It’s a little overdue, but now is as good a time as any to take a look-see at Tame Impala’s debut album InnerSpeaker. Given the belated nature of this review there is a good chance that you have probably heard most of the LP, or even acquired its goodness for your own enjoyment. Nevertheless, there…
Read More
Dear Ball Park Music, “I don’t really know you but I like to have imaginary conversations in my head… Where I tell you off and you go home with your tail between your legs” (Sea Strangers)… Well… I don’t really plan to tell you off, but that has been my stuck rolling around my head…
Read More
Adelaide has laid claim to some exceptional Australian bands over the years, and now it can proudly add young locals Steering By Stars to its credit. One of the more intriguing bands to come from the city of churches, the five piece are also one of the city’s most interesting live acts, a label that’s…
Read More
The at times mind-blowingly sexy, and at times irritatingly screechy vocals of Sia will surely lure listeners in to the luscious dance-pop that is We Are Born, the fifth album from this Adelaide “pop-sensation”. Comprised completely of heavy loaded pop music designed solely to induce a frenzy of intoxicatingly sweet happiness, this album is the…
Read More
Creative workaholics to the core, Brisbane psych-pop quartet Drawn From Bees have churned out an amazing three EPs in just twelve months – 2008’s The Boy And The Ocean and 2009’s back-to-back And The Blind Shall Lead The Naked / The Sky Is Falling. The band’s debut LP Fear Not The Footsteps Of The Departed…
Read More
Remember Crystal Castles? While they made a few catchy songs, to be completely honest, it got a bit tiresome after listening to 3 or 4 songs in a row. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to listen to the album from start to finish, yet at the same time I would still consider myself…
Read More
Pendulum‘s first two albums are legacies of a shifting dance scene, one which has seen once once-underground genres like drum and bass becoming increasingly more mainstream. Never content with a uniform sound, their debut Hold Your Colour melded energetic dnb with a aggressive rock; then band took their sound further – into almost rock stadium…
Read More
Coming out of pretty much nowhere, Sydney five piece The Preachers have already made a substantial splash in the local scene – something which I’m sure comes as much of a surprise to them as the rest of us. And off the back of this momentum comes their debut self-titled EP – a stunning five…
Read More
Like local late 90s/early 00s acts Sound Like Sunset, Gersey and Swirl, new Melbourne band The Sirens of Venice continue the tradition of creating dreamy, shoegaze-influenced pop. Although they are a touring/recording eight-piece, the group’s core comprises Craig Jackson from Gersey and his wife Camilla, and the husband-and-wife team have written a compelling debut album….
Read More
If you’re not yet familiar with Justin Heazlewood’s witty performance persona ‘The Bedroom Philosopher’, then what I feel for you is rather best described as pity. The latest from this genius comedian is Songs From the 86 Tram, an album which follows a Melbourne tram’s journey from Bundoora to Docklands, and on the way manages…
Read More
As part of a global “Smirnoff Experience” event in South Africa, the company is about to release an exclusive track, “Dreaming”, which shows DJ/Producer Tiësto merging his unique sound with BLK JKS – an emerging prog rock band from South Africa, and recent SAMA winners for “Best Alternative Music Album” (South African Music Awards, the…
Read More
There has been a lot of buzz about young indie band Cloud Control over the past few years, and with their debut album Bliss Release, they have well and truly lived up to the hype. Hailing from the Blue Mountains, Cloud Control first began to create a stir following the release of their debut EP…
Read More
The latest from Melbourne indie rockers British India is ‘Avalanche’, a ten-track album and the third to grace their discography. It opens with the smashing guitar riffs of ‘Safari’, a quick tempo’d beat designed to infiltrate your mind with the absolute desire to drop everything and dance. This song would be the epitome of a…
Read More
They are the latest to jump on the recent supergroup trend, but Gayngs are a band with a difference. For one, its members hail from a wide and diverse range of acts, and for another, they’re more like a ‘super-music-community’. More than 25 musicians contributed to the making of Relayted, led by Gayngs’ founding members…
Read More
In recent years, the Danes have been showing us that their small European country has a lot of big musical potential. Already, bands like The Raveonettes, Mew and The Elephant s are gaining recognition across the waters; now, Denmark’s most recent export to come to our attention is The Kissaway Trail. Hype began to form…
Read More
Experimental bands can often be, to put it bluntly, a pretty boring spectacle to watch. But when you hear about the jaw-dropping, improvisational live shows that Nice Nice are renowned for, it’s not hard to believe that they could be an exception to that rule. Guitarist Jason Buehler and percussionist Mark Shirazi are self-described ‘musical…
Read More
It’s been too long since I’ve a) listened to music from this century and b) found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Thankfully, my hunger for exciting new music has finally been satisfied (for now) with the release of Blood Red Shoes’ latest album ‘Fire Like This’. Hailing from Brighton, UK, the two-piece have infused a delicate…
Read More
Comprised of singer, guitarist and namesake Erland Cooper, guitarist Simon Tong (The Verve) and David Nock (Paul McCartney’s The Fireman) on drums/percussion/keys and production, Erland and the Carnival are the latest buzz band to emerge from the London underbelly. And now the trio, who met at Tong’s What the Folk club night on Portobello Rd…
Read More
Let’s face it, lately we’ve had more than our fair share of folk-indie cutesy type bands than we need to, and it’s become difficult to distinguish between the groups and the songs and the endless quirk that is constantly shoved down our throats by the popular culture media. Tunng are no different. They are by…
Read More
Once one half of Lamb, Lou Rhodes has now taken a bold step forward since the group’s dissolution in 2004. Her debut album, 2006’s “Beloved One”, probably surprised many Lamb fans. Gone were the dance beats and signature trip-hop ambience; in their place was a much more organic, acoustic-based and folk-ish sound. The new musical…
Read More
Owen Pallett is not a name you will be instantly familiar with, but you will have heard his musical fingerprints all over some of the best releases of the last couple of years. He has been in constant demand for his string arrangements; recent work includes the string arrangements for The Last Shadow Puppets, Arcade…
Read More
Decibully is a Milwaukee based folk-rock band, formed in 2001 by front man and general all-rounder William Seidel. World Travels Fast is their third major release, and their first on new label Listening Party Records. For a relatively young band, they have been heavily lauded thanks to their prior releases Sing Out America! and City…
Read More
The four years since the release of Midlake‘s sophomore record has seen an interesting shift in the broader spectrum of ‘alternative’ music, with a massive rise in a more hybridized, synthesised and crossover sound championed by groups like The Presets, MGMT and Crystal Castles. In these electro-driven times, it’s a real pleasure to find a…
Read More
One of the most defining moments in modern music occurred in August 1986, when Paul Simon released the groundbreaking Graceland LP. The majority of the album was recorded in South Africa and shot the Mbaqanga musical style into the Western mainstream. While such a style was indeed influential before this point, suddenly it became “the…
Read More
I recently had the pleasure of experiencing Sydney’s Sherlock’s Daughter live for the first time, in support of Lisa Mitchell (read the review here), so was no doubt thrilled when I recently received their debut self-titled EP. But that said, I did approach the EP with a fair amount of trepidation – who was to…
Read More
