Yesterdays Hedgehog

Billy Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centred on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes.

"Which Side Are You On?" is a song written in 1931 by Florence Reece, the wife of Sam Reece, a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky.

‘Circle The Sun’ is the new long player from sonic-indie-rock charmers TV HAZE; it’s the third album from the quietly prolific Melbourne trio in just over 18 months!

Lead by the infectious Byrds-esque single ‘Maple Leaves’ and closing with expansive slow burner ‘Circle The Sun’, TV HAZE have showed they can dial back the fuzz while still keeping the urgency and raw beauty of years gone by. “It’s a powerful first statement for an album that stretches beyond the band’s admitted ’90s sweet spot into rough-and-tumble college rock and ’70s power pop & country.” – Doug Wallen (Weirdo Wasteland)

If 2016’s 'Self-Titled' debut and last year’s 'Scrap Museum' tapped into the ragged, flannel-draped glory of bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Buffalo Tom, ‘Circle The Sun’ sees the Melbourne trio expanding their sound, bringing forth a distinct 70’s influence with addition of 12-string guitar textures and added instrumentation by renowned Oakland via Melbourne musician Michael Beach.

‘Circle The Sun’ was recorded and mixed by Matt Chow (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Deaf Wish) at a secluded farm cabin in the country surrounds of regional Victoria and mastered by Mikey Young. Original collage artwork by Stephen Tierney.

May 18th brings the much awaited released of Courtney Barnett’s new album, Tell Me How You Really Feel. Her second solo record has been teased with two singles thus far: “Nameless, Faceless” and “Need A Little Time”, the latter of which was one of the best songs we heard in all of March. Now, the Aussie artist has broken off a third offering.

Clocking in at almost five minutes, “City Looks Pretty” is a sprawling rocker sprinkled with bits of psychedelic bite. In addition to touching on topics of friendship and home, Barnett weaves in plenty of ace guitar arrangements, including a mellow solo beginning around the 4:00 mark.

We were fortunate to hear an accoustic taste of this song on Yesterdays Hedgehog recently when frontwoman of Don And The Mobsters, Donnelle Brooks performed live in the studio.

Today, the 1st May sees the official release of this, their new song, "I wish my Exes lived in Texas".

The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970, by songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's leader, arranging and producing every album while writing virtually all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.

Jabberwocky Downare a 7 piece band out of Brisbane, Queensland. With a tight rhythm section, crazy horn lines and samples to boot they create an infectious original sound.

Band Members: Jeremy Ellis; Andrew Pizzino; Claudia Allard; Libby Scott; Ben Westphal; Nick Gordon; and Josh Kehoe.

Unique. It’s always been the Holy Grail for artists – the very idea that something entirely new can be created out of thin air. It’s a word not often used by many artists, but a word that completely personifies this Gold Coast mum/dad/son family three piece…The Twine.

On stage they manage to somehow play five instruments each – often at the same time. There’s raw, strumming acoustic guitar, flute, didgeridoo, wild percussion, drums, quirky instruments from all over the globe and the type of honest lyrics and harmonies that recall the classic traditions of story telling through song. You will see feet stomping, limbs swinging in every direction, faces beaming energy,hair flinging, and voices hollering, and the crowd, (no matter what the age), will be smiling and getting into the organic, high octane, positive energy that radiates off them as they play.

Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica and impact on succeeding generations earned comparisons for him to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. 

His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 in the category Sideman, the only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

"My Babe" is a Chicago blues song and a blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Little Walter. Released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, the song was the only Dixon composition ever to become a number one R&B single and it was one of the biggest hits of either of their careers.

Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica and impact on succeeding generations earned comparisons for him to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. 

His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 in the category Sideman, the only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band primarily comprising singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jake Portrait. Nielson, formerly of The Mint Chicks, started the band in 2010. The band's first album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records; three subsequent studio albums have been released on Jagjaguwar, the most recent being Sex & Food (2018).

Brisbane garage lords Average Art Clubreturn with new single 'Happy Pills (Make Me Ill)'; a sardonic slow burner, bubbling with droning guitars, purring synth and crashing hi hats.

Depicting an endless cycle of medication and questionable decisions 'Happy Pills (Make Me Ill)' encapsulates the millennial lurch that has young Aussies feeling zombified, isolated and disillusioned. Lyricist Lisa Murr explains "I wrote this song after years of trialing various prescription drugs to deal with my head. For me, I found the whole process and the drugs themselves really overwhelming and mostly ineffective, at times causing me to feel more ill on them, then off. I found my biggest relief came from the care and attention I received from the important people in my life. And psychotherapy. Ha."

