While it’s easier than ever these days to find and get music, it seems like every day it becomes more and more difficult to just get the things you actually want to hear.
With tons of albums getting released each month, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the releases you definitely want to get your hands on and you find yourself just giving up.
In the interest of promoting great music, we’ve decided to give our readers a forecast of the best and most promising releases coming out this month.
Elizabeth Rose – Intra
Label: Midnight Feature/ Inertia
Release Date: 4th March
Pre order: www.jbhifi.com.au
Elizabeth Rose has long been one to watch in the Aussie music scene, releasing a string of critically acclaimed, slickly produced electro-pop singles that received high rotation on triple j. Her debut album, Intra, gives listeners a chance to hear Rose outside of the limiting confines of a 2-3 minute pop number. With a bigger canvas to work with and a list of collaborators that includes Remi, Chrome Sparks, and M-phazes, Elizabeth Rose is about to come into her own.
Ray Lamontagne – Ouroboros
Label: Sony
Release Date: 4th March
Pre order: www.raylamontagne.com
Grammy Award winner Ray LaMontagne is gearing up to release his sixth studio album, OUROBOROS, on 4th March via RCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment Australia. Produced by LaMontagne in tandem with Jim James of My Morning Jacket, the album sees the multi-talented songwriter pushing himself in bold, new directions and adding a considerable new instalment to his respected discography, which includes beloved releases like Gossip In The Grain, Trouble, and Till The Sun Turns Black.
Elliphant – Living Life Golden
Label: Sony
Release Date: 25th March
Pre order: iTunes
Scandinavian raggamuffin Elliphant has achieved a lot in a remarkably short span of time, but there’s still one obstacle she’s yet to scale and that’s the full-length. It’s now coming full force at you as one of the most eagerly anticipated debuts of the year. Living Life Golden follows on from triple j favourites like ‘One More’, ‘Love Me Badder’, and ‘Step Down’, and sees her working with a suite of super-producers (Skrillex, Dr Luke, Diplo, Major Lazer, Joel Little) to craft an accomplished and eclectic debut.
Matt Corby – Telluric
Label: Universal
Release Date: 11th March
Pre order: mattcorby.umusic.com.au
It’s almost hard to believe Matt Corby is only just gearing up to release his debut full-length. The Sydney singer-songwriter commands an enviable following among local music lovers and consistently sells out large-capacity venues around the country. And yet, the singer-songwriter is a consummate auteur and perfectionist, biding his time with a string of beloved EPs before finally unleashing Telluric, which is poised to make his star rise even further.
Miike Snow – iii
Label: Warner
Release Date: 4th March
Pre order: miikesnow.com
Miike Snow’s new album, iii, was crafted in a manner befitting their internationalist persona. The three members of the band — Andrew Wyatt, Christian Karlsson & Pontus Winnberg — collaborated in Stockholm, Los Angeles, and New York for short periods over two years. Each musician contributed different songs, which were sent back and forth between hard-drives, which instills the album with a fresh eclecticism. With each member of the group participating in their own high-profile side-projects, it’s even more remarkable they’ve managed to craft such a cohesive unit of an album.
Killswitch Engage – Incarnate
Label: Warner
Release Date: 11th March
Pre order: official.roadrunnerrecords.com
At this point, fans have come to rely on Killswitch Engage for punishing metalcore that not only offers brutality but emotional catharsis. New album Incarnate is no departure from this formula, especially of lead single ‘Strength of the Mind’ is anything to go by. Following on from 2013’s Disarm the Descent, the band’s first album with vocalist Jesse Leach, Incarnate sees Killswitch doing what they do best – moving forward whilst reminding fans of why they first flew their flag.
Koi Child – Koi Child
Label: Pilerats
Release Date: 18th March
Pre order: iTunes
The potential pitfall with having someone like Tame Impala chief Kevin Parker producing your album is the instant star power can overshadow the album itself and it becomes all anybody talks about. Luckily, Koi Child have managed to craft one of the freshest and most sonically unique debuts to come out in a while. Recorded at Mangebong, on an island south of Perth, the album is peppered with dub-style chords, slinky bass lines, crunchy percussion, and deft lyricism, a mix that will sink its hooks into you from the first listen.
El Guincho – Hiperasia
Label: Mistletone
Release Date: 11th March
Pre order: www.mistletone.net
After a five-year hiatus, El Guincho — aka Canary Islands-born Pablo Díaz-Reixa — has returned with HiperAsia. Inspired by a chain of Chinese bazaars on the outskirts of Madrid where Pablo now lives, the album was written, recorded and produced the album in studios and spaces throughout Spain; in the Canary Islands, Barcelona and finally Madrid. Make no mistakes, the album asks a lot of its listeners but it is supremely rewarding and will no doubt become another beloved addition to his discography.
Iggy Pop & Josh Homme – Post Pop Depression
Label: Caroline Australia
Release Date: 18th March
Pre order: postpopdepression.com
“This was to go where neither of us had gone before. That was the agreement. And to go all the way,” Josh Homme told the New York Times some months back, remarking on his new collaboration with Iggy Pop. It’s a lofty aspiration, but if there’s two men currently operating in contemporary rock that we could faithfully hitch our trailer to, it’d be Pop and Homme who’d get us to our destination. Post Pop Depression, recorded independently by the two rock statesmen, is a mature, intelligent, sonically adventurous, and at-times confronting new rock release.
