Indie pop
Album Review: Mammoth Penguins – There Is No Fight We Can’t Both Win
Back from a voyage into the world of the concept album with the excellent John Doe, Mammoth Penguins have stepped back into slightly more familiar territory. There’s No Fight We Can’t both win is another slice of their grown-up guitar pop. Which might sound a bit grim to the uninitiated. Is there really a place …
Track: San Mei – Heaven
Following up on her debut single “Wonder” earlier this year, Emily Hamilton, working under the name San Mei, has just released a fitting follow-up in “Heaven”. This is a somewhat more poppy and less abrasive San Mei, yet it still has a spine of fuzz and understated distortion below the surface of synths. “Heaven” is …
Track: Chakra Efendi – Grow Up
Brisbane-based artist Chakra Efendi came to our attention with his excellent debut single ‘Waste of Space’ earlier this year. He’s back with a new release ‘Grow Up’ which is a fitting companion to the earlier release as it farewells the adolescent themes inherent in ‘Waste of Space’ and welcomes Efendi’s melancholic low-fi somewhat reluctant transformation …
Track: San Mei – Wonder
San Mei is the work of Gold Coast’s Emily Hamilton and her new single, ‘Wonder’, is a fantastic, slightly scuzzy, psych-tinged blast of pop. Incorporating elements of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and little bit of Garbage, ‘Wonder’ is bursting with energy and attitude with just a light dusting of grit to give it an inherent …
Track: Ro – Diary
Hailing originally from Western Australia’s gorgeous Margaret River region, Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Ro has just released a delightful, whimsical debut single called “Diary” that wearily expounds her desire to let her lover read her diary to see what she really thinks. Ro explains: “The chorus has a bit of irony, because I don’t actually recommend giving …
Track: The Essex Green – Sloan Ranger/The 701 plus album and touring news
Formed in the late nineties, The Essex Green became part of the legendary Elephant 6 Collective that included bands such as the Apples in Stereo, the Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beulah, Elf Power, of Montreal, The Minders, and Circulatory System, all which shared a passion for 60’s pop music. After a twelve year …
Live Review: Braver Than Fiction, WensleyAle, Redmire, 27/05/18
Braver Than Fiction have left their stomping ground of Sheffield to play among the sunny environs of Redmire railway station in North Yorkshire. For four years now the WensleyAle festival organisers have invited musicians, beer and gin connoisseurs and rail enthusiasts alike to come together and celebrate over the May bank holiday whilst also raising …
Track: Ryan Keen – Never Let You Down
Singer-songwriter Ryan Keen returns just in time with a slice of summery indie pop which fuses his usual thoughtful, plaintive reflections on life and love with a hearty injection of hot-right-now tropical house production, managing to produce an end result which brings to mind the more dance and urban side of Ryan’s influences but also …
Track: BATZ – Save Us
With wafts of the heady aroma of eighties greats like Martha and the Muffins or The Passions or even early Duran Duran, the new single from Melbourne’s BATZ is a vibrant poptastic blast of neon-lit joy, bursting with a catchy melody and cheeky refrain. BATZ aka Melbourne artist Chrissie Aubry says of the song: I …
Track: Christine and the Queens release new single “Girlfriend” and announce tour
Christine and the Queens have made their return with new single “Girlfriend”, as well as announcing an extensive tour of Europe, Canada, and the United States. “Girlfriend” shouldn’t disappoint her fans; it stays true to her roots of mixing indie-pop and 80s synth that made her debut album so popular. What’s interesting, though, is that …