Tag: Melbourne Australia

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal Visuals for Teeth and Tongue’s “Turn Turn Turn”

Give Up On Your Health’s second and latest single “Turn Turn Turn” much like its predecessor is inspired by a painful breakup — and lyrically, the song is full of the bitter regret, uncertainty, self-deception and gradual acceptance that occurs in the aftermath of a breakup, while sonically speaking, the song draws from 80s New Wave, synth pop and the DFA Records roster. Or in other words, undulating and propulsive synths are paired with cowbell-led percussion, angular guitar chords in a sensual and slinky arrangement, along with an infectious, dance-floor friendly hook. And somehow, every time I’ve heard it I’m reminded of Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back” and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll.”

The recently released video for the song turns the simple act of eating into something surreal, disgusting and detached and mechanical — and perhaps in some way, the video’s actors are deluding themselves into this being normal.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of “Cold” and “Thread,” Melbourne, Australia-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Matt Connelly’s solo recording project Retro Culture went viral for a hazy, 80s synth pop that sound as though it could have been part of the soundtracks for the major motion picture Drive and Netflix‘s hit series Stranger Things — and as a result both singles received more than 1.2 million streams on Spotify , appeared on Spotify‘s New Music Friday playlist and others and have been championed tastemakers like Majestic Casual.

Connelly’s latest single “Fading” will further cement the Australian multi-instrumentalist and producer’s growing reputation for a retro-futuristic, synth pop sound as the single, which was co-produced by Jack Arentz, who has worked with Kult Klyss and I know Leopard and mastered by Huntley Miller, who has worked with Bon Iver and Sylvan Esso, pairs Connelly’s plaintive vocals with swirling electronics, shimmering synths, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, a sinuous bass line and an anthemic hook. Interestingly, the song sonically speaking will remind some listeners of St. Lucia and the Cascine Records roster, as the song manages to be danceable but just under the surface is a thoughtful, contemplative nature.

 

 

‘Fading’ builds on Connelly’s previous thoughtfully curious and hazy pop debut releases ‘Cold’ & ‘Thread’, which were released earlier in 2016 to early and unexpected international success. Full of fuzzy beats & shoe gaze sounds, both ‘Cold’ & ‘Thread’ went viral and achieved an impressive 1.2 million streams on Spotify, appearing on several Spotify playlists including New Music Friday and championed by tastemakers including Majestic Casual.

Brought to life by a kaleidoscope of inspirations and experiments with live-recorded drums, guitar, bass and synths, his new single ‘Fading’ finally took form as an ode to the nostalgic and 80-gazing soundtrack to Netflix TV hit ‘Stranger Things’.  The single was co-produced with Jack Arentz (Kult Klyss, I Know Leopard) and mastered by Huntley Miller (Bon Iver’s, Slyvan Esso).

Influenced by the likes of Daft Punk and The 1975, Connelly describes the inspiration for ‘Fading’ as being inspired by, ‘The film Drive has played a big part in my musical inspiration recently so I guess that’s where that comes from. Also I was watching Stranger Things at the time of writing Fading and it has this really amazing synth sound track. It reminded me of Drive. That 80s sound is my current obsession. Lyrically, I tend to draw from what’s going on around me or from my own life’

Retro Culture will be coming over to the UK to debut live early next year. More info to follow.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Mino Peric, Tierney Miekus, Siahn Davis and Murray Coggan, the Melbourne, Australia-based no-wave/post-punk quartet No Sister have started to receive a bit of international attention for a tense, abrasive and frenetic sound as you’ll hear on “Overpass,” a single consisting of angular, clashing and jangling layers of guitars, an undulating and forceful bass line, stuttering four-on-the-floor-like drumming, shouted, non-sequitur-based lyrics that capture the frantic, disconnected and vacillating thoughts of the anxiously neurotic. Sonically, the Australian quartet aim to put the listener on edge, to evoke a growing and enveloping sense of dread and uncertainty of our current age — all while nodding at the righteous fury of early Gang of Four.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this summer, I wrote about the Melbourne, Australia-based indie rock quartet Teeth and Tongue With the 2014 release of Grids, the band comprised of New Zealand-born, Melbourne, Australia-based Jess Cornelius (guitar, vocals), Marc Regueiro-McKelvie (guitar), Damian Sullivan (bass) and James Harvey (drums) received attention across Australia for an ambient-leaning sound that paired textured and layered vocals with lyrics that thematically focused on the intricacies of romantic relationships with an unvarnished honesty. And as a result of the attention they’ve received across Australia, they’ve managed to tour with internationally recognized indie rock sensation and fellow Australian Courtney Barnett, which has helped raised their profile internationally.

“Dianne,” the first single off Teeth and Tongue’s recently released album Give Up On Your Health revealed a band that has gone through a change in sonic direction and songwriting approach, with the band taking up  an angular, dance floor friendly New Wave/post-punk sound reminiscent of Blondie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ It’s Blitz! and Dirty Ghosts. Give Up On Your Health’s latest single “Turn, Turn, Turn” much like its predecessor is inspired by a painful breakup — in particular, the song lyrically is full of the bitter regret,  uncertainty, self-deception and eventual acceptance that occurs in the aftermath of a breakup. Sonically speaking, the song sounds as though it draws from 80s New Wave, synth pop and DFA Records as you’ll hear undulating and propulsive synths, cowbell-led percussion, angular guitar chords in a sensual and slinky arrangement, along with an infectious, dance-floor friendly hook. Somehow, every time I’ve heard it I’m reminded of Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back” and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll.”

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this summer, I wrote about Melbourne, Australia-based indie rock/shoegaze act Flyying Colours and if you were frequenting this site then, you may recall that the the Australian band was initially formed by its founding duo, childhood friends Brodie J. Brummer and Genna O’Connor. And with the release of their first two critically applauded EPs, the act received national attention for a sound that possess elements of shoegaze, psych rock and grunge. After recruiting new members Melanie Barbaro and Andy Lloyd Russell to flesh out their sound, the members of the newly constituted quartet went into the studio to write and record the material that would eventually comprise their forthcoming full-length debut, MINDFULLNESS, which is slated for a September 23, 2016 release through Club AC30 Records.  

Over the past year or so, the Australian shoegazers have seen a growing international profile as “Not Today” and “Running Late” off their second EP ROYGBIV received airplay from several renowned radio stations across the globe including KEXP, BBC Radio 6, RRR and FBi among others, and as a result, they landed at number 47 on the CMJ Radio Top 200 and Amazing Radio charts,  as well as praise from the likes of Clash, 405, Stereogum, Wonderland and NME. And adding to a growing internationally recognized profile, Flyying Colours has toured with Pinkshinyultrablast, Johnny Marr, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and  A Place to Bury Strangers.

Whereas MINDFULLNESS‘ first single “It’s Tomorrow Now” was a noisy and towering squalor sound that had the Melbourne, Australia-based quartet pairing buzzing power chords, some incredible guitar pyrotechnics, a propulsive motorik groove and an anthemic hook in a song that sounds as though it were channeling The Jesus and Mary Chain, the album’s latest single “Long Holiday” is a hazily, expansive song in which shimmering guitar chords played through reverb, delay and other effect pedals are paired with a propulsive rhythm section and a rousingly anthemic hook while sonically sounding as though it were indebted to RIDE, A Storm in Heaven The Verve and The Smiths.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Phoebe Lou and Joey Clough, the Melbourne, Australia-based duo Two People‘s debut single “Falling” received over 700,000 streams, was on regular rotation on renowned, Australian radio station Triple J and reached the Top 10 on Hype Machine‘s Popular Charts. Building on the buzz they’ve already received, the duo’s second and latest single “If We Have Time” pairs Phoebe Lou’s aching vocals with an atmospheric production comprised of swirling electronics, stuttering drum programming, twinkling keyboards and guitars played through reverb in a song that manages to  be simultaneously intimate and cinematic in a way that reminds me quite a bit of both Portishead and Goldfrapp‘s gorgeous Tales of Us.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Playful Visuals for Teeth and Tongue’s New Wave-Leaning “Dianne”

“Dianne,” the first single off the Melbourne-based quartet’s forthcoming album Give Up On Your Health reveals a band that has gone through a change in sonic direction — with the band taking up an angular, dance floor friendly New Wave/post-punk sound reminiscent of Blondie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ It’s Blitz! and Dirty Ghosts as the Australian band pairs angular guitar chords, ambient synths, a propulsive rhythm section and anthemic hook with Cornelius’ sultry vocals. Lyrically, the song describes a character that went through something traumatic when she was small, and it’s an event that not only lingers but finds ways to reverberate in every aspect of her life — and Cornelius does so with a novelist’s attention to psychological detail and rapidly changing mental states of a troubled teen/young woman.

The recently released music video features the members of the band playing and goofing off in what clearly appears to be a young woman’s bedroom and it evokes both a playfulness and a brooding darkness that’s just starting to brew.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Ironic Visuals for Courtney Barnett’s Equally Ironic “Elevator Operator”

With the release of her first two critically applauded EPs I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Farris and How to Carve a Carrot Into a Rose, Melbourne, Australia-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Courtney Barnett quickly received attention from the North American, British […]

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Melbourne, Australia’s Remi Reveals that He’s One of Hip-Hop’s, New Conscientious, Storytelling Emcees

“Substance Therapy,” the second and latest single off the album is as Remi explains in press notes is about depression being “a dream in a scream mask, brandishing a hunting knife. When I take drugs, or drink, it’s the equivalent of giving that motherfucker the coordinates to my house. it just makes everything so worse,” and as a result, the song lyrically focuses on a narrator, who drinks, drugs and womanizes excessively to desperate escape his life and its miserable circumstances; however, besides leaving him broke, frustrated, alone, increasingly depressed, anxious and fucked up — and he recognizes that he’s in a difficult to break cycle. Sonically, Sensible J’s production is meant to emphasize the fucked up, anxious and depressed feeling from the lyrical content as you’ll hear looped and repetitive chopped up samples, heavy bass stabs, swirling electronics and buzzing synths. Interestingly, the song captures the vacillating sense of loathing, self-doubt, fear, anger and escapism of the severely depressed while revealing that the young emcee is adding himself to a lengthy tradition of emcees who can rhyme while telling a compelling story.

The recently released music video features a stumbling and staggering Remi while rhyming the lyrics of the song through the woods and on a pier as several hooded figures follow him — perhaps those figures are his doubts and obligations; in any car they follow him as though they were simultaneously judging his actions, enabling his bad behaviors and judging them altogether.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, you may recall that I’ve previously written about Melbourne, Australia-based Latin music nonet San Lazaro. Featuring band members, who claim heritage from all over the Spanish speaking world — including Chile, Cuba, Catalonia and elsewhere. And as result, the Australian act have developed a reputation for a sound that draws across the Latin Diaspora as it possesses elements of reggaeton, salsa, Cuban son, 70s New York salsa and 60s Peruvian cumbia in an effortlessly seamless fashion; in fact, the band has simultaneously developed a reputation for being Melbourne’s preeminent Latin acts, as the band’s 2012 release Clave contra Clave helped the band win Best Australian Latin Band, and their single “Muchacho Tranquilo” was included on the 2014 Rough Guide to Psychedelic Salsa compilation.

La Despedida (which translates from Spanish to English as “The Farewell”) the Melbourne-based nonet’s latest effort, appropriately focuses on some familiar themes to all of us — breakups, loss, insomnia, political protests and more. And adding to the emotional weight is the fact that the material is also deeply informed by the fact that the band has broken up and reconvened several times. Now, you may remember that “Amor De Despedida” was a propulsive song that balanced swooning heartache with a bitter, kiss off to someone who made the song’s narrator feel ambivalent and confused emotions, “La Ola” the album’s latest single is a swinging and bouncing bit of cumbia that has the band pairing twangy country music-like guitars with a propulsive and insistent rhythm and an enormous horn line to craft a song that’s inspired by the Chica cumbia sound of 1970s Peru — while the song’s narrator tells a woeful tale about a fickle love that seems to to come and go as she pleases, and as you listen to the song, the song’s narrator expresses a frustrated, bemused and ambivalent bitterness over it while admitting that they seem hopelessly pulled into a situation they can’t quite control.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Kacee Hedit, Benny Tamblyn and Oli Kirk, Adelaide, Australia-based indie rock/indie electro pop trio Flamingo have developed a reputation both locally and nationally for a sleek, downtempo electronic sound with the release of their first two EPs, with their second EP Drip Drip being released to widespread critical praise. And as a result, the trio not only embarked on their first national tour with stops in their homeland’s largest cities — Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and their hometown — they’ve found their profile growing opening for Bonobo, Rüfüs, Giraffage and The Kite String Tangle, as well as appearances at Splendour on the Grass and Groovin’ the Moo.

Interestingly, the trio’s latest single is about a topic that has been in the international spotlight for some time — refugees, who arrive by boat to a new and perhaps unforgiving and unwelcoming land. And as the band’s vocalist Kacee Heidt explains “Leaving your home and everything you have ever known to travel to the other side of the world in search of a life free from tyranny and devastation with nothing but your family and the clothes on your back. This is one of the hardest things a person can possibly go through and something most Australians couldn’t possibly imagine.”  And as a result, the song portrays refugees with a profound sense of empathy — an empathy the the members of the band feel has long been missing from their national conversation on the issue. Sonically speaking, the trio pairs shimmering guitar chords, skittering beats, gently undulating synths and Heidt’s plaintive vocals singing lyrics that point at asylum seekers’ plight with a bitterly sarcastic irony at its core, opening suggesting that those who were desperate enough to risk everything for the chance at asylum need not just the most empathy but the most assistance.

 

 

 

 


Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Oh Pep! on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts

Comprised of Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, Melbourne, Australia-based electro folk duo Oh, Pep! derive their name from the first names of both members of the act, and they can trace the origins of their collaboration to […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: REMI Teams Up with Sampa The Great on Wild, Surreal and Heartbreaking Night in Melbourne

Remi is a 23 year-old Melbourne, Australia-based emcee and along with collaborator and producer Sensible J, the duo have quickly risen to national and international prominence with 2014 being the duo’s breakthrough year as their Raw X Infinity was critically […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Remi is a 23 year-old Melbourne, Australia-based emcee and along with collaborator and producer Sensible J have quickly risen to national and international prominence with 2014 being the duo’s breakthrough year as their Raw X Infinity was critically and commercially successful. The album was named Triple J‘s Album of the Week, the Independent Hip Hop Album of the Year by the Australian Independent Record Association and received praise from internationally recognized media outlets and tastemakers including OkayAfrica, JUICE and laut.de, NPR‘s All Things Considered, and others. Adding to a rapidly growing national and international profile, the duo were named “Australian Breakthrough Artist of the Year,” toured nationally and across both the UK and Continental Europe and have shared stages with the likes of Danny Brown, Vic Mensa, De La Soul, Joey Bada$$ and Damon Albarn.

Divas and Demons is the Australian duo’s forthcoming full-length effort, and the album’s first single “For Good” is a collaboration that features Sydney, Australia-based poet, visual artist and singer/songwriter Sampa The Great adding soulful backing vocals to the song’s infectious hook and spitting a few bars herself during the song’s shimmering and cosmic bridge. Now, if you were frequenting this site over the the last half of 2015, Sampa The Great might be familiar to you, as she collaborated with a fellow Sydney-based singer/songwriter Wallace on the skittering and jazzy single “Beauty” and interestingly enough, this particular track has Sampa The Great channeling both Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill. Remi’s husky vocals and cool, effortless flow is reminiscent of LL Cool J, Q-Tip and Snoop Dogg with a distinctly Australian accent. Lyrically speaking, the song is a charming and coquettish love song in which its male and female narrators finally committing to each other after a childish and dysfunctional relationship in which they fuss and fight, cheat and drive each other nuts — and yet they both realize that they can’t possible dream of a life apart. This back and forth duet is paired with a buoyant and swooningly soulful Sensible J. production consisting of Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar and boom bap drum programming and Simon Mavin’s cosmically shimmering and jazzy keyboard chords. Although incredibly contemporary, the song sounds as though it could have been released sometime between 1997 and 2002 — and in some way sounds as though it draws from The Roots and Erykah Badu‘s “You Got Me,” and others.

Certainly, much like Monikker‘s debut single “Heaven on Earth (Gotta Go),” Remi’s latest track is a testament to the power and influence of hip-hop’s beloved golden era while reminding the listener of two things — that hip-hop truly is the linga franca of anyone under about 45 or so and that in the age of mainstream, conglomerate radio stations shilling soulless and prepackaged bullshit that you can find meaningful and thoughtful music if you’re willing to put in some work.

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of founding member Hugh Matthews (guitar and vocals), Drew Schapper (drums and Johnny Moretti (guitar) Melbourne, Australia-based shoegaze trio Pretty City can trace their origins to when Matthew sent demos to Schapper and Moretti, who all knew each other from Melbourne’s music scene. And as the story goes, after two rehearsals the newly formed trio began playing shows around Australia and receiving attention for a sound that’s indebted to The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and The Smashing Pumpkins; in fact, their Heights EP was released in 2013 to critical praise from several national outlets including The Music.

Building upon the success of Heights, the band recently finished a tour of Australia’s East Coast to support the release of their critically applauded single “Mary Go Round” and to build buzz for the forthcoming release of their full-length debut effort, Colorize. The album’s latest single “Running Around” is an enormous, arena-friendly song with equally enormous and anthemic hooks paired with dense, fuzzy, feedback slathered power chords, thundering drumming and earnestly sung vocals in a song that channels classic Brit Pop and shoegaze — but with a modern sheen and earnestness that ensures that their sound and aesthetic isn’t derivative.

The Australian trio plans to make their Stateside debut during next month’s SXSW in Austin, and I suspect that we’ll be hearing quite a bit more about them over the next few months.