Average Art Club have carved out an impressive reputation care of their live set, opening for the likes of  WAFIA, Ecca Vandal, WAAX, Cub Sport, Saskwatch, The Cairos, The Griswolds and The John Steel Singers. Catch them tearing into 2018, and sharing new single Happy Pills (Make Me Ill) on upcoming hometown supports for Iluka, WHALEHOUSE and Melbourne’s This Way North in Maroochydore and Byron Bay come May.

Kat O (ex- Kathematics, Kill TV) formed The Kat O Armyin June 2017, releasing the single Victim of Truth (Minorities Unite) independently and launching the song with a successful Victorian tour, followed by NSW shows.

The new single I Don’t Wanna Fight was recorded at Toyland in Melbourne and produced and engineered by Adam Calaitzis. Kat played guitar and bass on the track. The song was written in 10 minutes as an ode to 2017, one of the most unbelievably argumentative years ever for Kat. Basically, she didn’t want to fight anymore. Raw and honest, the catchy pop/punk track is sung in Kat’s unmistakable Aussie accent. 

Kat O has been the singer/songwriter/guitarist of numerous Melbourne bands. She has toured New York City and Budapest and played countless shows in Australia. Kat's musical highlights include getting her song You Suck featured in the U.S TV show 'Huge', receiving a psychic reading from Suzi Quatro while interviewing her and supporting Sleater Kinney on their first tour of Australia.  Kat is also a promoter and runs local events under the banner of Kat O Shows, many of them benefit gigs for animal rescues, animals being one of her passions.

As a multi-genre, multi-instrumentalist artist, Steve Towson is a rare talent delivering passionate, convincing & crafted music no matter what the style.

Years of touring and recording has crafted Towson into an individual musical identity, enabling him to be compared with artists as varied as Nick Cave, Billy Bragg, Jello Biafra, The Clash, The Pogues, The Ramones, Leonard Cohen & Woodie Guthrie.

This song, a cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero", is played in celebration of International Workers Day".

Let's Eat Grandma is a British musical group formed in 2013 by childhood friends Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth. They released their debut album, I, Gemini, on 17 June 2016, through Transgressive Records.

Their band name is taken from a grammatical joke meant to emphasize the importance of comma placement. They became members of the local Norwich music scene, before they caught the attention of the musician Kiran Leonard, who passed their work onto their future manager.

"I'm All Ears" is due for release on the 29th June.

Bird Dog Blue is a 3 piece band based in Brisbane that play alternative rock and blues. They formed from their love of Tom Waits, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Nina Simone,. They now concerntrate on music they have written themselves.

First playing on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland and all along the wonderful Australian East Coast, Chrissy Lauder also traveled internationally for 10 years, playing in China, the USA, Ireland and England.
Chrissy continues to deliver hand-crafted original music, along with classic songs and popular tunes, from a happy heart. She finds a special kind of energy in connecting with an audience live… gifting them with soothing and stimulating music.
“Landing”, is her second album. This is a set of original songs telling wonderful stories and posing some riddles in a harmonious and newly creative space. It a collection of musically poetic tunes. Some intriguing fresh styles and wordsmithing sit amongst wonderful playing from the musicians on the album. 

Cat Thompson’s music career is set to get a lot bigger than before on the back of her new single “Be Mine”, a vibrant and often beautiful successor to her last single “All I Want” and one that shows her talents advancing by leaps and bounds. Her latest collaboration with Los Angeles based producer Khaled promises to open up new avenues for the EP they are currently working on and one of the first fruits from those sessions, the single “Be Mine”, finds Thompson more confident and in command of her musical powers than ever before.

From the darkest corner of rural Dorset, England comes The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show. Heartfelt, ramshackle, Country Punk. Formed in 2016 in the tiny village of Witchampton these 8 musicians put the words of local poet James Lynch to music.

Tales of deceit, heartbreak, insanity and black magic to name but a few subjects feature on their debut album 'Weeding Out The Wicked' which was released in May 2017 to critical acclaim.

'A Snake's A Snake' is the first offering from album number two, a raw punchy hoedown of a tune, think late 60s Dylan with a great catchy Summery vibe.

Laura Mulcahy is a singer/songwriter from Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Taking her cues from artists like Sara Bareilles, Allen Stone, John Mayer & James Morrison (among others), Laura is an up & coming artist with her own brand of Soul Pop.

Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid- to late 1960s. Much of the band's music was written by founding members Country Joe McDonald and Barry "The Fish" Melton, with lyrics pointedly addressing issues of importance to the counterculture, such as anti-war protests, free love, and recreational drug use. Through a combination of psychedelia and electronic music, the band's sound was marked by innovative guitar melodies and distorted organ-driven instrumentals which were significant to the development of acid rock.