The Passport Label

The Passport Label releases the brilliantly uplifting Gold Canary by Cloud Control on February 22. Hailed as one of the most promising new bands in Australia after winning the Best New Artist prize at the Sydney Music, Arts and Culture Awards, Cloud Control have just finished recording their debut album which will be released by Ivy League Records (The Vines, Josh Pyke, Youth Group) in their home country, early in 2010.

With tribal chants travelling alongside steady percussion and then exploding with a cosmic breakdown, Gold Canary could very well be likened to David Byrne and Fela Kuti holding hands in space. The b-side, Vintage Books draws on inspiration from the great melody makers of our time, with inventive pop melodies and old-time girl/boy harmonies from an era when pop music was pure and, well, just made you smile.

Hailing from the picturesque Blue Mountains near Sydney, the band formed after performing together in the play The Pirates of Penzance. Made up of Alister Wright (guitar/lead vocals), Jeremy Kelshaw (bass) and siblings Heidi (keyboards/vocals) and Ulrich Lenffer (drums) they honed their sound when they recorded their first self-titled 6-track EP in 2007. Using all analog recording equipment gave each track a natural feel, harking back to a golden age of music. To record their debut full-length release, the band holed up in the mountains of Australia’s Megalong Valley. Wright says of the experience: “The Valley is an isolated place, nice to work in. There’s no town nearby, just properties. It can be inspirational.”

Cloud Control have already ventured to the shores of the UK, playing Brighton’s Great Escape in early 2009. Let’s hope they’ll be back soon for a full tour so that we can hear their stunning, original-yet-familiar sounds, live on stage. For now, sit back and enjoy Gold Canary, kicking off 2010 with what will no doubt be one of the catchiest, most enjoyable singles of the year.

“It’s alternately thrilling and new in its bricolage of simple, disparate elements from diverse sources… Gold Canary quickly assumes its place as one of the best Australian singles of the year.” – Mess and Noise

As we revealed last month, The Passport Label is proud to be issuing the new single from legend of Australian rock, Rowland S. Howard. Set for release in the UK on August 24, Pop Crimes is also the title track from his first solo album in ten years, to be released in Australia this September.

Rowland S. Howard is a musician whose distinctive style and sound has resonated across the underground rock landscape for three decades. His bands have included The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls, Crime and The City Solution, Honeymoon in Red, and his collaborations have involved such dissidents as Lydia Lunch, Thurston Moore, Nick Cave and the late Nikki Sudden.

To the delight of his local following, Howard made a rare appearance at the Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Australia earlier this year. It was at these shows that he presented the astonishing new songs from his forthcoming album in a set that encompassed everything from the stunning Shivers which he penned in the late seventies through to material from his acclaimed 1999 album Teenage Snuff Film.

The Passport 7” single features the dramatic Pop Crimes as well as the magnificent duet, (I Know) A Girl Called Jonny. Joined by long-term collaborators Mick Harvey (who has played with Rowland for over 30 years), JP Shiloh (Hungry Ghosts) and producer Lindsay Gravina, Howard is out front on guitar delivering his weary, almost journalistic vocal, dispassionately sitting amidst the sweaty panic of the music, adding to the ill ease.

The band lurch in to Pop Crimes as if dragging a rain soaked body across a muddy field. The ghosts of Lee Hazlewood, Snatch, Sergio Leone, The Shangri-Las and nameless guys from a never known chain gang watch on. Within the first few breaths, Howard references Stalin, Calvary and genocide, whilst razoring guitar lines, the current crop of post-punk revisionists could only fantasize about.

(I Know) A Girl Called Jonny sees Jonnine Standish from HTRK sidle up to the microphone for a duet that will melt even the coldest of hearts. It’s a glorious missing link between the New York girl group sound and the street smarts of Suicide.

Rowland S. Howard makes a fabulous character study of sheer longevity and creativity in the face of commercial blandness. Not to be outshined by his former associates, here he proves his timeless genius as an inspiration to lovers of darkness everywhere.

Hear Pop Crimes and (I Know) A Girl Called Jonny now on the Passport audio player.