Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

The GOON SAX – ” We’re Not Talking We’re Not Talking ” Best Albums Of 2018

Posted: January 1, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Image may contain: 3 people, guitar and outdoor

A band of 19-year-olds from Australia who have a knack for incredibly thoughtful and structured indie pop, the Goon Sax’s second album is a tremendous reflection of the leaps and bounds the band has taken over its short life. They fall very easily into the grand tradition of Australian and New Zealand indie bands without batting an eye, which is both to be expected considering member Louis Forster is the son of Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens, but also a bit of a surprise since his reported musical awakening was not his dad’s band, but Green Day’s American Idiot. “We Can’t Win” is the album’s understated masterpiece, something that both evokes and transcends its teenage story and authors, much like the album as a whole.

Named after Australian bagged wine, the Goon Sax travel in teenage ennui, that era of your life where the possibilities are endless and your ability to do anything — or even know which movie to watch — feels infinitesimal. Their sophomore album, We’re Not Talking is full of e•mo•tion and teenage malaise, and “Make Time 4 Life” might be the band’s masterpiece so far: It’s a song full of tiny moments of young love, both flourishing and dissipating. This was the best album to overthink your life to this year.

http://

Band Members
James Harrison, Louis Forster, Riley Jones

LUCA BRASI – ” Stay “

Posted: December 29, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

A standout from the Tasmanians’ fourth album, “Never Better” is a reflection on facades and brave faces. If we’re ever asked if we’re okay, all of us have used the titular phrase as means of reassurance. Here, vocalist Tyler Richardson removes the veneer and draws in listeners with some of his most brutal, honest lyrics: “Every effort feels so tired and rehearsed,” he laments at one point; “I’m coming apart at the seams,” he confesses at another. His bandmates drawback and venture into more restrained, twinkly musical territory to ensure these words are crystal clear. Songs like “Never Better” matter.

If preceding LP’s Extended Family and By A Thread sound like a young band experimenting excitingly with the elements of punkrock, If This Is All We’re Going To Be sees the band nail their unique, cracking formula. They’ve perfectly married melody, their trademark meandering guitar lines and self-examining lyrical content with the foundational punk and rock ideals that inspired the band. 

http://

EAST BRUNSWICK ALL GIRLS CHOIR – ” Essendon 1986 “

Posted: December 28, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Image may contain: 4 people

It’s funny that East Brunswick’s debut album was called Seven Drummers – when “Essendon 1986” kicks off in earnest, that’s exactly what it sounds like. Jen Sholakis is the central focus of this spiralling, seething number, her toms rumbling the earth beneath her as her bandmates carve into their respective stringed instruments. The band has never sounded this dark, this aggressive or this forthright – and it’s this immediate shift that ends up paying off to create their finest singular moment to date. A fading, sepia portrayal of restless outward Australia that, truthfully, couldn’t have come from any other band.

“Teddywaddy” is the band’s most profound and riotous statement, focusing the seasoned intensity of singer/guitarist Marcus Hobbs, bassist/keyboardist Rie Nakayama, guitarist Rob Wrigley and drummer Jen Sholakis. Named after a slumbering patch of country 90 minutes from Bendigo, Teddywaddy was recorded with rising producer Anna Laverty (Courtney Barnett, The Peep Tempel). It follows 2014’s Australian Music Prize-longlisted Seven Drummers and 2009’s mini-LP Dead Air.

EBAGC have sojourned in Berlin and toured Asia but always circled back to Victoria, with Hobbs dropping wry geographical pins throughout his detailed songwriting. Spanning both smouldering studies of isolation and open-air eruptions of catharsis, Teddywaddy revels in such whiplashing contrasts. For every spacious swath of majesty, there’s some punked-up exorcism to fray the nerves and throttle the senses.

