Datura4: Discography 2015 - 2023

 

Emerging from the port city of Fremantle in 2009, Datura4 deliver a gutsy revival of boogie, blues,

and psychedelic hard rock - fused with a sound that’s unmistakably their own. Led by Dom Mariani (The Stems, DM3), and featuring Warren Hall on drums, Stu Loasby on bass, Bob Patient on keys, and Joe Grech on guitar and vocals, the band has built a solid legacy with five critically acclaimed albums on US label Alive Natural Sound Records: Demon Blues (2015), Hairy Mountain (2016), Blessed is the Boogie (2019), West Coast Highway Cosmic (2020), and Neanderthal Jam (2022).
                         

Known for their explosive live shows, DATURA4 have toured extensively across Australia and

Europe, carving out a reputation as one of the hardest-hitting bands on the circuit. Fronted by Aussie legend Dom Mariani, who came to prominence on the music scene in the 1980s with legendary garage rock combo The Stems, and later went on to form revered power pop outfits DM3 and The Someloves, Datura4 is Mariani’s return to his blues and heads-down, full-tilt boogie roots. 
                     

Combining equal parts vintage psychedelia, no-quarter boogie, rock-infused blues, and classic hard

rock and running them all though a big bank of amps, Datura4 are a rock band living in the present while showing a true appreciation for the sounds of the past. The band debuted their high-impact blues-based sound on 2015's Demon Blues, which blended '70s-style hard rock with boogie blues-rock of similar vintage; the band was stripped from a two-guitar powerhouse to one guitar and a keyboard player without a major change in their impact on 2019's Blessed Is the Boogie. 
                              

After touring Australia and the U.K. Datura4 utilized a pair of studios some 242 kilometers apart to record

their fourth album. Fully integrating Patient's keyboards,the band stretched out and got looser in their approach to gritty garage psych and blues-infelctedf boogie. The finished album, titled West Coast Highway Cosmic (referring to their long drive between studios), was released in the spring of 2020. 
                                  

01.  DATURA4 -  HAIRY MOUNTAIN 2015

                                  

The 2016 sophomore studio long-player from the bluesy Aussie psych-rockers, Hairy Mountain delivers

another muscular blast of lovingly retooled classic rock that bristles with electric, down-under eccentricity. Similar in tone to the Sword, Thin Lizzy, Cream, Electric Wizard, and Blue Öyster Cult-loving High Country that, like Datura4's debut, arrived the year prior, Hairy Mountain ultimately transcends its reliance on genre tropes by delivering those familiar melodic turns and road trip-ready backbeats with supreme gusto.
                               

Datura4 – Hairy Mountain
Label:Alive Records – ALIVE0185-2
Format:CD, Album
Country:US
Released:2016
Genre:Rock
Style:Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock

TRACKS

                         

01. Fools Gold Rush
Organ – Bob Patient
Written-By – D.Mariani
02. Trolls
Written-By – D.Marian
03. Uphill Climb
Written-By – D.Mariani
04. Mary Carroll Park
Written-By – Dom Mariani, S.Loasby, W.Hall
05. Hairy Mountain
Written-By – D.Mariani
06. Greedy World
Written-By – G.Hitchcock
07. Confide in Me
Written-By – D.Mariani
08. Too Much (Or Not Enough)
Written-By – Dom Mariani
09. Something To Hide
Written-By – D.Mariani
10. Broken Path
Written-By – Dom Mariani

LINE - UP

                     

Guitar, Vocals – Dom Mariani, Greg Hitchcock
Bass – Stu Loasby
Drums – Warren Hall
Written-By – Dom Mariani (tracks: A1-A4, B1, B3-B4), Greg Hitchcock (tracks: B2), Stu Loasby (tracks: A3), Warren Hall (tracks: A3)

Flac Size: 315 MB

02.  DATURA4 - BLESS THE BOOGIE 2019

                            

If any rock band in 2019 were going to call an album Blessed Is the Boogie, it would make sense for it to be Datura4, the Australian four-piece who have spent their career evoking the spirit of any number of

denim-clad blues-rock outfits from the '70s. But if they were going to call an LP Blessed Is the Boogie, their third effort is an unlikely choice, since it offers significantly less guitar-powered boogie than their previous work. That is not to say there isn't plenty of boogieing going on here; the first half of the album makes Datura4 sound like a band destined to share a stage with Savoy Brown and/or Status Quo, with the strut of Dom Mariani's guitar and vocals and the implacable stomp of Warren Hall's drums standing front and center. 
                               

Datura4 – Blessed Is The Boogie
Label: Alive Records – ALIVE 0204-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Apr 5, 2019
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock

TRACKS

                      

01. Black Dog Keep Running    5:33
02. Blessed Is The Boogie   4:20
Harmonica – Howie Smallman    
03. Looper    4:30
04. Run With Lucy    4:35
05. Ooh Poo Pah Doo   3:07
Written-By – Jess Hill    
06. Sounds Of Gold    3:40
07. Evil People Pt.2    3:53
08. Not For Me    5:58
09. Cat On A Roof    5:18
10. The City Of Lights    6:42

LINE - UP

                               

Lead Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Slide Guitar – Dom Mariani
Backing Vocals – Howie Shawcross
Bass – Stu Loasby
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Warren Hall
Keyboards – Bob Patient
Written-By – Dom Mariani (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 10), Stu Loasby (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 10), Warren Hall (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 10)

NOTES

Tracks 7 and 10 are only available on the cd version. They are not on the LP

Flac Size: 334 MB

03.  DATURA4 - WEST COAST HIGHWAY COSMIC 2020

                                      

With 2019's Blessed Is the Boogie, Western Australia's Datura4 brought blues-rock keyboardist Bob Patient (Dave Hole, DM3) to replace departing guitarist Greg Hitchcock. Despite its title, that record,

while not remotely subdued, was still less raucous than its two predecessors as the band integrated Patient into their sound. West Coast Highway Cosmic is titled for the 242-kilometer stretch of two-lane blacktop that runs along the southwest coast of Western Australia and bridges the recording studios Datura4 has utilized since recording Demon Blues back in 2015. In these ten new songs, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Dom Mariani has thoroughly adapted to the wealth of dynamic, textural, and sonic possibilities Patient adds to his band's sound. That now-missing second guitar isn't remotely missed.
                            

Datura4 – West Coast Highway Cosmic
Label: Alive Records – ALIVE0208
Format: CD, Album, Digi-Pack
Country: US
Released: Apr 17, 2020
Genre: Rock
Style: Classic Rock, Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS 

                      

01. West Coast Highway Cosmic    5:22
02. Wolfman Woogie   7:33
Harmonica – Howie Smallman
03. Mother Medusa    4:31
04. A Darker Shade Of Brown    2:00
05. You're The Only One   3:50
Harmonica – Howie Smallman    
06. Rule My World   3:12
Harmonica – Howie Smallman    
07. Give    4:20
08. You Be The Fool   4:17
Harmonica – Howie Smallman    
09. Get Out    3:01
10. Evil People Pt1    5:56

LINE - UP

                          

Lead Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Slide Guitar – Dom Mariani
Backing Vocals – Jozef Grech
Bass, Guitar – Stu Loasby
Drums, Percussion – Warren Hall
Organ [Hammond], Piano, Synthesizer [Moog] – Bob Patient
Written-By – Datura4

Flac Size: 277 MB

04.  DATURA4 - NEANDERTHAL JAM 2022

                            

West Australian boogie masters DATURA4 return with their highly anticipated fifth album, “Neanderthal

Jam”. Fronted by Dom Mariani of legendary Oz garage rockers The Stems (and an inducted of the West Australian Music Industry Awards Hall of Fame), “Neanderthal Jam” is packed with new tracks of psychedelicised blues and full-tilt heavy rock that were jammed out and recorded at their favourite south-west farmhouse studio. Full-tilt retro fun, it bounces along like a hippie hitchhiker after a really good night’s sleep, seems to finish…and then trips out for another half a minute or so of freakdom.
                             

Datura4 – Neanderthal Jam
Label: Alive Records – ALIVE0223-2
Format: CD, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 2022
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Blues Rock

TRACKS

                      

01. Going Back To Hoonsville    6:00
02. Secret Society    3:11
03. Open The Line   4:17
Percussion – Richie Pavledis
Written-By – D. Mariani, W. Hall
04. Bad Times    5:24
05. Black Speakers    4:24
06. Neanderthal Jam   4:40
Harmonica – Howie Smallman
Written-By – B. Patient, D. Mariani
07. Hold My Life
Harmonica – Howie Smallman    3:05
08. A Worried Man's Boogie   5:16
Harmonica – Howie Smallman    
09. Digging My Own Grave    3:26
10. Fish Fry   4:13
Percussion – Richie Pavledis
Written-By – B. Patient, D. Mariani, J. Grech    
11. Drive-By Island   7:45
Pedal Steel Guitar – Luke Dux
Percussion – Richie Pavledis

LINE - UP

                  

Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Slide Guitar, Bass – Dom Mariani
Bass – Stu Loasby
Drums – Warren Hall
Guitar, Bass, Vocals – Jozef Grech
Organ [Hammond], Electric Piano, Piano – Bob Patient
Written-By – D. Mariani (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 to 9, 11)

NOTES

CD issued in card sleeve with printed credits insert.
Contains two bonus tracks not on LP (tracks 10 and 11)
    

Flac Size: 326 MB

05.  DATURA4 - INVISIBLE HITS 2023

                      

Because Datura4 followers are eagerly awaiting a new full-length studio effort, the label and the band,

collectively, thought it to be a fantastic idea, and give Datura4 fandom a small collection of never-before-heard versions/out takes and grouping of songs that have never before been available on vinyl record, before now.  The end of 2023 has given us a pseudo-new album by the band, and thus Invisible Hits is proving to be a great pacifier, in order to hold fans over, until we can get a new Datura4 full-length 'original material' album onto our turntables and into our CD players. 
                  

Datura4 – Invisible Hits
Label: Alive Records – ALIVE0229-1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Transparent blue vinyl
Country: US
Released: Nov 4, 2023
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock 

SIDE A.

                         

   
A1. Drive-by Island
A2. Walk On The Water
A3. Evil People Pt 2
A4. Phoenix

SIDE B.

                         

B1. Going Back to Hooonsville
B2. Rule My World
B3. Fish Fry
B4. City Of Lights

NOTES

All tracks previously unreleased on LP

Flac Size: 251 MB

 Datura4: Demon Blues 2015 On Urban Aspirines HERE

Mordillo

 

Guillermo Mordillo (4 August 1932 – 29 June 2019), known simply as Mordillo, was an Argentine creator of cartoons and animations and was one of the most widely published cartoonists of the 1970s. He is most famous for his humorous, colorful, surreal and wordless depictions of love, sports (in particular soccer and golf), and long-necked animals.
                       

                     
From 1976 to 1981, Mordillo's cartoons were used by Slovenian artist Miki Muster to create Mordillo, a series of 400 short animations (300 min) that were later presented at Cannes and bought by television studios from 30 countries. Mordillo – a name, which is now a trademark, a promise of good spirits and a guarantee of quality. But the brilliant career of Argentinean Guillermo Mordillo, who was born in 1932 in Buenos Aires from Spanish immigrants, is the result not just of creative flair and luck but also of will power and perseverance. It is the result of constant daily commitment and not merely of improvised bizarre ideas.
                       

His cartoons frequently feature surreal situations, often involving sports such as cycling, golf and association football. Big-nosed white men and women and goofy-looking giraffes are recurring characters. His dialogue-free cartoons easily destroyed all language barriers. His work has a poetic quality, which helped him become a global success. Mordillo won numerous awards and his work was the subject of heavy merchandising, including animated cartoons.
                                  

 

At the height of his success, he was one of the most popular and instantly recognizable cartoonists in the world. In terms of global fame, he is arguably the most significant Argentinian comic artist of the late 20th century, along with 'Mafalda' creator Quino. Mordillo's career took off in 1950, when he joined the animation studio Burone Bruché. 

                             

 

On the side, he adapted famous fairy tales by Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and Joseph Jacobs into little illustrated books in a landscape format, published by Codex. In 1952, Mordillo decided to establish his own animation studio, Estudios Galas, although he had more success publishing cartoons in several Argentinian newspapers and magazines. Soon Mordillo became the house cartoonist of La Naciòn.
                       

In November 1955, Mordillo decided to travel and moved to Lima, Peru, where he found a job as a freelance designer at the local division of the McCann Erickson advertising company. He also illustrated 'Aesop's Fables' for the publishing company Editorial Iberia Lima. During his stay in Peru he developed a passion for golf which, just like association football, became a recurring theme in his cartoons.
                                 

By 1959, Mordillo became a greeting card illustrator for Hallmark in Kansas City. A year later he moved to the United States. The artist always wanted to work for Disney, but instead found employment at Paramount Pictures, where he animated on 'Popeye' and 'Little Lulu' cartoons (respectively based on the characters created by E.C. Segar and Marge). In the end, he liked his old job better. Mordillo moved to New York City, where he designed greeting cards for another company, Oz. 
                       

After his brief stay in the United States (1959-1963), Mordillo decided to move to Europe. He arrived in Paris on 19 September 1963. His skills in designing greeting cards got him a job at Éditions Mic-Max, but by 1966 he was fired and contemplated a humiliating return to his home country. At this low point of his life, one of his friends convinced him to stay in France and apply his cartoons to some magazines. 
                             

On 31 July 1966, Mordillo published his first cartoon in issue #4638 of Le Pèlerin. Since he spoke little French he decided to work in pantomime. Having finally found his trademark style, Mordillo's cartoons broke through on a global scale. Over the years, they appeared in French magazines such as Paris Match, Lui, Marie Claire and Pif Gadget. In 1968 his work found its way to the prolific German magazine Stern. By the time the 1970s rolled along, Mordillo was one of the most recognizable and popular cartoonists on the planet.
                        

Mordillo always worked in pantomime, which made his cartoons understandable to people of all ages, across all languages. Many consist of one panel, usually providing a wide panoramic bird eye's perspective view of a surreal situation. One of the most iconic is 'The Individualist' (1973), which features a grey town where one man is taken away by the police for painting his roof in bright colors. 
                                

Another well known cartoon, 'And Now?' (1981), shows a football team on a huge rectangular island in the ocean whose ball has just fallen into the water, several miles below. Other cartoons are actual gag comics, typically three to six panels long. His most famous works revolve around sports. He made dozens of drawings of cyclists, golfers and footballers, typically encountering exotic animals or sporting in absurd locations. 
                                  

Many were compiled in thematic books, such as his 1981 book 'Football', which had a foreword by football legend Pelé. Most people have first encountered Mordillo through his football-themed cartoons, which were often reprinted whenever a new edition of the World Championship Association Football was held. Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, his art was used on an assortment of merchandising, including calendars, cups, greeting cards, stuffed animals, posters and especially puzzles.
                               

His nameless characters all look similar: short, tiny, slightly chubby, chalk white little men and women with big, bulbous noses and no mouths. He enjoyed drawing jungle and savannah animals too, with a particular love for giraffes, whose long necks provided him with an endless source of comedy. Since his characters lack names, Mordillo's cartoons lacked a proper, permanent title too.
                         

In every book or magazine, his own name was usually the only header. Since 'Mordillo' was the only way to address them, readers found it much easier to identify his name with his work. This put him at an advantage compared with rival cartoonists, who are typically overshadowed by the names of their fictional characters. Mordillo's graphic style is so uniform that his art is instantly recognizable. 
                          

In 1980, Mordillo moved to Mallorca, Spain, where he lived until 1997. After that date, he moved to Monaco, spending his final years there. Guillermo Mordillo, as his full name was, died at the age of 86 in Mallorca, El Pais reported, noting that he was active until his last day.