Tag: Melbourne

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 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 […]

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

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

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.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Nicolaaas Oogjes, Andrew Noble,  Adrian Vecino, Mitch McGregor,
Daphne Camf, Kieran O’Shea,  Cayn Borthwick, Becky Sui Zhen, the Melbourne, Australia-based octet NO ZU have developed a reputation in Australia for a sound the consists of elements of no wave, funk, house, African and indigenous percussion — and as you’ll hear on “Spirit Beat,” the first single off Afterlife, the follow up to their acclaimed 2012 release, Life, the single manages to sound as though it were released in early 1980s as old school, hip-hop-leaning breakbeats, sinuous bass lines, sultry female vocals and pitched down male vocals chanting in call and response, shimmering synths and warm blasts of horns are paired together in a way that channels Tom Tom Club, early house music and synth funk in a way that feels dimly familiar yet alien — and yet oh so dance floor worthy. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of Pete Baxter, Max Turner, Josh Delaney and Liam Gough SMILE is a Melbourne, Australia-based band, that has cloaked themselves in mystery; in fact, the band has been so mysterious that beyond the fact that there are somewhere between 4 members and that the band formed back in 2012, very little else is know about them. “Holiday,” the second single off the band’s forthcoming album Rhythm Method consists of jangling and shimmering guitar chords, a wobbling bass line, a propulsive bass line and an anthemic hook paired with ironically disaffected vocals in a song that’s reminiscent of classic shoegaze and 90s Brit Pop; in some way, the song reminds me of both of Oasis and The Verve – but with a bluesier swagger. At the core of the song is an extremely modern sense of existential angst, based upon the realization that most people waste away their lives and their time on things they hate and are unfulfilling while consuming useless products until they die.