 

“Inside her pocket a cigarette, a tiny split where it was bent” is a gem of everyday minutiae placed in the narrative. Paddy Mann can hold and sustain a note like Ron S Peno from Died Pretty.
Sea Glass track listing from pillar to post is: A Flux of Moments/ All Those Stars/ In The Shade/ Strange Days/ The Unquiet Tide/ In The Water/ The Black Coast/ Field Of Flowers/ Standing On The Sea. 

Sea Glass traverses many moods – eerie, melancholy, joyful, contemplative, reflective, mournful, a medieval timbre. The closer, Standing On The Sea, is a ripper. Grand Salvo is double-clutching – saluting old friends and moments to cherish. Time and solace.
The exceptional Grand Salvo has delivered an absolute Peach Melba collection of songs.

GS, the ultimate storm voyager, is kicking and will be performing at Bendigo Autumn Music on April 25. 

Tropical Lightning

Tropical Lightning Cimematica and the TFS band put in a series of brilliant performances in late November playing an original live soundtrack that accompanied screenings of the film No Country For Old Men. 

This occurred at the Playhouse Theatre at the Victorian Arts Centre. The film, a West Texas 80s noir action drama, is the Coen Brothers’ interpretation of the Cormac McCarthy dark novel of the same name. 

Cormac McCarthy is a favourite author among many musos. He has a very visceral, vivid imagination. TFS is the appropriate band to do the complementary soundtrack work to this film adaptation of McCarthy’s book, when one considers the cinematic imaginings you can have when hearing the outro to You Let My Tyres Down from the TFS album Laughing Death In Meatspace (Joyful Noise Recordings) and is one of the best albums in 2018. 

TFS band, comprising Gareth Liddiard (guitar, vocals), Fiona Kitschin (guitar, vocals), Lauren Hammel (drums, percussion) and Erica Dunn (guitars, keys and assorted gadgets), were able to summon up the appropriate angularity, the displaced harmonics timed to perfection, absolute syncopated power surging, sturm und drang with a quick smoke at Spots vibing to complement the Coens’ film.
TFS delivered the goods again with a startling performance Chameleon painting with the big screen. Kudos to the Hear My Eyes posse who got the ball rolling on this.

Drive Live

3PBS 1106.7FM blistering live-to-air juggernaut Drive Live returns to the airwaves, with a scintillating collection of Melbourne’s best purveyors of punk, funk, soul, hip-hop, hardcore and everything in between.
The free series of in-studio performances feature three acts performing from Studio 5 live each night and offers audiences a power-packed peek into a live-to-air studio broadcast. Happening from February 4 through to February 8. Spectacular line-ups every night – at 5 we drive!

Share the spirit

The Balit Narrun 2019 - Share The Spirit is happening at Treasury Gardens and it is a day of music that showcases the diverse talents of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in Victoria. Artists performing include the magnificent Mojo Juju, Stiff Gins, Brothers in Arms, Birdz, Jedda, Djirri Djirri dancers and the mighty MC Monica Karo. There will be craft and food stalls, children’s entertainment and a whole heap more. January 26 at Treasury Gardens from 1pm

Chris will be missed

Chris Wilson, a phenomenal muso will be missed very much in Melbourne. A blues muso who had the staggering ability to summon up the blues with a feeling of an old-school Baptist preacher laying down the word to the congregation. When Heinous Hounds first started, many times it seemed as if Chris Wilson was the man who had the compass pointing True North for his fellow musos. 

The people who were there at those shows at the Ding Dong Lounge remember the awe that the audience and the band had when Wilson would play from deep within the heart of the matter. Incredible and visionary. One occasion Wilson’s son Finn subbed on drums in Heinous Hounds at the Ding Dong Lounge. Most memorable. Vale Chris Wilson.

Since Labor has been in power …

Since Labor has been in power …

March 20th, 2024 - Evan Mulholland
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