We’ve got a new series of mixes happening over on Spotify. As is our want, these are all over the show. One minute you’re in downtown LA in the 80s, next you’re off to New Orleans in the 20s before a quick jaunt to Auckland in the 1990s. Dub, post-punk, glam metal, ambient, pop, country and jazz. Anything goes. Catch up with the first three … Continue reading DOUBTFUL SOUNDS – Spotify Mix Series
Joan Wasser is now six albums deep into her solo career and she continues to refine and explore her polymorphous sound that takes in soul, jazz and pop music. If her last album, The Classic, felt like a slight misstep, Damned Devotion is a return to what Wasser does best – blending mood and atmosphere with classic soul, contemporary R&B and modern technology. There’s an exhilarating … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Joan As Police Woman – Damned Devotion
Dave Graney & Clare Moore (The Moodists – Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes and currently Dave Graney and the mistLY) have been making music together since the late 70’s with shared involvement in over 30 albums. Doubtful Sounds are pleased to premiere their brand new single ‘Song Of Life’, with an accompanying clip featuring footage of the sartorially elegant pair in Luxembourg last year. The … Continue reading PREMIERE: The New Single from Dave Graney & Clare Moore
It has been five years since The Black Seeds released their last album, but after internal changes and abandoned recordings the Wellington reggae/soul outfit are back and firing on all cylinders with their new album Fabric. Back in 2014 The Black Seeds were immersed in the recording of a new album, one that head Seed Barnaby Weir was touting as ‘a Black Seeds fully original … Continue reading INTERVIEW: The Black Seeds
With bands such as Nation Of Ulysses, Weird War and The Make-Up, Ian Sevonious has been a underground garage rock provocateur for nearly 30 years. As Chain And The Gang, he’s distilled the essence of what does, right down to it’s bare rhythmic essentials – drums, bass, guitar and vocals. They’re a highly economical and effective combo, stripped to simple gang chants, sparse riffs and grooves … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Chain & The Gang – Best Of Crime Rock
For total indulgence and unabated dance floor pleasure you can’t go past this compilation of French soul, pop, funk and disco tracks from 1975-1984. Selected by Charles Maurice, the album was released last year on the Favorite label. Hit the Bandcamp link below to stream and/or buy the album on 2LP, CD and digital formats. In their words: Helped by a close connoisseur friend, DJ … Continue reading French Disco Boogie Sounds (1975-1984)
You Beauty released their rugby league-themed album Jersey Flegg earlier this year and it slowly but surely garnered attention leading to its imminent vinyl pressing. Their opening set showed they can nail the sound of the album in a live context with chorused guitar picking out lazy hooks and the rhythm section hitting a ‘Strokes and The Cure on the dancefloor’ sweet spot. Frontman … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Donny Benét, You Beauty @ Brighton Up Bar, Sydney (10/10/14)
They are both heavyweights of soul, jazz, funk and blues-rooted American music but it was still a surprise to see Dr. John open a show on which he was billed the headliner. He kicked things off with one of his signature songs in Iko Iko, a New Orleans classic, before giving the audience a trip through his back catalogue. Looking somewhat more frail than the … Continue reading Dr. John, Aaron Neville @ State Theatre, Sydney (24/04/14)
The Sydney Festival always provides the perfect opportunity for open-minded music fans to discover new and diverse acts and styles of music. Listening to a few conversations in the queue before the doors opened it appeared there were a quite a number of attendees with little or no knowledge of the music of Omara Moctar, otherwise known as Bombino. What they witnessed over the ensuing … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Bombino @ The Spiegeltent, Sydney (09/01/14)
Tex Perkins sure knows how to draw a gang of musicians together for each new band and project he convenes. From Beasts of Bourbon to The Cruel Sea, Tex, Don and Charlie to TNT, Perkins has always surrounded by some of the best players on the Australian rock scene and here, as The Ape, he’s joined forces with Raul Sanchez (Magic Dirt), Pat Bourke (Dallas … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Ape | The Ape
After more than half a century Paul McCartney is still pushing his songwriter’s pen, seemingly with a desire to prove his worth in each successive generation. The last few decades haven’t been his strongest yet New, surprisingly, is something of a return to the essence of the ex-Beatle in terms of strong, melodic, pop songs. Not everything works, particularly on the lyrical front where he … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Paul McCartney | New
by Chris Familton Fat Freddy’s Drop don’t rush things with this only their third full length album in 14 years (excluding a pair of live albums). That steady approach is also one of the defining aspects of their sound and their propensity for slowly evolving electronic, soul, dub and funk workouts that equally nurture listener’s limbs and ears. Blackbird is without doubt their most cohesive … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Fat Freddy’s Drop | Blackbird
Doubtful Sounds 