• Welcome to your Saturday edition of The Purge and welcome to ‘Lady Powers’, the new single from Aussie starlet Vera Blue. Released yesterday, the single includes an appearance from US hip hop dynamo Kodie Shane and will feature on a forthcoming ‘Lady Powers | Power Ladies’ remix EP, including reworks from the likes of Tokimonsta, Maya Jane Coles and Alice Ivy, due for release on Friday April 13.
• Aussie pop songstress Betty Who looks like she’s going to be peppering us with new music now that she’s an independent artist. And, after dropping the single ‘Ignore Me’ last month, her just-released-yesterday new track ‘Look Back’ proves she’s lost none of her pop powers in the transition from major label to indie.
• British singer songwriter George Ezra has been on a major charm offensive during his Australian promotional visit this week; at the same time performing to sold out audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. And with the release of his new album ‘Staying At Tamara’s’ now less than two weeks away, anticipation has grown even more with the latest grat track from it, ‘Hold My Girl’, released digitally yesterday.
• Australia’s Madonna fans will be counting down the days to Record Store Day 2018, with confirmation that the swag of exclusive releases this year include a limited picture disc edition of ‘The First Album’ (pictured), along with a red vinyl LP of her 1987 remix album ‘You Can Dance’. They’re limited to 14,000 and 12,000 copies respectively worldwide. Other limited editions in Rhino’s range for 2018 include releases from Air, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and Prince. Record Store Day will take over specialty music retailers across the country on Saturday April 21.
• It’s being touted as the biggest band in the world you’ve never heard of. EveryOneBand is a new fundraising project that so far features the talents of the likes of Kate Miller-Heidke, Megan Washington, Sheppard, Katie Noonan, Gary Pinto, Jade MacRae, Kasey Chambers and many more. But organisers are hoping you’ll lend your voice to the band’s recording of ‘Stand By You’, which is set for release on Friday May 18. 100% of the royalties form the sale of the track will go to Support Act, the Australian charity that helps out musicians, road crew and other music industry professionals. Head HERE for all the info you need on how to lend your voice to the project.
• Sydney rapper Sampa The Great is the winner of the 2018 Australian Music Prize. She takes the crown for her album ‘Birds And The BEE9’ and picks up a cool $30,000 as a result, saying, “I didn’t see any of this in my periphery when coming to Australia. It really means a lot to me thank you.” She beat out shortlisted albums from Jen Cloher, Jordan Rakei, Darcy Baylis, Paul Kelly, The Vampires, Beaches, HTMLflowers and Liars to secure the win.
• Urban superstar Jay Sean is headed down under next month to headline a brand new night at Sydney’s Max Watt’s called ‘Urban Sessions’. He’ll be performing tracks from throughout his career at the one-off show, which will also include appearances from Blazin MC, Suite Az and Timomatic. Tickets for the April 13 gig are on sale now.
• Speaking of RNB, Canadian duo Majid Jordan, who featured on Drake’s ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’, will be in Australia in late July for three performances across the East Coast. Majid and Jordan (any ideas how they come up with their band name?) will play the Metro Theatre in Sydney on July 26, 170 Russell in Melbourne on July 27 and 256 Wickham in Brisbane on July 28. Live Nation members have exclusive access to a pre-sale, which is live now. General public tickets are on sale from 10am on Tuesday, March 13.
• And The Screaming Jets and Boom Crash Opera will tour the country throughout August and September on their ‘Rock Radio Riot’ tour. Each act will be playing the hits that made them famous on the 14 date trek across the country, which is set to make stops in all five of the main capitals, along with suburban dates in Sydney and Melbourne. Tickets are on sale now.
• The UK singles chart is fast turning into the US singles chart in the fact that there’s been little change in the upper echelons. ‘Drake’s ‘God’s Plan’, Rudimental, Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen’s ‘These Days’ and Dua Lipa’s ‘IDGAF’ are steady again in positions one through three. But Portugal The Man make the move this week (up two positions to No.4 with ‘Feel It Still’). Post Malone’s ‘Psycho’ swaps places with it, down two to No.6.
• And once again there’s no shift at No.1 on the UK albums chart either; the Brits still loving the soundtrack to ‘The Greatest Showman’, which maintains its heading for a ninth successive week. UB40’s ‘A Real Labour Of Love’ cracks the countdown at No.2, with further top ten debuts for Embrace (‘Love Is A Basic Need’) at No.4, Tory Lanez (‘Memories Don’t Die’) at No.8 and Breeders (‘All Nerve’) at No.9. Tracy Thorn’s new record ‘Record’ lobs at No.15, also on debut.
• Meantime, over in the USA, Drake holds again at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with ‘God’s Plan’. Though there’s movement right behind him, with the new Post Malone track ‘Psycho’ blasting into the countdown at No.2. As such, last week’s Nos.2, 3, 4 and 5 (Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Camila Cabello and BlocBoy JB) all lose one positions respectively. Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line climb a little higher again with ‘Meant To Be’ (No.8 to No.7) and 6ix9ine’s ‘Gummo’ bullets from No.25 to No.16, suggesting a top ten berth next week could be on the cards.
• There’s a new Bon Jovi album. It’s called ‘This House Is Not For Sale’. And it debuts at No.1 on the Billboard 200 album chart this week, knocking off the ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack after its two weeks at the top. Not that the ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack has gone too far, mind you… it’s only down to No.2. 6ix9ine’s ‘Day69’ enters the chart at a respectable No.4 and is followed by ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack, Ed Sheeran’s ‘÷’ and Post Malone’s ‘Stoney’. Great news for homegrown superstar Vance Joy too, whose new album ‘Nation Of Two’ debuts at No.10 on the Billboard music chart – a brilliant result, besting the No.17 result of his debut album three and a half years ago.
• And that’s all we have for you in this Saturday morning edition of The Purge. Though know we’ll be back at 5pm AEDT today with our regular weekly wrap of all things chart here in Australia… ARIA Chart Watch!
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY MARCH 12 : Both Sides Now (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
TUESDAY MARCH 13 : Majid Jordan (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
TUESDAY MARCH 13 : Marlon Williams (Melbourne)
FRIDAY MARCH 16 : Michael Bolton (Nationally)
Australia's first stop for pop!