While Adelaide is often overlooked as the sleepy City of Churches, it is truly a perpetual hive of activity when it comes to its music scene. With quality independent acts popping up almost daily, it’s an almost impossible task to try and give them all the attention the deserve and require. Thankfully though, Adelaide has a music festival dedicated to doing just that, and it’s called Umbrella: Winter City Sounds.
Umbrella: Winter City Sounds is a two-week event running for two weeks from Friday, July 14th, and will see over 300 musical events spread out over 100 stages. Undoubtedly, the biggest event of the festival is Scouted, a musical showcase presenting 15 of the best unsigned acts Adelaide has to offer. Spread out over five stages at two venues in Adelaide’s East End, it’s set to be one of the biggest music events on the SA calendar.
To help navigate the massive amount of talent that Scouted has on offer, we’ve asked Music SA’s General Manager Lisa Bishop to give us her 5 acts that you certainly can’t afford to miss at Scouted when it hits Adelaide’s East End on July 28th.
MANE
Winner of Best Female Artist at the 2016 SA Music Awards, indie-pop songwriter Paige Renee Court is hot off a strong performance at WOMADelaide, ready to launch a new single and start her first UK tour. With captivating performances in the US, and triple j airplay of her first EP House Of Horror, this is an artist who is seriously committed to her songwriting and live performance, with an outstandingly unique vocal sound that draws you in. Her onstage band banter is endearing and makes you feel like she’s playing music with her little brothers and enjoying every minute of it. All hail the turtle neck country-bred girl who is killing it in the city right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBmVdYbaU8
Electric Fields
The duo’s debut EP, INMA, is on high rotation in my car and has been for quite some time simply because it’s an irresistible mix of soul, pop and electronic music, sung beautifully by Zaachariaha Fielding in Pitjantjatjara and English. Alongside producer Michael Ross, this will be a captivating and powerful performance of an extraordinary kind that you don’t want to miss. Electric Fields received the APRA Emily Burrows Award, performed in China and Scotland, hit number one on Radio Adelaide’s most played chart, received high rotation on Fresh 92.7, and have performed alongside Flight Facilities and Tkay Maidza. Catch them at Scouted as part of their tour of Australia and Indonesia.
Young Offenders
OK, so for a start the name is great, but there’s nothing offensive about this talented trio. Likened to a combination of Arctic Monkeys and The Clash, The Living End, and a hint of Jamie T, the Brit-punk sounding Young Offenders will hit the Scouted stage fresh off the back of a UK tour, including a spot at Glastonbury Festival. They bring enticing energy to their live performance, and are wooing crowds everywhere. Wearing their political and social concerns on their collective musical sleeves, this band has talent as well as business nous and they’re ready to make some serious dents.
DyspOra
DyspOra is 23-year-old Gabriel Akon, a hip-hop recording artist/producer, poet, and founder of Playback 808 Music. The nomadic sonic activist was born in South Sudan and raised across various locations in East Africa before his family migrated to Adelaide, Australia. Honing his skills at Adelaide’s hip-hop breeding ground Northern Sound System, and as a Music SA alumni, DyspOra is totally committed to the craft and the business, and is one of the most professional and polite artists on the Adelaide scene right now. Known for his versatility and dynamic lyrical abilities, he has rocked stages with the likes of Hilltop Hoods, Thundamentals, Funkoars, Seth Sentry, Kerser, and US based rapper Spice 1. DyspOra performs on the YEWTH stage at 5:30pm.
Timberwolf
Best Songwriter and Best Male Artist at the SA Music Awards last year, bright young indie alt-rock songwriter Chris Panousakis has garnered a great deal of interest for his captivating music and poignant lyrics. His Flux EP has amassed more than 2 million streams on Spotify, and high rotation on triple j. With an album ready to drop in October, and a recent national tour as support for Amy Shark, Timberwolf has signed to US publisher Third Side Music. I feel he is one of Australia’s brightest rising talents, so keep an eye on him as he launches his first single in July during Umbrella: Winter City Sounds, and be sure to catch his performance at Scouted on the Radio Adelaide Stage at 8:50pm.
Heaps Good Friends
There has been lots of triple j excitement for these two besties, who played the Adelaide leg of Groovin The Moo, and are about to commence a national tour supporting The Jungle Giants. They are firing on all cylinders at the moment, and are sure to be household names in no time.
Rin McArdle
Having been described by Powderfinger’s Ian Haug as being “immediately impressed with her authenticity, talent and honesty as a performer,” and her single ‘Sirens’ having been played over 150,000 times on Spotify, I’ve got to say the future is bright for the unique voice that is Rin McArdle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4LF22ajqyI
Scouted
Friday, July 28th
East End, Adelaide, SA
Tickets are available through MusicGlue
Umbrella: Winter City Sounds launches on Friday, July 14th and runs until Monday, July 30th.
For more information, check out Umbrella’s website..
