| Mama Kin — The Magician's Daughter (2013) |
Mama Kin — The Magician's Daughter
≈ One of six children Mama Kin grew up in a house filled to the brim with music and musicians. Her Grandfather was a musician, and her mother his assistant, hence the title of the album.
≈ "The Magician’s Daughter is an exciting and intricate record, worth a listen if only to feel dwarfed by the knowledge, the nature and the power that seems to radiate from Mama Kin". [Madeleine Rebbechi, ToneDeaf]
≈ "We can tackle most of everything in the moment," she says. "It's when we try to think too far ahead of how we're going to problem-solve something that's coming up in a month's time it becomes overwhelming."
Location: Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Album release: February 22, 2013
Record Label: MGM Australia
Duration: 43:19
Tracks:
01. Rescue 4:17
02. One Too Many 3:24
03. Red Wood River 3:51
04. Bosom Of Our Bed 4:26
05. Was It Worth It 3:30
06. Give Me A Reason 3:57
07. The Fire 3:59
08. The River As She Runs 4:56
09. Cherokee Boy 4:59
10. I'll Be Ready 6:00
Members: Danielle Caruana, Michael Caruana, Matty Witney & George Servanis
≈ "The result is words and music that are poetic and honest and a voice that is soulful and true.
≈ Mama Kin’s album ‘The Magician’s Daughter’ is one to be savoured and it’s our album of the week." — http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/
Website: http://www.mamakin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mamakinband
General director: Clara Iaccarino
Press: Stacey Piggott
REVIEW
By Carley Hall
≈ Having grown up in a large musical family then found love and built a family of her own with husband John Butler, not to mention contributing to their many social and musical business endeavours, it’s little wonder WA soulstress Mama Kin – aka Danielle Cuarana – navigated her way back to a calling she was at one point ready to relinquish. Lucky for us the call was too strong and her will to ignore it subsided.
≈ What The Magician’s Daughter does so well is take all and sundry on a deeply personal journey, touching on the many age-old and universal emotional torments of loss, love and spirituality, with a suite of talented players backing her and a knack for creating a cohesive album that offers so much in just ten tracks. It basically picks up where 2010’s Beat And Holler left off; there’s still that nod to that earthy but pop-friendly sound but here Cuarana sets out on a more soulful journey, lyrically and sonically, from the get go. The track, Rescue, instantly takes hold, and as the opener it’s hard to beat, flavoured with a steady, retro dancefloor-like beat and strummed guitar and tinkly keys, allowing her voice, which is a perfect blend of pop prettiness with a husky edge, to lilt over the top. It’s a treasure, but there’s more to be hunted.
≈ Red Wood River and The Fire capture that mystical feel of the album namesake with atmospheric offbeat glock, but it’s Bosom Of Our Bed and I’ll Be Ready that match the great heights of the opener, both with restrained but melodic accompanying lines and the rending attack of her upper vocal notes. An enthralling and soul-pleasing listen.
Fortaken: http://themusic.com.au/
REVIEW
By Arne Sjostedt; April 18, 2013 Score: ****
≈ Imbued with rock'n'roll's romance and mystery, and informed by Mama Kin's deep, womanly spirit - this is a rich, creative and rewarding album.
≈ There is an abiding, spiritual awareness to Mama Kin, one feels astutely connected to a kind of new age, womanly awareness of the world. In this album of predominantly luscious, human, somehow ancient tracks, there are fables about loss, being loved, being tempted, being hurt.
≈ Guided by hypnotic drumming, there is a rhythmic, tidal pull to The Magician's Daughter - like a river current. It is deep in sections, or gently meandering - yet with an inquisitive, even knowing awareness of what lies within and around us.
≈ Not only for the alternate set to appreciate, this album has a haunting Amy Winehouse (had she lived in a commune) kind of vibe, and the gentle music sets up Mama Kin's vocal, giving ample room to weave her special, lilting magic.
≈ Opening the 10-track ride, the astral soul groove of Rescue bleeds sultry contemplation.
≈ This mood laps about your feet for the intense One Too Many,Red Wood River, and the intimate Bosom of Our Bed, before changing it up for Was it Worth It then Give Me a Reason.
≈ Though she creates bold pictures for many of her subjects, it's tempting to think about her marriage and family with John Butler when you read the lyrics. There is certainly fiction within the folds of each narrative but, at its core, the love between a man and a woman runs deep, at times shuddering through this release.
≈ With an artful hand pulling it together and artwork that echoes the mysteries within - this offering invites you to linger and ponder Mama Kin's poetry. This is best seen in Rescue, where she sings:
≈ ''I built this tower quite some time ago/A wild bull guards the door/I expected much too much from you/My darling matador.''
≈ It is just these lines that leave me willing to ask if Butler had played an influence on at least some of Kin's lyrics, which are sung with such synergy with her content.
≈ ''If you come in all swinging now/You'll find the battle won/The bull's been slain and darling I am/The triumphant one.''
≈ All in all, this release is about the music and Mama Kin's superb vocal. But it's more than that.
≈ It exists in the soulful place where art meets the world.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
INTERVIEW
by Ruth Dunn
≈ The new album from Mama Kin, The Magician’s Daughter, will be releasing it’s alchemic mixture of soul, energy and beautiful compositions on February 22. Following Mama Kin’s critically acclaimed album Beat and Holler, The Magician’s Daughter is an exploration and expansion in story-telling, composition and production, a breaking of boundaries and a revolution of Mama Kin’s song-writing. I had a chat with Mama Kin about her new album, the challenges she faced and her inspirations and motivation.
:: Something exciting is happening for you soon—you have your new album, The Magician’s Daughter, coming out on February 22. Can you tell me what we can expect from this album?
≈ I suppose it’s a kind of broadening and deepening from Beat and Holler. It’s a revolution of my song writing and it feels like the next step for me. I’m really excited that I have made an album that is so different from my last album because I feel like if there was going to be a box for me I’ve broken it. My theme for this album is around alchemy, energy and connection.
:: Would you say you challenged yourself a lot when making this album?
≈ Absolutely. I challenged myself all the way and I realised that being uncomfortable is a good state of play for me in creative space— I need to actually be on the edge of what I’m doing. So getting used to being in situations that aren’t necessarily easy and just channelling that feeling into what I’m doing and using that charge has been very important for me.
:: When you write songs do you mostly write them from your heart or do you have a listener in mind too?
≈ I don’t have a listener in mind. I write songs from a desire of wanting to explore a story or an idea or an emotion or a certain feeling. I write them because I love that process and I love writing as well.
:: I guess it’s an added bonus that you have such a positive reception of your songs by listeners…
≈ Yeah, I feel really grateful to people who listen to my songs… and I’m still surprised by it because they feel like such a personal process and then you go into a studio to record them and all of a sudden you give them all to the world. When people listen to and enjoy my songs it still amazes me because they are just personal explorations.
≈ The full Mama Kin interview will be included in our March issue of Raw Ink magazine so stay tuned to read more! For information about Mama Kin’s upcoming Australian tour dates in March/April head to mamakinband.bandpage.com/.
Fortaken: http://rawinkmagazine.com/
Also:
SIMON COLLINS, The West Australian
Updated March 5, 2010, 12:30 pm
:: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/6892207/mama-kin-born-into-music/
By PAUL CASHMERE on July 1, 2013
:: http://www.noise11.com/vinterviews/mama-kin
By Anne-Marie Middlemast (Music director)
:: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/02/18/3692721.htm
© You may have heard this song on the road from a table top in the middle of a silent room...or you may have heard it PREMIERE on the triple j airwaves on Monday night. Either way 'One Night Upon a Cold Roof Top' by Spender via Mama Kin is coming soon...Team MK x — Spender a Monique di Mattina
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
REVIEW
MADELEINE REBBECHI
≈ To anyone who has had the fortune of coming across Mama Kin, it’s clear that she knows what she’s doing.
≈ Known for her intricate yet boisterous sound, Fremantle’s Danielle Caruana has long been a favourite on the folk and roots festival scene, and doesn’t disappoint with her latest record, The Magician’s Daughter.
≈ Caruana’s nom de plume echoes the natural, raw sounds of her music – a cacophony of earthy percussion and complex instrumentation.
While The Magician’s Daughter certainly caters to all expectations of raucous, moody blues, there’s a delicacy tucked away here which gives the record an incredible level of depth, evident during simpler tracks like “The River As She Runs”.
≈ Single “Was It Worth It” is a standout, coupling a stalking drum beat with Caruana’s ever-honest vocals. There’s something immensely likeable about the roughness in her voice – it’s as if she’s singing to you from the living room, and you’re just lucky enough to be catching this offhand performance.
≈ Album opener “Rescue” is a pleasant surprise, clearly drawing inspiration from 1950s pop.
Along with the dramatic polyrhythms and emotional, thumping piano of “The Fire”, it’s evidence of Mama Kin’s ability to transcend the blues and roots genre as she builds complex and varied melodies throughout the entire record.
≈ There seems to be no emotion untouched by Caruana on her latest album. She masters fragility, bitterness and exultation with skill and doesn’t shy away from rawness and imperfection.
≈ The Magician’s Daughter is an exciting and intricate record, worth a listen if only to feel dwarfed by the knowledge, the nature and the power that seems to radiate from Mama Kin.
Fortaken: http://madeleinerebbechi.wordpress.com/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
JOHN BUTLER
Birth name: John Charles Wiltshire-Butler
Also known as: John Butler
Born: 1 April 1975, Torrance, California, United States
Origin: Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Instruments: Vocals, guitars (electric, eleven-string, lap steel), harmonica, didgeridoo, banjo, stomp box, ukulele
Notable instruments: 1930s dobro, Maton eleven-string guitar
Equipment and technique:
≈ Butler plays harmonica, didgeridoo, drums, lap-steel, banjo and amplified acoustic guitars and removes the higher octave G string on his 12-string guitar. Butler prefers the Maton 12-string guitar and often uses a Seymour Duncan SA-6 Mag Mic pickup with a Marshall Amplification JMP Super Lead Head and a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. He uses a variety of electronic effects including distortion, reverb / delay and wah-wah pedal to achieve his unique sound. Butler uses long, pointed acrylic fingernails for finger picking.
Personal life:
≈ John Butler is married to Danielle Caruana, an Australian musician and vocalist who performs under the name of Mama Kin. They have two children, a daughter named Banjo, and a son named Jahli.
≈ After wearing dreadlocks for 13 years, Butler cut them off in early 2008. In an interview with Herald Sun in 2008 Butler acknowledged that he had been referred to as the "million dollar hippie" in various articles and around his hometown in Australia. The nickname refers to his inclusion on the Business Review Weekly' (BRW's) list of 50 richest entertainers in 2004 with reported earnings of $2.4 million.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
| Mama Kin — The Magician's Daughter (2013) |
Mama Kin — The Magician's Daughter
© You may have heard this song on the road from a table top in the middle of a silent room...or you may have heard it PREMIERE on the triple j airwaves on Monday night. Either way 'One Night Upon a Cold Roof Top' by Spender via Mama Kin is coming soon...Team MK x — Spender a Monique di Mattina
≈ One of six children Mama Kin grew up in a house filled to the brim with music and musicians. Her Grandfather was a musician, and her mother his assistant, hence the title of the album.
≈ "The Magician’s Daughter is an exciting and intricate record, worth a listen if only to feel dwarfed by the knowledge, the nature and the power that seems to radiate from Mama Kin". [Madeleine Rebbechi, ToneDeaf]
≈ "We can tackle most of everything in the moment," she says. "It's when we try to think too far ahead of how we're going to problem-solve something that's coming up in a month's time it becomes overwhelming."
Location: Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Album release: February 22, 2013
Record Label: MGM Australia
Duration: 43:19
Tracks:
01. Rescue 4:17
02. One Too Many 3:24
03. Red Wood River 3:51
04. Bosom Of Our Bed 4:26
05. Was It Worth It 3:30
06. Give Me A Reason 3:57
07. The Fire 3:59
08. The River As She Runs 4:56
09. Cherokee Boy 4:59
10. I'll Be Ready 6:00
Members: Danielle Caruana, Michael Caruana, Matty Witney & George Servanis
≈ "The result is words and music that are poetic and honest and a voice that is soulful and true.
≈ Mama Kin’s album ‘The Magician’s Daughter’ is one to be savoured and it’s our album of the week." — http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/
Website: http://www.mamakin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mamakinband
General director: Clara Iaccarino
Press: Stacey Piggott
REVIEW
By Carley Hall
≈ Having grown up in a large musical family then found love and built a family of her own with husband John Butler, not to mention contributing to their many social and musical business endeavours, it’s little wonder WA soulstress Mama Kin – aka Danielle Cuarana – navigated her way back to a calling she was at one point ready to relinquish. Lucky for us the call was too strong and her will to ignore it subsided.
≈ What The Magician’s Daughter does so well is take all and sundry on a deeply personal journey, touching on the many age-old and universal emotional torments of loss, love and spirituality, with a suite of talented players backing her and a knack for creating a cohesive album that offers so much in just ten tracks. It basically picks up where 2010’s Beat And Holler left off; there’s still that nod to that earthy but pop-friendly sound but here Cuarana sets out on a more soulful journey, lyrically and sonically, from the get go. The track, Rescue, instantly takes hold, and as the opener it’s hard to beat, flavoured with a steady, retro dancefloor-like beat and strummed guitar and tinkly keys, allowing her voice, which is a perfect blend of pop prettiness with a husky edge, to lilt over the top. It’s a treasure, but there’s more to be hunted.
≈ Red Wood River and The Fire capture that mystical feel of the album namesake with atmospheric offbeat glock, but it’s Bosom Of Our Bed and I’ll Be Ready that match the great heights of the opener, both with restrained but melodic accompanying lines and the rending attack of her upper vocal notes. An enthralling and soul-pleasing listen.
Fortaken: http://themusic.com.au/
REVIEW
By Arne Sjostedt; April 18, 2013 Score: ****
≈ Imbued with rock'n'roll's romance and mystery, and informed by Mama Kin's deep, womanly spirit - this is a rich, creative and rewarding album.
≈ There is an abiding, spiritual awareness to Mama Kin, one feels astutely connected to a kind of new age, womanly awareness of the world. In this album of predominantly luscious, human, somehow ancient tracks, there are fables about loss, being loved, being tempted, being hurt.
≈ Guided by hypnotic drumming, there is a rhythmic, tidal pull to The Magician's Daughter - like a river current. It is deep in sections, or gently meandering - yet with an inquisitive, even knowing awareness of what lies within and around us.
≈ Not only for the alternate set to appreciate, this album has a haunting Amy Winehouse (had she lived in a commune) kind of vibe, and the gentle music sets up Mama Kin's vocal, giving ample room to weave her special, lilting magic.
≈ Opening the 10-track ride, the astral soul groove of Rescue bleeds sultry contemplation.
≈ This mood laps about your feet for the intense One Too Many,Red Wood River, and the intimate Bosom of Our Bed, before changing it up for Was it Worth It then Give Me a Reason.
≈ Though she creates bold pictures for many of her subjects, it's tempting to think about her marriage and family with John Butler when you read the lyrics. There is certainly fiction within the folds of each narrative but, at its core, the love between a man and a woman runs deep, at times shuddering through this release.
≈ With an artful hand pulling it together and artwork that echoes the mysteries within - this offering invites you to linger and ponder Mama Kin's poetry. This is best seen in Rescue, where she sings:
≈ ''I built this tower quite some time ago/A wild bull guards the door/I expected much too much from you/My darling matador.''
≈ It is just these lines that leave me willing to ask if Butler had played an influence on at least some of Kin's lyrics, which are sung with such synergy with her content.
≈ ''If you come in all swinging now/You'll find the battle won/The bull's been slain and darling I am/The triumphant one.''
≈ All in all, this release is about the music and Mama Kin's superb vocal. But it's more than that.
≈ It exists in the soulful place where art meets the world.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
INTERVIEW
by Ruth Dunn
≈ The new album from Mama Kin, The Magician’s Daughter, will be releasing it’s alchemic mixture of soul, energy and beautiful compositions on February 22. Following Mama Kin’s critically acclaimed album Beat and Holler, The Magician’s Daughter is an exploration and expansion in story-telling, composition and production, a breaking of boundaries and a revolution of Mama Kin’s song-writing. I had a chat with Mama Kin about her new album, the challenges she faced and her inspirations and motivation.
:: Something exciting is happening for you soon—you have your new album, The Magician’s Daughter, coming out on February 22. Can you tell me what we can expect from this album?
≈ I suppose it’s a kind of broadening and deepening from Beat and Holler. It’s a revolution of my song writing and it feels like the next step for me. I’m really excited that I have made an album that is so different from my last album because I feel like if there was going to be a box for me I’ve broken it. My theme for this album is around alchemy, energy and connection.
:: Would you say you challenged yourself a lot when making this album?
≈ Absolutely. I challenged myself all the way and I realised that being uncomfortable is a good state of play for me in creative space— I need to actually be on the edge of what I’m doing. So getting used to being in situations that aren’t necessarily easy and just channelling that feeling into what I’m doing and using that charge has been very important for me.
:: When you write songs do you mostly write them from your heart or do you have a listener in mind too?
≈ I don’t have a listener in mind. I write songs from a desire of wanting to explore a story or an idea or an emotion or a certain feeling. I write them because I love that process and I love writing as well.
:: I guess it’s an added bonus that you have such a positive reception of your songs by listeners…
≈ Yeah, I feel really grateful to people who listen to my songs… and I’m still surprised by it because they feel like such a personal process and then you go into a studio to record them and all of a sudden you give them all to the world. When people listen to and enjoy my songs it still amazes me because they are just personal explorations.
≈ The full Mama Kin interview will be included in our March issue of Raw Ink magazine so stay tuned to read more! For information about Mama Kin’s upcoming Australian tour dates in March/April head to mamakinband.bandpage.com/.
Fortaken: http://rawinkmagazine.com/
Also:
SIMON COLLINS, The West Australian
Updated March 5, 2010, 12:30 pm
:: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/6892207/mama-kin-born-into-music/
By PAUL CASHMERE on July 1, 2013
:: http://www.noise11.com/vinterviews/mama-kin
By Anne-Marie Middlemast (Music director)
:: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/02/18/3692721.htm
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
REVIEW
MADELEINE REBBECHI
≈ To anyone who has had the fortune of coming across Mama Kin, it’s clear that she knows what she’s doing.
≈ Known for her intricate yet boisterous sound, Fremantle’s Danielle Caruana has long been a favourite on the folk and roots festival scene, and doesn’t disappoint with her latest record, The Magician’s Daughter.
≈ Caruana’s nom de plume echoes the natural, raw sounds of her music – a cacophony of earthy percussion and complex instrumentation.
While The Magician’s Daughter certainly caters to all expectations of raucous, moody blues, there’s a delicacy tucked away here which gives the record an incredible level of depth, evident during simpler tracks like “The River As She Runs”.
≈ Single “Was It Worth It” is a standout, coupling a stalking drum beat with Caruana’s ever-honest vocals. There’s something immensely likeable about the roughness in her voice – it’s as if she’s singing to you from the living room, and you’re just lucky enough to be catching this offhand performance.
≈ Album opener “Rescue” is a pleasant surprise, clearly drawing inspiration from 1950s pop.
Along with the dramatic polyrhythms and emotional, thumping piano of “The Fire”, it’s evidence of Mama Kin’s ability to transcend the blues and roots genre as she builds complex and varied melodies throughout the entire record.
≈ There seems to be no emotion untouched by Caruana on her latest album. She masters fragility, bitterness and exultation with skill and doesn’t shy away from rawness and imperfection.
≈ The Magician’s Daughter is an exciting and intricate record, worth a listen if only to feel dwarfed by the knowledge, the nature and the power that seems to radiate from Mama Kin.
Fortaken: http://madeleinerebbechi.wordpress.com/
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
JOHN BUTLER
Birth name: John Charles Wiltshire-Butler
Also known as: John Butler
Born: 1 April 1975, Torrance, California, United States
Origin: Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Instruments: Vocals, guitars (electric, eleven-string, lap steel), harmonica, didgeridoo, banjo, stomp box, ukulele
Notable instruments: 1930s dobro, Maton eleven-string guitar
Equipment and technique:
≈ Butler plays harmonica, didgeridoo, drums, lap-steel, banjo and amplified acoustic guitars and removes the higher octave G string on his 12-string guitar. Butler prefers the Maton 12-string guitar and often uses a Seymour Duncan SA-6 Mag Mic pickup with a Marshall Amplification JMP Super Lead Head and a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. He uses a variety of electronic effects including distortion, reverb / delay and wah-wah pedal to achieve his unique sound. Butler uses long, pointed acrylic fingernails for finger picking.
Personal life:
≈ John Butler is married to Danielle Caruana, an Australian musician and vocalist who performs under the name of Mama Kin. They have two children, a daughter named Banjo, and a son named Jahli.
≈ After wearing dreadlocks for 13 years, Butler cut them off in early 2008. In an interview with Herald Sun in 2008 Butler acknowledged that he had been referred to as the "million dollar hippie" in various articles and around his hometown in Australia. The nickname refers to his inclusion on the Business Review Weekly' (BRW's) list of 50 richest entertainers in 2004 with reported earnings of $2.4 million.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::