70's Sydney Hard Rock Under Neon: "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again" by The Angels (1978)

Feature Song of the Day: 'What Do I Do' by Lanie Lane

Today's song is...What Do I Do by Australian pop-roots-blues-jazz singer-guitarist-songwriter Lanie Lane. Lanie Lane comes out of Sydney, Australia, and her musical style fits into many genres all at once. There is not a heap of biographical information on this artist, but I do highly recommend checking out her work, and if you are interested in finding out more about her you can go to her Unearthed page HERE, or her Facebook page HERE, or even her Myspace page HERE. Do note, that this song is still available as a free and legal MP3 download on her Unearthed page. Enjoy!
What Do I Do (Lanie Lane) from Lanie Lane on Vimeo.

Song for October 27th, 2010: "The Eagle" by Grafton Primary

The song for today is....The Eagle, by Australian electro-noir band Grafton Primary. Grafton Primary are an electro-duo  consisting of brothers Benjamin Garden (keyboards/synth) and Joshua Garden (vocals) along with an occasional drummer or bass-guitarist for live shows only. They come out of Sydney, Australia and they have been active on the music scene since 2006. They have released one full length studio albums in the past and The Eagle is a single to come off of their upcoming new 2011 studio release album titled Sophmore. Now the youtube video below is a remix version of the original, but it is the only version available on youtube, and their videos are the most-postable (if thats a word) so that is what I have posted below. You can still find a free mp3 download of the original song here.

Song of the Day for September 19th, 2010: "Friday Night" by CASSIAN

And the song is....Friday Night, by Australian electro-funk-house artist CASSIAN. Now, there is little to no bio info on this artist, however he is from Sydney, and he does sound a bit like another electronic group called Chromeo. So I suppose that makes my job here today easier, and if you want to check out some more of his stuff, try his myspace page here. This song comes off of his Friday Night EP, which was release in 2009 and can be found on Itunes. Enjoy!

And the song of the day is.....

...The Memento, by 4 piece Aussie indie rock band Traps. Traps come out of Sydney in New South Wales, and consist of members Kieran Day (lead vocals & guitar), Ben Hassell (vocals & guitar), Matthew Edge (bass guitar) and Malcolm Tain (drums). They formed back in 2007, each member coming from a different band. And that is about all the info their is on them out there, so enjoy the song! Now you will realize that there is no video, and that is because the song is not up on youtube, or anywhere else, which leaves us with the myspace page, the last resort of course but better than nothing, so look at this link for the song. Cheers!  

#76 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Ahoy There! We are presenting #76 of the countdown on this hot summer day of our lord in North America! Now unless your Aussie you might not be familiar with this song or this band as they were a one hit Aussie rock wonder from 1987. And the song is...Run to Paradise, by Sydney hard-rock band The Choirboys.  Run to Paradise is a classic in the Aussie-rock repetoire and the band is considered to be an "Iconic Australian Heritage Band." It reached #3 on the Australian Singles Chart back in 1987 with its release. Never heard of them or this song you say?? Well, guess what chicken-butt, now you have!! The Choirboys were formed back in 1979 in the Northern Sydney beaches, which are arguably some of the best sandy-beaches in the world. The original band members are Mark Gable (Singer), Ian Hulme (Bass guitar), Lindsay Tebbutt (Drummer), and Brad Carr (lead guitar). According to wikipedia they are actually still a band, not all the original members of course, but they still perform Run to Paradise around the Aussie summer festivals from time to time and were last spotted performing it at  the Gold Coast SuperGP/Indy Carnival in October of 2009. Check em out and see what you think of this legendary Aussie song.

And the "Hot Song of the Day" is....

...Starry Eyed, by Australian hip-hop duo Spit Syndicate. They formed back in 2005, and have released 3 albums, and are based in Sydney. This song comes off of their 2010 release album titled Exile. Don't know too much else, so check em out. Unfortunately, bloody youtube (which is seriously devolving into and impotent website more and more every day) doesn't have this song, so you will have to go to this myspace link to listen to the song, so check there if your keen, and if not, eat bon bons and drink some more kool-aid. Sorry if I sound a bit jaded today, just irritated that Ghana beat the USA yet again, would have been neat to have won at least one elimnation-round match, oh well, life goes on.... Exile

