Track: A.Swayze and the Ghosts – Mess of Me plus tour news
A. Swayze and the Ghosts are undeniably one of Tasmanian’s finest exports (along with southern gothicism, unfiltered Gin and the Dark Mofo Festival). Building up quite a reputation across Australia, they have just released a fantastic new single and announced a tour of the US – treading the well worn path of Australian bands to …
Track: Luna Li – Trying
Toronto’s talented singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Luna Li has just released a magical new single ‘Trying’ which showcases her creative instrumentation, floating vocals and whimsical lyrics. ‘Trying’ is infused with a psychedelic melancholia and an almost fairground sound washed through with delicate strings. Li says of the song: Writing this song was an exercise in vulnerability. …
Album Review: Bambara – Stray plus tour news
‘Stray’ by New York band Bambara is one of those albums that provides a delicious, vicarious thrill on first listen: it has all the brilliance of a coterie of bands stretching from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to Alabama 3, Wall of Voodoo, Sisters of Mercy to Tindersticks: swaggering, poised story-telling that is visceral …
Album Review: Tan Cologne – Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico
Tan Cologne‘s debut album ‘Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico’ is a thing of ethereal beauty. There’s something in the spaces between the echoes and the jangling guitars, the languid distant voices and the reverb-drenched waves of sound that evokes space and time: a mystical geography and the tyranny and joy of distance. …
Track: Eilish Gilligan – I Just Want To Look At You
Melburnian singer/songwriter Eilish Gilligan continues to make a significant splash on the Australian indie music scene with her haunting brand of synth pop. We have been highly impressed by her output (see our earlier review of S.M.F.Y.) and her new single ‘I Just Want To Look At You’ is gorgeously produced pure dream pop. Gilligan’s …
Track: Aubergine – Lonely Peak
A good thing done well is worth celebrating, and Aubergine‘s laid back instrumentals evoke a sense of place – smoky dimly lit caverns in the very early hours of the morning, cheroots and stripy t-shirts. It is certainly a change of pace, but a very satisfying expression by a group of highly talented musicians. Aubergine …
Video: Ash – Girl from Mars
Ash‘s release this Friday of ‘Teenage Wildlife: 25 years of Ash’ (previewed by me here) is being celebrated by an HD video release of their classic single ‘Girl From Mars’. Surely one of the best and purest hard rock/pop singles of the nineties: Utterly ridiculously good even after 25 years. You can get the album …
Track: The Lazy Eyes – Cheesy Love Song
Everything old may well be new again – there is a degree of amusement that a fair percentage of popular contemporary music is very similar to stuff that has come before. But sometimes music is like Shakespeare: it’s not the about the story itself but the way it’s being told. Coming from Sydney, the debut …
Track: King No-One: Not Willing to Sacrifice My Life
Hailing from York, King No-One is part of the iconic Scruff of the Neck team which is an instant indication of quality. And their new song ‘Not Willing to Sacrifice My Life’ is an extraordinarily mature and well executed indie stomper filled with poise and swagger. A recurring insistent backing chorus, a thumping rhythm section …
Track: Cloning – All Rise
‘All Rise’ is the very exciting and extremely fresh sound from Western Australia’s Cloning. Ostensibly classic indie rock with a touch of shoegaze, there is a whiff of trip hop percussive stuttering among the chiming guitars and synths. A crisp and layered production with a pounding, pulse-quickening chorus and the expressive, emotive vocals of singer/guitarist …