It is with great joy that Umbrella can announce their latest signing, VaLID. Perfect punk that brings back from memories from the mid 90s.
“Punk bands have made a resurgence in Australia and we’re looking to capitalise on this growth sector of the market” says Joel Connolly, Co-Director and Artist Manager at Umbrella.
“Royal Headache are getting heaps of props and we think we just might have the next big thing on our hands” says Cor-Director and Artist Manager Greg Carey.
“Yeah, all of our bands are from the Blue Mountains and we wanted to branch out, so we took a road trip to Forbes and look at what we found!”
VaLID will be releasing a full length double album in 3 weeks. The album is mostly written and some songs have even been recorded.
People said it wouldn’t happen but Greg and Joel have finally joined a naughty rap group with fellow Umbrella compatriots Fishing, SPOD and Richard In Your Mind.
To celebrate both Joels 30th birthday and the formation of this apparent super group a party will be held at GOODGOD Small Club on February 4th 2012.
SPOD Donny Benet Naughty Rappers Collective Black Vanilla
+ DJs Sex jacUZI, Klitty Litter, Kenny G Spot, Jay-C MAN, Slippery Dik, Jahova Casanova and LEVINS
Right on, so I never really do a traditional “top 5″ because I find it too hard to be that specific or definitive. Instead I just list the things I really liked and that I’ll probably keep listening to for years to come. So, here we go. Prepare for the party -
Top Records for 2011
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Shabazz Palaces – Black up
Belles Will Ring – Crystal Theatre
Youth Lagoon – The Year Of Hibernation
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
Top Songs For 2011 Yonkers – Tyler The Creator
The Last Living Rose – PJ Harvey
I hear Your Voice On The Wind – Belles Will Ring
Favourite Show For 2011 Belles Will Ring Supporting Leader Cheetah at The Gaelic Theatre. This was hands down the best Belles show I’ve seen and one of the best performances I’ve ever witnessed, second only to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. People will be all like “but you manage them! don’t be a jerk!” and to them I’m all like “They aren’t one of my favourite bands because I manage them, I manage because they are one of my favourite bands.”
1. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
2. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
3. Jay Z & Kanye West – Watch the Throne
4. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
5. Belles Will Ring – Crystal Theatre
6. Real Estate – Days
7. The Herd – Future Shade
8. Wu Lyf – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
9. Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation
10. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Other big mentions:
The Roots – Undun
War On The Drugs – Slave Ambient
Top Music Moments 2011:
- Latitude Festival, England
- Somerset House – Cloud Control / Stornaway
- SXSW, Austin TX
- Splendour In The Grass
- Crocodiles – The Garage, London
- The Jezabels, Enmore Theatre
Top Singles 2011:
Baby’s Arms – Kurt Vile
Video Games – Lana Del Rey
Green Aisles – Real Estate
Maybe When – Richard In Your Mind
Spin Cycle – The Herd
Watersport – Fishing
Somebody That I Used To Know – Goyte feat. Kimbra
Seventeen – Youth Lagoon
Belles Will Ring – The Green
It’s that time of year again! Cast your vote for Belles Will Ring and Fishing in the FBi Sydney Music Arts and Culture awards (SMAC!). Nominations close tomorrow and we need y’alls to help out!
Simply head here and do what you know to be the right thing. Vote for Belles Will Ring in the Best Live Music Act and nominate Crystal Theatre Album Of The Year.
Hey dear friend Wade Jackson is launching his album ‘Goodbye Rain, Hello Sunshine’ at Oxford Arts Gallery Bar this Thursday 27th October. He will be joined by Liam and Aidan from Belles Will Ring. Radio National are supporting. Epic.
Hosted throughout November, Ausmusic month will ensue with a Straight To You: triple j’s Tribute to Nick Cave tour, and a plethora of incredible Australian talent have put their hands up to take part. Confirmed vocalists so far include Urthboy, Abbe May, Adalita, Alex Burnett (Sparkadia), Ben Corbett (Gentle Ben And His Sensitive Side/SixFtHick), Bertie Blackman, Dan Sultan, Jake Stone (Bluejuice), Johnny Mackay (Children Collide), Kram (Spiderbait), Lanie Lane, Lisa Mitchell, Muscles, and Tim Rogers (You Am I). The singers will be joined by a band lead by Cameron Bruce – a Sydney writer and musician who plays in both Paul Kelly and Washington’s bands.
Two years ago, Ausmusic month played tribute to Paul Kelly with a series of concerts that resulted in an Aria-award winning CD/DVD.
Tour Dates
Wednesday 9 November
Performing Arts Centre, Geelong
Thursday November 10 - Her Majestys, Ballarat
Friday November 11 - Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Saturday November 12 - Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Wednesday November 16 - Royal Theatre, Canberra
Thursday November 17 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Saturday November 19 - Panthers, Newcastle
Sunday November 20 - The Tivoli, Brisbane
It’s that time of the year when we get reflective on the year that has been…and another great one for Umbrella and artists…for the archives..
Jan: Urthboy plays Southbound Festival (WA) Feb: Urthboy nominated for The Amp Award (Australian Music Prize) – congrats for 2nd time!! March: Cloud Control support Yves Klein Blue on National Tour Apr: Urthboy commences sold out Sneakquel Tour. May: Cloud Control release debut record, support Vampire Weekend and commence album national tour
June: Belles Will Ring tour with Parades and release new single ‘Come To The Village’. Cloud Control’s album Bliss Release nominated for J Award. July: Cloud Control & Urthboy head to the northern hemisphere for tours. Cloud Control play Splendour In The Grass.
Joel heads on a 6 month world trip. (Greg loses lots of hair)
August: Fishing sign with Umbrella.Cloud Control sign with Infectious Records UK September: Cloud Control commence sold out national tour. Urthboy plays inaugural Indent All Ages NSW Tour. Oct: Cloud Control head to UK and support Tame Impala, The Temper Trap & Local Natives – 16 dates. Nov: Belles Will Ring headline tour with Guineafowl & Magnetic Heads. Fishing tour nationally with The John Steel Singers and Jinja Safari. Dec: Cloud Control play Meredith, Falls Festival & play mini tour including farewell Sydney show ‘Was I There In Your Future’.
Voting for the Hottest 100 closes really soon. If you haven’t done so already, get your fine looking self over to the Triple J website and vote for Cloud Control (Gold Canary) and Urthboy (Hellsong, London Calling, Ready To Go, Shruggin’). For real, we’d love it if you could :)
I’m jumping on the epic top-5-bandwagon, however I never like saying I definitively like one thing more than another, so these are just some unordered lists of things that I liked in 2009. I deliberately left Umbrella artists off this list because I love them all so much they would almost certainly occupy every slot.
TOP 5 ARTISTS
Grizzly Bear
WAVVES
Department of Eagles
Why?
The Cool Kids
TOP 5 SONGS
Something In The Way – Best Coast
Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader
Home – Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros
Wavves – No Hope Kids
Animal Collective – My Girls
TOP 5 GENERAL HIGHLIGHTS
Getting engaged!!!!
Traveling to TGE with G-man and Cloud Control!!
Seeing Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for the first time (best live band in the world, ever)
Throwing a MASSIVE Halloween Party at The Annandale
Quitting my day job to do Umbrella – ballsy (eventually having to get other day jobs :
TOP 5 SONGS
Something In The Way – Best Coast
Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader
Home – Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros
Wavves – No Hope Kids
Beach House – Norway (preview from their next album!)
TOP 5 GENERAL HIGHLIGHTS
Getting engaged!!!!
Traveling to The Great Escape (UK) with G-man and Cloud Control!!
Seeing Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for the first time (best live band in the world, ever. Seriously.)
Throwing a MASSIVE Halloween Party at The Annandale
Quitting my day job to do Umbrella – ballsy (eventually having to get other day jobs :)