And the "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Put It On Wax, by Aussie hip-hop artist Ozi Batla. Ozi Batla is also known as a member of Aussie hip-hop group The Herd (of whom I have posted a song for in the last few months). I don't have too much info on Ozi, but he is from Sydney and this song is pretty good, it was released in April 2010. Check out his myspace page here for more info. I just watched this video for the first time and realised that it was filmed in Carlton Gardens, right through the area I used to walk to work every morning, strange, its a small world I guess. Enjoy!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Lonely in Your Arms, by Aussie indie band Deep Sea Arcade. Deep Sea Arcade are a five piece band, and they come at us out of sunny Sydney, Australia. Band members include Nic Mckenzie (vocals),  Nick Weaver (bass), Carlos Adura (Drums), Tim Chamberlain (Guitar), and Simon Relfon (Guitar). They are currently recording their debut album and are thus quite a young band. That is about all the info I could find about them online. Lonely in Your Arms has an upbeat indie sound and adds yet another tick in the belt of Australian Indie Rock. For a country of only 22.3 million people (compared to 309 million in the USA) they sure know how to produce their fair share of great bands and music! Also, would like to acknowledge that yesterday was ANZAC Day, when around 11,000 Aussie and Kiwi soldiers (amongst others) died in WWI at Gallipoli, and wish everyone a Happy Belated ANZAC Day. Cheers everybody!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Peek-a-boo, by independent Australian indie artist, songwriter, and guitarist Bertie Blackman. Bertie Blackman comes out of Sydney Australia, and has released 3 studio albums. Now, as most of you probably already know, Peek-a-boo was originally a Siouxsie and the Banshees song from their 1988 Peepshow album. The Siouxsie and the Banshees release is thought to be a remake of the original release titled Jeepers Creepers, written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer as a Jazz song in 1938. It usually irritates me when bands and artists do covers of songs, unless they can pull it off and make them sound better than the original (which is rarely done). I am also a big 80's music fan, so its a bit of a surprise to even myself that I actually like this cover-song by Bertie Blackman. I find that she has effectively recaptured the original sound quite well. Some other facts for you: Bertie is the daughter of Aussie artist Charles Blackman, and she began playing African percussion at the age of 12, and guitar at 15. She grew up in the suburbs of Bondi (a beautiful beachy area) and Paddo (Paddington for you non-Sydneysiders, which is a bit of a chic area near fashionable Oxford Street, or something like that). She won the Best Independent Release ARIA Award in 2009. Nuff said, enjoy, snap!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Orange X, by Aussie alternative indie rock band The Seabellies. The Seabellies come at us out of Sydney, yes you heard correctly, another good rock band from the Sunny Down-unda,' fackin' oath maite! Wikipedia states that they are also based out beautiful Newcastle, and New South Wales in general, so I guess they claim the whole state as their home-base, fair enough. The Seabellies formed in 2006, and released a 6-track EP in 2007. Orange X is a single just released in 2010. The band consists of 6 members and as you can hear they incorporate some electronica/electro into their sound (as many of the bands of the moment do). I personally haven't heard their other tracks, but I dig this one, so here it is. Big ups yoself!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Wayside, by Canvas Kites. Canvas Kites are an Aussie guitar band coming out of Sydney Australia. The group formed in April 2009 & consists of Thom Moore on lead vocals and electric guitar, Alex Knight on drums, and Brett Adrien on bass guitar. And that's about all I could find on the band. Naturally they have a myspace page here, and a brief intro at last fm.Thom Moore also features in a band called Mercy Arms. Wayside (released in July of 2009) is the bands first release and will most likely star on their EP, when it is released, but there doesn't seem to be any info on when the EP-release will be :-( Check it out!Mercy Arms

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Mexican Mavis, by Aussie folk-rock collaboration Boy and Bear. Boy and Bear (formerly known as Dave Hosking), are a Sydney-based band built on the collaboration of three front men from separate bands. Mexican Mavis is a single and was released in October of 2009. There is not much info out there about them as they are a collaboration, but you can go HERE to see their myspace page and download the free mp3 of this song on that same page. Woot!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Hurt Me, by Aussie-Indie group The Jezabels. The Jezabels are a four-piece group, and they formed after meeting at the University of Sydney (that's my old Uni!, woot woot!). They are fairly new group and have thus far only released two EPs, the first titled The Man is Dead (released in February 2009), and the second titled She's So Hard (released in November of 2009). Hurt Me is the first single coming off of She's So Hard, and features some keyboard/piano parts along with ambient guitar bits by Samuel Lockwood, and with seductive vocals by Hayley Mary. Do enjoy this one, its a little dark, but it is one of those songs that will grow on you. Check it!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

Ahoy viewers/readers, or whatever it is you consider yourself to be. Today's song is "Broken Leg," by an epic Aussie rock-band who call themselves Bluejuice. Bluejuice hollas at us from the Sunny Metropolis of Sydney! Broken Leg comes off of Bluejuice's latest album (released in 2009) "Head of the Hawk. Bluejuice were nominated for 2 ARIA Awards in 2009 for best video and for best break-through artists. "Head of the Hawk" contains quite a unique sound which has been described in many ways such as "funky indie rock." Bluejuice is currently on tour throughout Australia, and hopefully will be heading to North America at some point in the near future. Check it: