We listen to a lot of music here at Tone Deaf HQ, and we’re the first to admit we’re perhaps a little biased towards sounds of the Australian variety. We do make the best music in the world, after all.
In honouring our favourite Aussies, we’ve once again compiled a list of the most outstanding local releases you should be listening to right now – whether they’re smaller indies acts or big-name essentials, these are the newest Australian records you should be adding to your ‘must-listen’ list. Let’s get started.
Sticky Fingers – Land Of Pleasure (Title Track)
These five hard-working Sydney-siders deserve wider acclaim equal to the elbow-grease and touring they’ve put in so far and Land Of Pleasure, their ambitious second album, could be well be the record to bring it to them.
You’ve likely heard the lead singles by now; the breakbeat baggy rock of ‘For You’ and sun-kissed ‘Gold Snafu‘, which is kind of what you’d imagine The Cat Empire to sound like if they channelled Britpop. In fact, on the remaining 10 tracks the band openly invite comparisons to the UK’s greats, with echoes of Oasis, Stone Roses, and even The Kooks. Heck, even bassist Paddy Cornwall admitted the band were “definitely wearing Primal Scream and Gorillaz influences on our sleeves” for ‘Feast Your Eyes’.
Saving them from the pitfalls of Britpop aping however (*cough* DMA’s) is that Sticky Fingers don’t just openly mimic their sonic influences but instead fuse and pollinate them with intriguing bedfellows, providing an ear-grabbing mix of reggae, psychedelic rock, lashings of electronica all wrapped in a summery (even sci-fi) sounding production job (by Dann Hume) that makes them some beguilingly unmatched in the Aussie music scene.
This sonic cross-breeding was the greatest strength of the band’s ramshackle debut album Caress Your Soul, but here their ambitions sound fulfilled, stretching further into unexplored genre territory while keeping an ear to the next pop-friendly hook or soaring melody (huge props to vocalist Dylan Frost in that particular department).
Highlights are common: ‘Dreamland’ is a crowd favourite-in-waiting; ‘Velvet Skies’ is dubbed-out reggae by way of electronic flourishes; ‘Lazerhead’ is a late-tracklist star, and ‘Rum Rage’ shows the band can do balladry – all spare atmosphere, dreamy vocals and blissfully lethargic slide guitar – as much as they can do summery sing-alongs, demonstrating Sticky Fingers are a top-billing festival band in the making with the anthems to match. (Al Newstead)
The King String Tangle – Vessel (Warner)
The Kite String Tangle has been a name closely associated with the new wave of Australia’s alternative electronic artists since the smashing breakout success of debut single ‘Given The Chance’; a song that landed in the top 20 of the 2013 Hottest 100 and unsurprisingly garnered one of the biggest crowd responses at this year’s Splendour In The Grass when its final stomping chorus ripped through the Mix Up Tent.
In that sense, Brisbane producer Danny Harley had quite a lot to live up to. We already knew that the solo producer knows how to create cathartic, emotion-filled electro-pop anthems, and now the wonderfully realised Vessel EP confirms The Kite String Tangle as a true force to be reckoned with.
Exploring his defined aural aesthetic over six polished tracks, ‘Arcadia’ and ‘Words’ follow right in the same giant-sized footsteps of the epic ‘Given The Chance’, weaving lush arrangements filled with earworm production and memorable vocal hooks, while ‘What If’ is a fast change of pace that shows off his versatility.
Harley has certainly carved out an instantly recognisable signature sound, and has achieved the rare feat of feeling like a seasoned artist with his first body of work. It has to be reiterated – ‘Given The Chance’ still sounds as great as it did the first time even after all its Triple J air-hogging. (Dylan McCarthy)
Jonathan Boulet – GUBBA (Popfrenzy)
There’s always been a noticeable gulf between Jonathan Boulet’s solo albums and his collaborative efforts (re: one-album wonders Parades, the harder edged Snakeface and metalcore City Escape Fire) but on the third full-length effort under his own name, those lines of distinction become a lot more blurred.
Coming out swinging right from the off with ‘Hold It Down’ and the King Gizzard-sounding ‘Creeper’, GUBBA employs Boulet’s skills to deliver a noisy torrent of Wall Of Sound garage rock. Sure he’s always possessed a percussive-friendly sound (being a drummer and all) but here everything seems conceived, delivered, and mixed to punch like a charging bull.
It’s worlds away from the sparkling, melodic indie-isms of his 2009 debut (and breakout single ‘Community Service Announcement’) and kind of retrospectively frames the curt mish-mash that was 2012’s We Keep The Beat… as a transitional record.
