• Fat Freddy’s Drop has announced the release next month of an iTunes Session EP (cover left). Recorded in Auckland’s Roundhead Studios, the digital-only affair will comprise six tracks, including the band’s recently-released single ‘Slings And Arrows’. Available for pre-order now, the EP will drop globally on Friday December 12.
• Big congratulations to the gorgeous Kate Ceberano, who was inducted into the Australian Songwriters Hall Of Fame in a ceremony held in Sydney earlier this week. The team at Mushroom Publishing (who Kate’s been with for 17 years) were praising not only her extraordinary songwriting abilities, but also her vocal and the legacy she’s created.
• More big names have been added to the upcoming Campfire Festival at Hope Estate in the New South Wales Hunter Valley. Already confirmed as part of the line-up were John Butler Trio, Kasey Chambers, Lee Kernaghan, The McClymonts and more. They’ll now be joined by Shannon Noll, Wendy Matthews, Mental As Anything, The Wolfe Brothers and more for the March 13-15 event. More information (including the full line-up) is available HERE.
• New York rapper Nas (pictured left) has been confirmed to play a Melbourne headline show as part of his Australian visit in January. He’ll be in the Victorian capital as part of the line-up for Sugar Mountain and has already announced shows in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth (Sydney’s sold out), but now there’s a show at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on Sunday January 25. General public tickets are on sale at 10am AEDT this Wednesday.
• Augie March are another act announcing a Melbourne show this week. The band will take to the stage at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Friday April 17 to delve into their 17 year-long back catalogue. Tickets are on sale now.
• Aussie outfit Kingswood have announced a national tour. To celebrate the recent release of their album ‘Microscopic Wars’, the band will kick the journey off with a show at the Beach Hotel in Byron Bay on January 22, with a further 17 appearances to follow. Tickets for all are on sale this Tuesday.
• Taylor Swift maintains her No.1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a second successive week with her new tune ‘Blank Space’, no doubt helped along by her performance of the track as part of this week’s American Music Awards. Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’ helps itself to the No.3 position (up from No.6), while Sam Smith, Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran all improve.
• On the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, it’s all about One Direction, whose new album ‘Four’ debuts in the top spot (with 387,000 first week sales) and, as in Australia, it’s their fourth album in a row to claim the number one position. Their debut, of course, means that Ms Taylor Swift loses her No.1 mantle on the albums chart (she’s down to No.2), while the Pentatonix release ‘That’s Christmas To Me’ improves to No.3. Nickelback’s ‘No Fixed Address’ cements itself in the No.4 spot on debut and In This Moment’s ‘Black Widow’ is new at No.8. Further down the top ten countdown, it’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas, with festive collections from Michael Bublé and Idina Menzel improving to positions nine and ten respectively.
• How did this week’s ARIAs affect the performance of our homegrown artists on the local charts though? You (and us) will be casting a careful eye over the ARIA top 100s; our regular Chart Watch is live tonight from 6pm AEDT.
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