Listen Carefully is a love letter to music. Each week, Australian music journalist Nathan Jolly talks to a different artist about their lives in and around music. Unlike other (unnamed) podcasts that take delight in mining uncomfortably personal topics, or just promote new music while calling it 'fresh content', Listen Carefully gets into the weeds -- and gets nerdy about this thing Prince calls music.
Ivor Hay founded seminal punk band The Saints when he was a teenager. He moved from piano, to bass, and finally to drums. The Saints 73-78 are touring the first three records, and have released a live EP, Live Nights In Venice, available wherever you listen to music.
Penny Ikinger is a solo artist, songwriter, and guitarist. She started her musical journey in the Wet Taxis, alongside Louis Tillet. For more visit pennyikinger.com.
Mick Thomas was the singer, songwriter, guitarist from Wedding Parties Anything, and now fronts Mick Thomas' Roving Commission, who have a new seven-track EP out May 30, a tour throughout June, and an album out later in the year. Visit mickthomas.bandcamp.com for more.
Noah Lennox is best known as Panda Bear from psychedelic shapeshifters, Animal Collective. He has a new solo album out, Sinister Grift. For more, visit pandabearofficial.com.
Charlie Rooke is the guitarist and singer from The Sharp, who have just released their first new music in 31 years, an EP named '4'. They launch it on Sunday April 20 at Northcote Social Club in Melbourne. Buy tickets and the new EP at thesharp.au.
Tex Perkins has two new records out. Ultimo, by The Beasts, and Straight Into The Sun, the first album in 24 years from The Cruel Sea. Buy both at texperkins.com and, while you're there, grab tickets to the national Cruel Sea tour, kicking off May 1 in Adelaide.
Ben Birchall is the frontman, guitarist, and songwriter of '90s power pop legends Klinger, Slow Fades, and The Corrections. Check out benbirchallmusic.com for more.
Tim Gaze is one of the country's finest guitars. In his teenage years, he recorded some of the best Australian albums of the '70s, including the legendary Morning of the Earth soundtrack, and he hasn't stopped since. Visit timgaze.com for more.
Richard Ploog drummed on five classic albums by The Church: The Blurred Crusade, Seance, Heyday, Starfish, and Gold Afternoon Fix. He has formed a band with Richard Burgman from The Sunnyboys called Gaslight Puppet Show, whose debut album, Esoterica, is out now. Visit goldenrobotrecords.com for more.
Barry Adamson was a member of Nick Cave's band The Bad Seeds for their first four albums, and a founding member of legendary UK band Magazine. He also worked with David Lynch on the Lost Highway soundtrack, and has recorded numerous film scores and solo albums. Barry is touring Australia next week for his latest album, Fade To Black. For tickets and dates, visit barryadamson.com
Rob Griffiths has been the songwriter, singer, and driving force behind legendary power pop band Little Murders since 1979. Visit littlemurders.bandcamp.com for more.
Marty Donald was the guitarist and main songwriter in The Lucksmiths, and is the guitarist, songwriter, and singer in Last Leaves, which features three-quarters of his former band. Check out lastleaves.bandcamp.com.
Wesley Schultz is the guitarist and singer for US band The Lumineers, whose fifth album Automatic is out now.
Kristin Hersh is the singer, songwriter, and creative force behind Throwing Muses, and 50 Foot Wave. Her solo tour of Australia and New Zealand begins in less than two weeks -- grab tickets from kristinhersh.com/tour -- and the new Throwing Muses album Moonlight Concessions will be out March 14. Listen to the first two single 'Summer Of Love' and 'Libretto' now.
Danny McDonald is an Australian power pop songwriter, guitarist, and singer, whose new single Tired Town is out now. Go to dannymcdonald.com.au for more.
Sharon Van Etten releases her seventh album on Friday -- Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory -- and its the first record she's written and recorded with a band. Visit listencarefully.com.au to find out more.
Dom Mariani is the singer, songwriter, guitarist, and driving force behind The Stems, Someloves, DM3, and now is one half of The James Baker Beat, a new duo with James Baker of The Scientists and The Beasts of Bourbon. Visit dommariani.com for more.