But Boulet hasn’t just tossed aside the blueprint he’d drafted across his first two albums, he’s shredded it to pieces and set it on fire, to the soundtrack of hoary guitars and juggernaut drums set at air- raid siren volume while Boulet slurs in ‘give a fuck’ vocal chants and shouts.
It’s certainly not a perfect record, and by the end of 14 amp-battering tracks your ears might be understandably exhausted. But you suspect that’s the point, with each raw, pummelling track willingly bleeding into a series of gritty sonic slugs rather than distinctive hits.
There’s no denying the sense of visceral freedom of the record as a whole. For Boulet, GUBBA is a daring escape from and abandonment of what’s come before. For the listener, it’s a breathless, thrilling knockout – like taking blows to the head from a mound of sonic dirt. (AN)
cln – Sideways (Mammal)
When the lead single from your first EP hits the top of the coveted Hype Machine chart in just three days of its release, and clocks over 125,000 plays (and counting), you probably know you’re onto a good thing.
19-year-old Brisbane-via-South Africa wunderkind cln has been widely touted as one of the year’s most shining breakout acts by the likes of Red Bull Music Academy and Stoney Roads, and it’s for good reason.
Combining influences steeped in hip-hop, trip-hop, and downtempo electronica, cln’s breezy, chilled out production is effortlessly intoxicating, and dizzyingly addictive.
Eponymous track ‘Sideways’ is a more experimental gem than cln’s aforementioned breakout track ‘Better Than’, but just as infectious. It sees the youngster flex his off-kilter production skills with tinkering toy samples, wonky electronics and distorted robotic vocals.
It’s a difficult time for indie-electronica fans to stay up to date with what’s noteworthy nowadays, what with the sheer amount of names being thrown around, but rest-assured the three-lettered cln is one you want to follow, and the five-track Sideways EP is the perfect entry point. (DM)
sleepmakeswaves – Love Of Cartography (Birds Robe)
Let’s not fuck about wasting time. Love Of Cartography is the best Australian post-rock album of the year. Period.
Why? Chiefly because the Sydney collective are almost singlehandedly breathing new life into a genre movement that seems to have been stuck on an aesthetic spin-cycle in the 14 years since Godspeed You! Black Emperor arguably perfected the post-rock formula on Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven!.
Sleepmakeswaves’ sophomore effort is precisely for the kind of disillusioned fan who bemoans all-instrumental prog and post-rock groups are simply recycling the same plodding crescendos or tried and tested sense of grandiosity, making post-metal the new hotbed of evolution (but that’s a semiotic tar-pit that we won’t wade through here). Just know that Love Of Cartography doesn’t fall into those traps and rewards repeated listens.
That’s not just because of the electronic flourishes or drastic up-speed tempos (both used to devastating effect on opener ‘Perfect Detonator’ and searing ‘The Stars Are Stigmata’), or because of the triumphant widescreen yet nuanced production (round of applause for Nick DiDia), or even because of their intuitive use of quiet/loud dynamics (‘Emergent’) – it’s a combination of all this and more, making sleepmakeswaves an advanced hybrid that honours traditions without being beholden to them.
Since 2006, they’ve slowly edged towards a masterpiece across several progressive (in every sense of the word) releases and if Love Of Cartography turns out to not be the band’s crowning achievement, they’re bound to produce one during their career. For now, there’s evidence enough to place sleepmakeswaves on a very high pedestal.
Actually, now we’ve taken the time – let’s not fuck about. This is the best post-rock album of the year – Australian or otherwise. (AN)
Ren Riz – Every Time (Casual Sparks)
Melbourne continues to deliver a never-ending supply of sublime electronic producers and this time it comes in the form of nü-disco extraordinare, Ren Rizzolo.
Every Time is a four-track EP that serves as a follow-up taste to 2012’s Daydream EP. Released off his own label, Casual Sparks, Every Time is a tangy cocktail of Rizzolo’s bright, sample-based sound.
It’s another impressive showing from the Tasmanian-born, Melbourne-converted producer who constructs bubbly, tingly Todd Terje-esque deep house built on classic house beats. Chiefly with splashes of groove and colour coming in the form of effervescent synths, silky RnB vocal samples, and plenty of warm 90s vibes.
With each track averaging at a long six-minutes each, there’s 25-minutes of luxe European house to be soaked up here. No matter how you like your disco – shaken or stirred – this is bound to refresh any dancefloor palette. (DM)
