ELA STILES

Over the years, Ela Stiles has built a name for herself as an adept musician in Sydney’s often strange and varied music scene. Moving beyond her work in local favourites Songs, she became a driving force in Melbourne outfit Bushwalking, releasing two records with the band while still based in Sydney and working on numerous projects.

Her work with Nisa Venerosa and Karl Scullin in Bushwalking has obviously influenced the vocal performances found on her solo album, yet there is something beyond the jagged, new-Australiana here. A single vocal becomes far more powerful than amplified sound; the shock of being able to hide nothing is new in a tradition of rock music.



The self-titled debut record is comprised entirely of acapella performances, It is her voice alone that fills the listener’s ear, and then her voice again, rising and falling in different vocal patterns both rhythmic and melodic, turning in on itself and creating layers of startling sound. The A-side is a collection of beautifully arranged songs and the B-side is one single vocal drone, self-recorded, run through tape machine and then layered again with more vocal. It is complex and deliberately structured collection of sound, and as a whole is truly powerful.

"soothing and otherworldly" - The Guardian




VIRGINIA WING

‘Measures Of Joy’ is the debut album from South London based group Virginia Wing, due to be released on Fire Records in November. The album is a work of psychedelic majesty that avoids the rockist trappings that many contemporary bands fall into; speaking to everyday anxiety and isolation and in contrast, seeking to evoke an inner world of pastoral fortification.




STERLING ROSWELL

Any attempt to categorize Sterling Roswell, runs the risk of misrepresenting a true radical. Artist, musician, poet and producer, Roswell is all of these and more and over the years he has embraced a myriad of artistic forms to great effect.

For live shows he will be joined by the band The Psychedelic SRB featuring a rotating collective of musicians including the fantastic George Frakes (lead guitar), Syd Kemp (bass) and Tucker Nelson (drums). They not only bring the album The Call Of The Cosmos to the live stage but in the midst have created their own unique space age sound. Live appearances, both solo and with The Psychedelic SRB, always hold audiences spellbound and is THE act to see in this new age of psychedelia.



The Call of the Cosmos features the singles 'Interplanetary Spaceliner','Give Peace Another Chance' and 'a remix of The Girl From Orbit', cementing the elements which have infused Sterling's work since his days with Spacemen 3, his multi instrumental driving force behind The Darkside and his innovative psychedelic soundscapes as a studio engineer and producer. The album stands testament to a new message for Interplanetary Peace and features a truly fitting tribute to the late, great front man of THE SEED, Sky Sunlight Saxon with a cover of the song 'Tripmaker', which was originally featured in the Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda movie The Trip in 1968.

"Baudelaire once wrote, 'music excavates heaven'. Listen to this record and you might just have to agree." ANDREW WEATHERALL / MOJO