Jim White is the drummer for legendary Australian instrumental band Dirty Three, as well as new group The Hard Quartet, with Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, and Emmett Kelly. The Hard Quartet is currently touring Australia - get tickets from feelpresents.com.
Ben Salter is one of the most prolific artists working in Australia today. Visit bensaltermusic.bandcamp.com to dive into his vast discography, and sign up to patreon.com/ben_salter_music for updates, even more music, and exclusives.
Andy Bull is a singer, songwriter, and producer whose new album Collapse In Bliss is out now. Visit andybullmusic.squarespace.com for more.
Sarah Blasko's seventh album I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain is out now, and she's just announced a 26-date regional tour in support of it. Visit sarahblasko.com for tickets and to buy the record.
Jeff Lang is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, whose new album More Life sees him write and perform songs with a variety of artists, including Don Walker, Liz Stringer, and John Butler. Find out more at jefflang.com.au.
Elana Stone is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose new album Married To The Sound is out now. She plays a handful of shows in February - for details and tickets, go to elanastone.com.au. Elana is also one quarter of folk group All Our Exes Live In Texas, who landed in the ARIA top ten in 2017 with their wonderful debut album When We Fall.
Joe Camilleri is the frontman of The Black Sorrows, and scored numerous hit singles with Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons in the '70s and '80s. The Black Sorrows have a new record out, The Way We Do Business - visit theblacksorrows.com.au for music and gig dates.
Wayne Coyne is the frontman for The Flaming Lips, one of the best American bands of all time. They are touring Australia in celebration of their 2002 masterpiece Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - get tickets from flaminglips.com.
Geoffrey O'Connor new album I Love What We Do comes out on Valentine's Day, and yesterday he released the second single from it: Let's Make Love Feel Good Again. He is also the singer, songwriter, and creative force beyond the beloved band The Crayon Fields. Visit geoffreyoconnor.bandcamp.com
Bob Mould was the frontman for legendary hardcore band Hüsker Dü in the 1980s, and power pop band Sugar during the 90s. Bob is touring Australia this month, solo and electric - get tickets from bobmould.com/tour.
Dave McCormack is the frontman of Custard, whose new double album 'Suburban Curtains' is out now, as well as the Polaroids, who released the album 'Get Old' earlier in the year. Custard are currently touring Australia with The Fauves - visit consume.com.au for dates and tickets.
Hayley Mary is the lead vocalist of The Jezabels, and has just released her debut solo album: Roman XS. She's currently touring the record - get the album, tickets, and tour dates at hayleymary.com.
Marty Willson-Piper was the guitarist and a songwriter in Australia's most prolific band The Church for 33 years, and is owner of the In Deep Music Archive, a recording studio and collection of over 65,000 records. Visit martywillson-piper.com for more information.
Tim Steward is the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of Brisbane band Screamfeeder, as well for as the excellent outfit We All Want To. Screamfeeder has shows with The Superjesus and Bluebottle Kiss this November. Go to screamfeeder.com for more.
Jon Toogood is the frontman and songwriter from New Zealand band Shihad - and he has just released his first solo album, the very personal and tender Last of the Lonely Gods. Jon is on tour now, with shows in NZ, Australia, and the UK. Visit jontoogood.com for more.
Kasey Chambers released her thirteenth studio album Backbone yesterday, and also has a new memoir out: Just Don't Be A Dickhead. Kasey is playing a bunch of shows over the next few months, including some author-in-conversation appearances, a number of festivals, a Sydney Opera House gig with Vika & Linda, as well as her own national album tour. For all this and more, visit kaseychambers.com
Rebecca Barnard is a solo artist, and was the lead singer of Rebecca's Empire, who landed songs in four consecutive triple j Hottest 100 charts in the 1990s. Visit rebeccabarnard.com for music and shows.
Rob Snarski is the frontman of The Blackeyed Susans, SnarskiCircusLindyBand, and new project Snarski vs Snarski, whose album Waiting For The Bell is out October 17 on CD and vinyl. Visit robsnarski.com to pre-order the record.
Lo Carmen is an Australian singer, songwriter, author, artist, and actor. Her seventh solo album Transatlantic Light comes out this coming Friday, September 20th, and you can pre-order it on locarmen.bandcamp.com now.
