Angie Contini
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | SELF
Music
Press
(Excerpts of review)
I am in one of those reverie like moods and decide to take a stroll around the harbour. The night is bitingly cold as I huddle on the seated groove outside the Opera House. I drink in the harbour, it's dazzling lights reflected in the black inky water..... then the most gorgeous jazz wafts over me and I am enchanted.
Catfish is a revelation for lovers of jazz.....I drift to the band, still recovering from Contini's haunting melodies to thank them for giving me my epiphanic experience.
I buy the CD. It's 10 dollars. I listen. I love. All six songs are gems.
'The Usual Things' brims with energy and passion.
'It's Only Everything' is easily the CD's most swaying and seductive piece, full of magic melancholy. Contini's voice soars and goes deep into pain, possibility and purification scaling blissful highs and excavating deep troughs of emotion.
'That's How It Goes' is playful and mischievious, a bantering confessional. Contini's easy lyricism and languor drip through every piece like honey, despite an underscore of sweet bitterness.
'The Trouble With Love' is a sad sweet release. Contini has succeeded in bottling pain and releasing it as sweet and fragrant ether you could consume with strawberries and ice-cream.
The last piece before the glorious cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Take This Waltz' is 'Lady Barracuda'. It is a rollicking jazz piece that slides and shimmers, dives and dances like the song's femme-fatale. Drums, tap, percussion,and clarinet all punch with hot vitality. The play on the wild Australian fish is witty and theatrical - full of style.
Catfish is a must for lover's of jazz reminiscent of the old school - full of soul and languor - but also passionate and upbeat, transforming traditional jazz with an innovative and distinctly Australian flavour.
It's not only for lovers of jazz - but for lovers of love, passion, intoxication, and lyricism. It is music that will transport and transform.
May 2007
Sarah Malik Wo! Magazine - Sarah Malik - Wo! Magazine
Discography
'the man with the pears and other tales' (2010)
'the theatre project' (2008)
'untitled' (2007)
fictional dilemmas (2006) "Catfish" EP
The Man With the Pears and Other Tales is soon to be available in itunes music store & amazon through Songcast Music Distribution.
Photos
Bio
Angie Contini is a songwriter living in Sydney, with a diverse background in music, dance and theatre. With an eclectic repertoire, Angie draws from the roots of jazz & blues, old-world folk, indie songwriter rarities, and spacious soul/groove improvisation.
Angie’s new album, ‘The Man With the Pears and Other Tales’, released in February 2010, is the completed collection of fables that began as ‘The Theatre Project’ in 2008, and features Leonie Cohen (piano), Stan Valacos (double bass), Nigel Date (guitar), and Tim Bradley (drums).
Angie’s live performances include the Manly Jazz Festival, Darling Harbour Jazz Festival, Royal Easter Show, ASSG Awards, Randwick Races, Sydney Harbour Awards, and local Sydney venues such as The Rocks Square and The Opera Bar.
Original song credits include:
‘Picnic in the Cemetery’ – Goa Chillout Zone 2 compilation album - Woa Records (India/US) released August 2009
‘Don’t Tell Me Love Doesn’t Matter’ - Jazz Fest 2008 compilation album (USA),
"The Highway Song" - Honourable Mention in the 2007 Singer/Songwriter Awards (US)
& semi-finalist in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition.
Other works, have been featured on overseas radio, online streaming stations and music programs such as The Uptown Jazz Network(NY), Kanaljazz (France), Women of Substance Radio(US), Sydney’s Eastside Radio and The Independent Coffee Network(US).
All tracks recorded at Megaphon Studios, St Peters Sydney with Steve Mcmillan, mastered at Reaktor Studios with Steve Wilson.
Angie is currently studying music, film and philosophy at the University of Sydney.
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