The Cure’s fifth and final performance of Disintegration at Sydney Opera House on 30 May 2019.
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Bedroom – Gulf
Bedroom is the work of singer-songwriter & producer Noah Kittinger. Beginning as a recording project when Kittinger was just 16, his releases under the moniker are characterized by honest songwriting coupled with catchy hooks, beautiful melodic sensibility, and a memorable homemade sound.
Kittinger began a steady stream of releases in 2012 with the Toys EP. Vivid, a mixtape featuring rough ideas and works in progress, followed later that year. These early works garnered praise from several media outlets and began the growth of a dedicated fanbase.+
Bedroom’s first full-length LP, Grow, was made during a time of transition in Kittinger’s life. Written and recorded at the age of 17, and released in 2014 when Kittinger turned 18. The album cataloged Kittinger’s experiences with his own growth into adulthood. After the release of Grow, Kittinger took the project on the road, embarking on his first DIY tour.
After returning from the tour, and a year after the release of Grow, Bedroom went on hiatus as Kittinger took a step back from the project. He remained busy, working on new songs under his own name and released an EP, Bloom. Bloom showed growth from Kittinger’s earlier work with Bedroom, exploring electronic influences with samples and new production techniques.
In 2018 Kittinger continued to tour, playing songs from Bedroom and Bloom, packing out venues with new and old fans on his first West Coast tour. In early 2019, Kittinger officially announced the return of Bedroom and promised new music from the project in 2019.
In May of 2019, Kittinger released “Count to Five” – the first we’ve heard of the project since the summer of 2015. A step into a different direction with newfound collaborator Paul Kintzing.
LINKS:
https://facebook.com/noah.kittinger
https://twitter.com/noah_kittinger
https://instagram.com/noah_kittinger
https://hiimnoahkittinger.tumblr.com -
Katalina Kicks – We Don’t Care
Katalina Kicks is a quintessentially West London band, first fashioned in the clatter and fume of Shepherds Bush. Even if they’ve changed postcodes since, their sound – urgent, questioning, loud and fierce – has never lost the urban beat of W12. Singer and guitarist Ian George is the last man standing from Katalina Kicks Mk I, once a punkish quartet who released an album named after their cat, stray moggy “Montague Rotter”, and found themselves accidentally sound-tracking a straight-to-DVD horror Z-Movie directed by the son of James Bond. “I’ve never watched it!” grimaces Ian of Jason Connery’s 51. “When we started we had an American publishing deal and that was one of the weird things that came of it. We got all of £3.50 for having a song in a crap film. So it’s taken a long time, and a lot of changing line-ups to get to where Katalina Kicks are today. I’ve always believed in the band. It’s just been a waiting game to find the right people.”
One such right person finally surfaced in the beard and flexing tattoos of Jase Wilkinson. Not so much born as smelted in Manchester, as a kid he’d wait for his stepdad to leave the house so he could sneak a listen to his Led Zeppelin vinyl. “And getting a whopping for it when he came home and found out.” Between John Bonham and hip hop, he fell in love with the drums, later moving to London, instinctively settling westwards off Ladbroke Grove, first blurring his limbs behind the kit of a ska band until a chance audition with Katalina Kicks. Which he failed. “Because he wore these dodgy heavy metal black leather fingerless gloves,” laughs Ian. “My first thought was, no way am I having THOSE in the band. But then a few weeks later I called him back. Before Jase our drummers had mostly been arseholes, mentally ill, drug addicts and glory-grabbers. He was none of those. He had the passion and the power I’d always needed… so long as he kept those bloody gloves off!”
In the meantime, bassists continued to fall by the wayside until a long-time friend of the band Conor Cotterill came on board after jamming with Jase and Ian through some new material. ‘It just clicked straight away’, says Jase. ‘Con was the missing link and brought a massive low-end rumble, swagger, bounce and musicality to the table, a bass that is both forceful and fluid, twisting in the lull between my rhythmic thunder!’
Katalina Kicks have been a formidable core trio ever since. Together they play simple and direct heavy garage rock’n’roll: power chords and pummelling rhythms, fuzzy guitar and throbbing bass, big riffs and shouted choruses, pin-balling between grunge, punk, and heavy blues. In Ian, they’ve also a songwriter who can’t help but use his band as a platform to air his anxieties about the world around him. “I would never pigeonhole us as a ‘political band’,” he explains. “I just write about things I see and hear that upset me. We’re not preaching at anyone or trying to change the world. We’re just saying these are the things that affect and worry us. They’re too important not to talk about, whether in conversation or in rock’n’roll. That’s all we try to do.”
SOURCE: Official Bio
Katalina Kicks are:
Ian George (vocals/guitar)
Conor Cotterill (bass/backing vox)
Jase Wilkinson (drums/backing vox)LINKS:
http://katalinakicks.com
http://facebook.com/katalinakicks
http://instagram.com/katalinakicks
http://twitter.com/katalinakicks
http://soundcloud.com/katalinakicks
http://youtube.com/katalinakicks -
Half the Animal – Bad Bad Love
Formed in 2016, Los Angeles-based alternative rock quartet Half the Animal produces an infectious sound, which blends catchy, hook-laden rock attitude and pop-driven styles. Originally founded by vocalist Chase Johnson and drummer Nick Gross—who were featured cast members in the hit MTV reality TV series ‘Laguna Beach’ during their formative days as the band Open Air Stereo—Half the Animal also includes bassist Evan Smith (Silversun Pickups/Chromeo/Big Data) and classically trained guitarist Dan Graham.
Half the Animal made an impact with their memorable debut single “Babylon,” a grandiose, stadium-sized rock anthem that became the band’s first-ever viral hit, garnering over 1 million streams online, collectively, since its release in July 2016. The song quickly earned the band nationwide industry attention and strong radio support on multiple SiriusXM channels, including Top 40 radio station Hits 1 and The Pulse, as well as regular airplay on tastemaker Los Angeles stations ALT 98.7 and KROQ, which featured Half the Animal on their celebrated Locals Only program. Collectively, Half the Animal also count over 1 million YouTube views to date and have been featured on ‘Billboard’ and Ones to Watch (Live Nation).
In fall 2017, Half the Animal released the successful follow-up single “Bad Bad Love” via the group’s independent imprint Noise Nest Records. Featuring a lush soundscape built atop hypnotic vocal melodies, piercing piano chords and dreamy synths, the track was highlighted on Spotify’s influential New Music Friday playlist. The band also launched a 33-date US Fall tour in September 2017 alongside Atlas Genius in support of the track.
LINKS:
http://www.halftheanimal.com
https://www.facebook.com/halftheanimal
https://twitter.com/halftheanimal
https://www.instagram.com/halftheanimal