Ray Ahn is the bass player and co-founder of Australian punk legends The Hard-Ons, whose 15th studio album I Like You A Lot Getting Older is out October 4, before the band embark on a 40th anniversary tour across Australia and Europe. Visit cheersquad.com.au for more details.
Dan Kelly releases his fifth album Gold Feels this coming Friday, and will be setting out on a tour this November in support of it. For more information, visit dankelly.live.
Damon Gough is Badly Drawn Boy, an English singer songwriter who has released nine studio albums, including the popular About A Boy soundtrack, his Mercury Music Prize winning debut The Hour of Bewilderbeast, and his most recent release, 2020's Banana Skin Shoes.
John Brewster and his brother Rick formed The Angels in 1974, part of a long lineage of great Adelaide musicians. The band's new album Ninety Nine is out now. Visit theangels.com.au to buy the record or CD - or 50th birthday merch.
It's been twenty years since Black Betty was the highest-selling single in the country, and Spiderbait are hitting the road to mark this milestone, with a new vinyl of 2004's Tonight Alright record to boot. Kram talks about the shock and joy of hitting #1 six albums into their career, after the earlier success of singles like Buy Me A Pony and Calypso, and the double-platinum selling 1997 album Ivy and the Big Apples. Get tickets, tour dates, and vinyl at spiderbait.net.au.
Reg Mombassa is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of the bands Mental As Anything and Dog Trumpet, and designer of iconic artwork for Mambo. He has also designed album covers for PIL, Crowded House, Mondo Rock, and Paul Kelly. Check out dogtrumpet.net to buy tickets to Dog Trumpet's upcoming tour.
Mark Arm is credited with inventing grunge - although if you ask him, it originated in Australia in the early '80s. He is fronting a new iteration of The Saints, who will tour Australia in November. Go to feelpresents.com for tickets.
Ed Kuepper was the guitarist and songwriter for The Saints during their legendary first run, and led art/jazz/punk band the Laughing Clowns in the 1980s. He also has a bunch of great solo records, albums with The Aints - an enviable body of recorded work. Ed has assembled a new lineup under the name The Saints 73-78 to tour those first three Saints records this November, and has also been reissuing a number of his solo records on vinyl. Get tickets and tour dates at feelpresents.com and vinyl at edkuepper1.bandcamp.com.
Zoë Randell is the singer and songwriter of Australian-born, Brooklyn-based duo Luluc, who have released five great albums, including their most recent offering, Diamonds. Visit luluc.org for more.
Stuart Murdoch is the lead singer, songwriter, and driving force behind legendary Glaswegian band Belle and Sebastian, who are touring Australia this August. Details at belleandsebastian.com
Jeff McDonald is the lead singer and guitarist for Redd Kross, the legendary LA pop/punk band, who have just released an 18-song self-titled double album. They are also the subjects of a new documentary and a forthcoming book.
Mike Rudd is the frontman of two legendary Australian rock bands: Spectrum, and Ariel. Spectrum landed a #1 single in 1971 with the classic song 'I'll Be Gone', and released the first Australian rock double-album that same year. Check out mikeruddbillputt.com to buy CDs, or see when Mike is playing next.
Van Dyke Parks is an arranger, according to him. He is also a songwriter, solo artist, producer, and -- clearly, obviously -- a genius. He co-wrote the mystical Beach Boys album SMiLE album with Brian Wilson. His 1967 debut album Song Cycle is one of the great psychedelic classics of the era. He arranged The Jungle Book song The Bare Necessities. He claims to have owned the first ever Sony Walkman on American soil, gifted to him by the boss of Warner Bros Japan, and used to write 'Sail On Sailor' with Brian. Over 80 or so minutes, Van Dyke discusses working with David Crosby, Randy Newman, Frank Zappa, Daniel Johns, Phil Ochs, Ry Cooder, Judi Collins - and -- clearly, obviously -- Brian Wilson. Strap in!
Brian Cadd is an Australian songwriting legend, who has written hits for Glen Campbell, the Masters Apprentices, the Pointer Sisters, and John Farnham - plus for his own iconic 1960s band The Groop, and Axiom. Check out briancadd.com/live for tour dates.
Frank Turner is a UK singer-songwriter who just released his tenth solo record, Undefeated.