Band Members
Marcus Hobbs, Rie Nakayama, Robert Wrigley, Jen Sholakis

‘Essendon 1986’ is taken from the East Brunswick All Girls Choir album ‘Teddywaddy‘ was released June 29th

AMY SHARK – ” Psycho ” ft. Mark Hoppus

Posted: December 27, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, standing, kitchen and indoor

The likes of Amanda Palmer and Nardwuar have waxed lyrical about the art of asking. So it went that Amy Shark reached out to her teenage idol, blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, to work on a song for her debut album. Not only did it eventuate, but it turned out to be the highlight of the record. “Psycho” offers a dark, duelling perspective on an intense relationship as soundtracked by pensive guitars and restrained drum programming. The latter eventually gives way to live drums complementing Shark’s high notes, and it’s one of the year’s best dynamic payoffs. Ask and you shall receive.

Amy Shark – Psycho (feat. Mark Hoppus) from the new album ‘Love Monster’ is out now:

PENELOPE TRAPPES – ” Penelope Two “

Posted: December 24, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Following her debut album ‘Penelope One’ for Optimo Music, antipodean vocalist, musician and soundscaper Penelope Trappes presents sophomore longplayer ‘Penelope Two’, for Houndstooth.

Elements from multiple sources are subsumed by Trappes’ sonic presence; one hears Badalamenti and Julee Cruise’s work for ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Twin Peaks’, Slowdive’s dreampop, the scorched comedowns of early Primal Scream, Colin Newman’s dark melancholia, plus contemporaries like Tropic Of Cancer and Sky H1.

These distilled, rarefied creations take echoes as their starting point, with Trappes summoning swathes of tones, textures and emotions into something ethereal but also powerful, like an evocation of spirits. It’s also deeply melodic, with her intimate, maternally-tender voice floating in the middle of each three dimensional, womb-like sonic space. Originally from the Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia before moving to New York and developing experimental electronic projects Locke and Priscilla Sharp, plus her best-known incarnation with partner Stephen –The Golden Filter. 

http://

Referencing Scott Walker and This Mortal Coil, Trappes uses a minimal palette to frame her spellbinding, spectral songs in a starkly beautiful sound, suggesting a collaboration between Mazzy Star and Leyland Kirby, or Felicia Atkinson writing for Lynch.  

Released October 26th, 2018

HATCHIE – ” Sugar & Spice ” EP

Posted: December 21, 2018 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

Image may contain: 2 people, night

On her debut EP Sugar & Spice, the young Australian singer songwriter Hatchie has established herself as one of the smartest and most eloquent voices in indiepop. Written in the glow of her first romantic relationship, these five songs deliver grandiose melodies and glimmering arrangements that recall the sparkly jangle of Real Estate. By exploring the space, implicit in the project’s title, where the saccharine euphoria of budding romance ends and its grittier complexities begin,

http://

Australian singer-songwriter Hatchie released her debut EP, Sugar & Spice, in May, and she’s been kicking up quite the shimmery storm ever since. She’s currently playing a sold-out string of tour dates with Alvvays and Snail Mail (what you might call an indie fan’s dream lineup). Before supporting that bill at a trio of shows at Warsaw in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hatchie carved out time to play a set in the Paste Studio, and her starry session is guaranteed to make your day brighter.

1. Sure 0:47 2. Sugar & Spice 6:19 3. Bad Guy 10:41 Watch Hatchie live at Paste Studio NYC

ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER – ” Talking Straight “

Posted: December 13, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Image may contain: 5 people, people standing and outdoor

The one thing that 2018 could not take from us is the pure joy of a pop song. And yes, there were bigger ones, more emotional ones, but with “Talking Straight,” RBCF provided us with a song that felt so perfectly fleeting that it was incomparable in terms of pure indie-rock pleasure. “Talking Straight” is the sound of ’70s and ’80s FM Aussie-pop distilled to its purest form, an expertly-crafted geode of a song that sounds readymade for blaring over the radio. But the band’s attraction lies in their veracity. For all its hooks, the song feels incredibly whole, full of hard-panned riffs and stratospheric harmonizing. It’s akin to world-building, in a way, all the song’s small details adding up to make it feel bigger than it really is. RBCF’s songwriting tricks you into thinking it’s effortless, which is something we all needed this year.

