I’ve made genuine attempts to do the legwork on this post so that it didn’t just look like I knew nothing about the artist and blindly posted on the back of a song that ‘sounds nice’, but it’s come to this. I’m blindly posting about an artist because the song sounds nice. He seems to have a few albums to his name yet somehow I can only stream one, single track online. What’s that about? Come on Champers, I want to try before I buy. I don’t even know where he’s from. Townsville maybe? The following is an excerpt from his bio,

“Having released two celebrated EPs, received glowing reviews, gained admiring fans, played just about every festival under the Australian sun and built a firm reputation as one of the most exiting young performers in the country.”

DANIEL! Let me celebrate your EPs! Has noone shown you bandcamp yet? Is soundcloud unavailable in your region? The future is here and its name is spotify. Just give me aaaaaaany one way to hear a few songs online and I’ll know if I want to buy your album. This might be a new song, it might not, it doesn’t really matter. It could be the product of 2006. What I mean to say is, it’s an acoustic track with a little string and a little build so it’s not going to be the catalyst that gives birth to the next genre hybrid. This isn’t to say that your ears don’t bear witness to excellent songwriting and some glorious fingerpicking though. The man knows his way around an acoustic guitar better than… well, he just knows his way around an acoustic guitar. When writing up this sort of track I often find that I try to distance myself from the artist as if I’m somehow better than a simple folk staple. I like acoustic folk, it’s a reality. Maybe sometime soon we’ll hear some more Champagne recordings digitally.

To make up for the disinteresting text in this article I have added an extra dose of lightning to the above image. It was a choice between lightning or lazer eyes but lazer eyes wouldn’t look realistic.

Daniel Champagne – Secrets in the Dark [FREE DOWNLOAD]

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I went this entire post without saying something about his name but seriously, IT’S DANIEL CHAMPAGNE.

After last month’s false start we’re now officially underway with the Tallest Man’s third full-length There’s No Leaving Now, due out June 11. The Dylanesque vocal tones that we’ve grown so found of are here even complimented by a Dylanesque delivery. I like this so, so much. I truly wonder if anyone will ever touch me the way The Tallest Man does, and though that couldn’t sound any creepier, I assure that I mean it in the least gropey way possible. Big Krisso’s done it again.

I’ve heard that the new record is going to have an added country twang to compliment his familiar acoustic folk riffery and I’m open to it. I’m even open to his reported use of a full band on this record. What I’m not open to, and I’ve said this before, is the delay on his ‘Once A Year’ soundtrack songs. WHERE ARE THEY!?

The Tallest Man On Earth – 1904 [DOWNLOAD]

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The Falls are a two piece from Sydney that appear to have pretty equally portioned male and female vocals. While I have nothing negative to say of the female vocals I really like the dude’s voice and when the two come together it’s generally a good time. Anyway, that’s all beside the point. They are a fairly straight down the line folk outfit sans gimmicks and frills. It’s simply a pair of voices mingling over what is for the most part just an acoustic guitar, and as it has for hundreds, nay thousands of artists through the years, it just works. The highlight from their “four track demo”, which strangely only features three tracks is ‘Home’, a song that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes release. They may not be breaking down the door of musical ingenuity but there’s an authenticity residing in their simplicity that will speak to even the most folk-jaded soul.

They’re playing a whole swathe of shows over the next few months, including a residency at the Art Gallery of NSW’s Art After Hours, which I will be clearing my schedule to attend. If you live in Bathurst then you’d be a fool to miss their show with Packwood at the Australian Fossil & Mineral Museum which will be both a fun night out and a geological adventure.

The Falls – Home [DOWNLOAD]

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[EDIT: I’ve had this one in the bank for a little while now and since the time of writing, the shows mentioned, Fossil based or otherwise, have already taken place. AND there were no strings in the version I was listening to at the time.]

Here’s a gentleman worth keeping an eye on courtesy of his apparent ability to make music within any chosen genre. Have a listen to the pair of songs streaming below and you’ll have to agree, you’ll just have to agree that they are quite dissimilar, am I right? I’m right and I’m astute and that’s why I’m a viable music media node. Respect me. The one song sounds like an under produced Justin Timberlake, with the light sprinklings of an Oscar + Martin jam. There are some organic sounds in there that thanks to my well honed ear, I’ve been able to identify as the jingling of car keys and the clinking of a vintage collectible spoon on an empty jar of Cottee’s jam.

The other, the more recent ‘Selma Blair’ from his third record Home, has this chorusey bit that comes in around the 1:00 mark that is sure to set your heart a-flutter. Rollicking banjo? Don’t mind if I do. It’s a far folkier affair and it’s a better representation of the album in which it resides which is, incidentally, free. He’s from Melbourne too, just by the by.

Yeo – ‘Two sides Of A Door’ [DOWNLOAD]

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Yeo – ‘Selma Blair’ [DOWNLOAD]

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A few months ago Kristian Mattson (aka The Tallest Man On Earth) and Amanda Bergman (aka Idiot Wind) signed on to write a series of songs for a Swedish film called Once A Year. This was obviously fantastic news as any word that Kristian Mattson is doing anything at all in relation to anything at all is cause to fist pump and mouth off to to those around you (a la Lleyton Hewitt circa 2001). Yesterday I heard part of the first of the seven songs that they’ve written for the film, this one featuring Mattson in the foreground while Bergman delivers backing vocals and my word, it’s superb. If you thought Mattson’s voice on it’s own was a serious business, wait until you hear it entwined with Bergman’s. Initially it didn’t look as if a soundtrack would be released separately but director Gorki Glaser-Müller has since said that the songs have taken on a life of their own and could very well see a retail release. Nice one Gorki. The track you hear in the below film trailer is called ‘Some Will Spare You’