New Signings & Team-Ups: November 8

SPIT SYNDICATE PREPPING INERTIA ALBUM

Following their signing to Inertia Music, Sydney rap duo Spit Syndicate are working on their fourth studio album, set for an early 2017 release. Following a successful collaboration with their Know Better single released earlier this year, the duo once again teamed up with producer Styalz Fuego for new single Inhibitions.

Nick Lupi and Jimmy Nice of Spit Syndicate said of their intentions when writing Inhibitions – “We’ve always wanted to make the type of song that people wanna put on when they’re getting ready to go out, something that instantly places you in the mood. Inhibitions is your pre-party, party and kick on.”

APES HEAD DOWN THE HIGHWAY

Melbourne band APES have locked in with Sophie Kirov’s newly launched booking arm of touring and logistics company Down The Highway. They’re playing Melbourne’s John Curtin (November 11), Brisbane’s Crowbar (18) and Brighton Up Bar in Sydney (19) behind new single If You Want It. They are donating $1 from each ticket sold to animal welfare charity PetRescue Ltd.

BYRON’S PARCELS WRAP UP PARIS LABEL

Byron funk-pop band Parcels who’re returning to Australia for the first time since moving to Berlin, have announced a deal with Paris-based label Kitsuné. A new single Gamesofluck is issued as the band plays Australian shows from next month. The Hideout EP is issued in January, Parcels formed two years ago at high school and have racked up 1 million digital plays.

LEISURE GET TRACK ON HBO SHOW

New Zealand band Leisure’s song Got It Bad has been used in Episode 4 of HBO show Thirsty As F***. They have Beyonce’s sister Solange Knowles to thank: she’s music consultant for the show, and heard it on Spotify.

JET REISSUE ALBUMS

Liberation Music reported that with Jet reforming for the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band tour through Australia and New Zealand next year, their two albums Get Born and Shine On will be reissued. They are out on vinyl, CD and digitally on November 25. Both the CD and digital reissues will come with rare previously unreleased digitally re-mastered recordings from each period.

Of the bonus discs, Chris Cester, founding member, drummer and songwriter says: “Once the ball started rolling, things were happening quickly and we needed more songs to round out the set. We only had 13 songs. Get Born basically! It was a wild time, and a really creative period. We had pretty much been high for three years straight! These recordings were lost for years but then re-appeared down the line somehow.

Formed in 2001, Jet sold 6.5 million albums worldwide, fuelled by their signature song Are You Gonna Be My Girl?. Debut album Get Born went 10 x platinum in Australia, and 1 x platinum each in the US and UK. Shine On was less successful, getting only one Platinum accreditation in Australia, and the band went on hiatus.

LIVE NATION DEVELOPING DOCUSERIES

Global promoter Live Nation is expanding further into creating documentaries. Teaming with Lionsgate Television, I’m With the Band will focus on a musical artist or band and their entourage as they prepare for and embark on tour.

Live Nation Productions is also working on the Colin Hanks-directed Eagles of Death Metal doco.

MAMBO DOCO SCREENS TONIGHT

Mambo: Art Irritates Life, the documentary of the gloriously irreverent Mambo collective, which screens tonight at 9.30 AEST on the ABC, also has a strong music collection. Founder Dare Jennings set up a screen-printing studio for T-shirts and posters called Phantom. That eventually became Phantom Records, the iconic indie label. In the early ‘80s, Jennings realised he could combine the irreverent artworks produced by artist friends and musicians (including Mental As Anything’s Reg Mombassa), with surf wear to release his first run of board shorts under the name Mambo.

The one-hour documentary is the collaboration of The Monkeys, Bombora Film & Music Co., and writer/director Paul Clarke.

BIG DEAL INKS PUSSY RIOT

Big Deal Music finalised a publishing agreement with Russian punk band Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova. The act, best known for being jailed after taking on Russian political and religious authorities, has just released its debut EP xxx and a companion series of music videos.

Big Deal’s Dave Ayers commented, “Nadya is one of a kind. Uncommonly tireless as activist, artist, and provocateur, while somehow managing to keep her sense of humour intact.”

MUSIC SA LAUNCHES ONLINE GIG GUIDE

Fresh from its latest Live Music Census showing that over a 1000 live gigs are held each month in Adelaide and outer suburbs, Music SA has launched its own online gig guide at www.musicsa.com.au. This is in partnership with media company theMusic.com.au.

FOXTEL EXTENDS BBC PARTNERSHIP

Foxtel has extended its deal with BBC Worldwide ANZ to gain more of its programming for its on demand service. This follows the widening of Foxtel’s deal with HBO for more titles for its on-demand, from January 1.

NIGHTHAWK ADDED TO 123 AGENCY

123 Agency’s latest addition is Melbourne band Nighthawk, which sees 123 founder and drummer Damian Costin team up again with his Motor Ace colleague Patrick Robertson with Flynn Wheeler and Rhys Thompson.

Robertson virtually vanished from music for ten years, saying, “The fire that compelled me to make music in the first place was extinguished by the end of Motor Ace. I was young and took every kink in the road harder than I should have.”

The first single from Nighthawk’s upcoming album is Surely Gettin On.

NAPSTER CHASES MORE SUBSCRIBERS WITH NEW DEALS

The world’s longest-running streaming service, Napster, plans to expand its 3,5 million subscriber base with a host of new team-ups, Billboard reported. Napster was bought in 2011 by Rhapsody. For five years, it operated as Rhapsody in the US and Napster elsewhere. In July 2016, the company took on the Napster name worldwide including the US.

According to Billboard, the biggest deal is with Sprint that will give its mobile users access to 40 million-plus songs. Sprint’s 60 million users will get Napster free for a month before paying $9.99 a month. Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile also add Napster to their lineup of data-free music streaming providers.

Other deals include headphone maker Even (for a personalised “earprint”), German airline Lufthansa (adding Napster to its BoardConnect platform) and German mass-market retailer Aldi (to power the brand’s Aldi Life Musik service with Medion).

Billboard also reported Napster’s new deals with a number of labels, including Warner Nashville, Naxos and Sub Pop. They will create their own user profiles and playlists within the Napster app and publish them for member listening.