News: New Zealand’s legendary Tall Dwarfs announce compilation box set and full discography stream through Merge Records
I’ve made no secret of my obsession with New Zealand’s iconic Flying Nun label and their jet fuel additives to the global indie music scene in the eighties and beyond with the Dunedin Sound – bands such as The Bats, The Clean and The Chills. Another exciting band on the label was Tall Dwarfs: pioneers, …
Premiere: Lewis Goldmark exclusively unveils the wistful sepia-tinged video for the gorgeous track ‘In My Room’.
We are suffuse with joy to be able to premiere the new video of the track ‘In Your Room’ from that maestro of yearning indie pop, Lewis Goldmark. ‘In Your Room’ is themed very much around a nostalgic look at growing up, the track has a sepia inflected sonic tone of reflection and yearning as …
Premiere: Sunshine Coast’s Dr Mann unveil psychedelic video for ‘Ciggies’: a smoky, hazy joyful fugue.
We are very pleased to premiere the video for that paean to desire and yearning, ‘Cigges’, from Sunshine Coast’s Dr Mann. We said of the single that it is a smooth and enticing slice of trippy, psychedelic indie pop blended with a hint of Americana that is imbued with a laid back and dreamy unfiltered …
Album Review: Horsegirl fulfill all promises in the stunning ‘Versions of Modern Performance’ – one of the most authentic and exciting debuts.
There is a visceral discordancy and inherent chaos that threads throughout ‘Versions of Modern Performance’, the debut album from Chicago trio Horsegirl, (out through Matador Records/Remote Control Records). This anarchy is magically and stunningly resolved by the bitter sweet melodies and harmonies that cloak and bind the barbed-wire strands. The oft dissociated, disconnected vocals are …
Premiere: Melbourne’s BADGERS unveil an euphoric trippy psychedelic video for their new luscious single ‘Bad Dreams’.
Melbourne’s finest sonic architects BADGERS are back with another fine example of luscious shoegaze dream pop in their new single ‘Bad Dreams’, and we are honoured to premiere their new video for this rich and euphoric track. BADGERS (who we last met way back in 2020 with their brilliant single ‘Why Am I Your Only …
Track: Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird are back with another eye-wateringly beautiful anthem ‘Bluestone’, news of a third album and live dates.
Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird (CTBNF) are a revelation for me and one of the most fascinating artists coming out of Australia. There is a Burt Bacharach sixties-infused expansiveness mixed with a Jimmy Webb songwriting craft, all layered with an antipodean genetic code stretching from The Go-Betweens and The Apartments through to Nick Cave. The …
Premiere: Perth’s Late 90s would ‘Die To Heal’: a cinematic anthem with an unstoppable power and delivery. Launch date also announced.
We are very pleased to premiere the new single ‘Die to Heal’ from Perth rockers Late 90s – a reflective yearning track that builds up with an unstoppable velocity into a pulse quickening anthem. Arching melancholic vocals soar high above the ether over jangling guitars and a thundering rhythm section. The overall effect is dramatic …
Track: The Nature Strip have a ‘Sixth Sense’: a harmony laden power pop single with a dark heart is out, and about to be launched live.
The Nature Strip with their brand of intelligent power pop (see EP ‘Past Pacific’, reviewed by me here) continue their 2022 come back with the new single ‘Sixth Sense’: a vibrant hyperkinetic bundle of popping power chords, layered harmonies and the trademark sense of levity and joy. Well, not all joy, perhaps. A rather more muscular guitar-driven …
Track: Dr Mann really have an urge for ‘Ciggies’ in a single that oozes with yearning and desire.
I’m not sure what Dr Mann‘s health and safety credentials are, but in their latest paean to yearning and desire, ‘Ciggies’, they manage to engender the unhealthiest of cravings in just under three minutes. As anyone who has been enslaved to addiction (particularly of the tobacco kind), this sonic pill captures the feelings of abject, …
News: Sydney duo Micra announce EP ‘5th Room’ and unveil new single ‘Doesn’t Mean A Thing’ – a luscious dreamy dream pop reverie.
Ivana Kafedjiyska and Robbie Cain together are the Sydney-based duo Micra and they have just released a luscious and shimmering single ‘Doesn’t Mean A Thing’, awash with a shimmering dream pop coating and a languid, sensual air. Centred around Kafedjiyska’s ethereal vocals and a soft and billowing synth bed, ‘Doesn’t Mean A Thing’ has a classic pop …