RBCF’s first proper full-length album is a fun run of 10 tracks, skillfully crafted by a young quintet of Aussies. Following two beachy EPs (Talk Tight, The French Press) the band treads similar territory sonically (think: jangly, catchy rock n roll), while leaning into some heavier themes. Masked by buoyant melodies, hooks aplenty, thumping rhythms, and thoughtful harmonies, lyrics like these (from “Bellarine”): “Cool air off northern “water, two years since I’ve seen my daughter. The fish are biting every line but mine…seems like rum is taking all my time,” show a written wisdom that adds depth to these summer-tinged jams and a reason to hit play any damn time of the year.

‘Hope Downs’ (Release Day: June 15, 2018)

The DANDELION – ” Lucifer The Light & Knife / Spring Dance “

Posted: December 5, 2018 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

Image may contain: one or more people, people on stage, people playing musical instruments and guitar

My ode to the widely misunderstood fallen angel & morning star. Many people associate Lucifer with pure evil but Lucifers energy is only evil if it’s used for ill intentions and purposes. And although its true that Lucifer represents the darker side of ourselves, this dark energy can be used to protect us against those who wish to do us harm. When Lucifers energy is used appropriately there is no evil on this planet that can match its power. The only thing that can conquer Lucifer is LOVE. This song is available on a 7” record via Six Tonnes De Chair Records

The Dandelion is a studio project and live band led by Natalie de Silver who writes, records and produces the band’s original material.
The Dandelion originally began as a solo recording project for Daniel Poulter (1981-2014) who recorded Strange Case of The Dandelion. A live band was formed in 2013 featuring Alison Hobbes on Organ, Stella Rennex on Bass and Josh White on Drums. This line up also features in 3 recorded songs (Malkaus, Ode to Love, Spring Dance) on The Dandelion’s 2nd LP titled Seeds Flowers and Magical Powers of The Dandelion.
During the recording of “Seeds Flowers & Magical Powers of The Dandelion” 2014/2015, Daniel gracefully handed over all creative duties to Natalie de Silver who can be heard subtlety coming through the album’s mix and main themes.
In 2017 Natalie begun working on a third album titled “Old Habits & New Ways of The Dandelion. This record is still currently in the making but will be released in the coming months.

http://

The CITRADELS – ” Fuck The Hits: Vol​.​1 “

Posted: November 28, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

The Citradels are self-releasing their ninth album “Fuck The Hits: Vol. 1”, changing up their recording process and musical style once again. The culmination of roughly 18 months work, the album intermingles 60s pop harmony and structures with synthesis and dense soundscapes.

FTH v1 is a collection of love songs for people who can’t write love songs. Lyrically, it is as simplistic or dark as the listener cares to read into. With a nod to conventional mid 60s pop structure, these songs clock in at around two or three minutes. Lush arrangements and traditional instrumentation is augmented with otherworldly, inorganic sounds and samples.

http://

“Fuck The Hits: Vol. 1” is a sonically diverse journey that will reward repeated listens.

releases November 28th, 2018

The BETHS – ” Future Me Hates Me ” Best Albums Of 2018

Posted: November 27, 2018 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Image may contain: 3 people, people standing and glasses

Elizabeth Stokes named her band after herself, or, rather, her nickname. So it should come as no surprise, then, that the debut album from New Zealand-based rockers The Beths, Future Me Hates Me, is sharply self-aware. Stokes, a music teacher who quit her day job to tour the world with The Beths, pairs clever, refreshingly straightforward lyrics with uber-catchy guitar pop, and she never stutters in delivering even the most blunt assessments of her doubts, fears and anxieties. “Sometimes I think I’m doing fine / I think I’m pretty smart,” she sings on the album’s title track before, later, completing the thought: “Oh then the walls become thin / And somebody gets in / I’m defenseless.” On dizzying love song “Little Death,” she captures and tames all the butterflies swarming around in her stomach: “And the red spreads to my cheeks / You make me feel three glasses in.”

The Beths sound as if they’re already three albums in, playing with the musical and lyrical finesse of a much older and more experienced band. Every single song on this record arrives with as many contagious hooks and honest confessions as on the sparkly, frank “Little Death” and the toe-tap-inducing examination of overthinking “Future Me Hates Me.” Indie rock is alive and well in Oceania—The Beths, like their Australian neighbors Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, hit it out of the park in crafting one of the sturdiest rock debuts of the year.

Older Entries
Newer Entries