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.
The Black Ryder – The Door Behind The Door (The Anti-Machine Machine + The Orchard)
The Door Behind The Door feels like someone made a mad dash around the cutting room floor of a studio just as Primal Scream, Spiritualized, and The Jesus And Mary Chain stepped out for lunch; bookended by looped beats and orchestral opus. That is to say there are songs with certain promise, but the delivery just misses the same nous or authority as the aforementioned.
There are pockets layered with all the hallmark texture of drone and reverb-wash that endeared 2009’s Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride, whilst other parts remain minimal and sparse. This juxtaposition doesn’t always make for the most cohesive listen for an album that was deliberately pieced together as a journey, somehow feeling simultaneously over and under produced in pockets.
It’s not offensive in any way, nor are we breaking any new ground here. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another six years to hear more from TBR. (Dave Couri)
Kagu – Kagu (Liberation Music)
It’d be remiss to say that we’re still just a little fragile after one of our favourite rising bands, Snakadaktal, parted ways. However, forever enriching the cliché, ever cloud has a silver lining, and this sentiment couldn’t be truer in the case of Kagu, the musical venture of ex-Snaka member, Sean Heathcliff.
Kagu’s self-titled EP adheres to a “less is more” approach; Heathcliff’s angelic vocals weave seamlessly through the minimalist production of synths, percussions and guitar tones, creating a floating futuristic-folk dream. (Joe Harris)
Nick Hill – Rut (Yes Please)
There’s a lot we don’t know about Sydney’s Nick Hill, who is still largely shrouded by mystery as he emerges from the shadows. But from what the young producer has shown us of his soulful electronic R&B so far, he’s well worth keeping an eye on.
Take the first single, ‘Know This’, which has already amassed an impressive 180,000 plays on SoundCloud. Hill likes his electronica minimal and precise, measuring off-kilter percussion and moody synths to create the backdrop for his other, main drawcard – his effortlessly captivating vocals.
The newly released ‘Rut’, which also appears on Hill’s debut EP, strips things back even further. Between sparsely clanging drums and handclaps, Hill loops and layers his sing-speak, mantra-like vocals with hypnotic effect.
Nick Hill clearly has an ear for slickly cool production, and displays remarkable levels of polish on this impressive debut release. (Dylan McCarthy)
Warmth Crashes In – Relentless Dreamtime (Independent)
With hints of Inspiral Carpets, Primal Scream, and The Lightning Seeds sprinkled gingerly throughout this highly palatable concoction, you can be forgiven for assuming Relentless Dreamtime is just the latest in the ongoing deluge of Madchester/Britpop-inspired acts to come out in the wake of fellow regressors like Jagwar Ma, who made the whole thing fashionable again.
What separates Warmth Crashes In from the rest of the pack is not only their skill for tunefulness, but their ability to thrust the iconic era into the 21st Century, perhaps against its own will. Opener ‘All My Friends Are Cooked’ would sound as relevant and vital played at the Hacienda as it does now, while closer ‘Destroy & Rebuild’, which glistens with New Order-ish synths and beams with Happy Mondays-esque chorals has enough edge to ensure plenty of bedroom SoundCloud remixes, which will struggle to surpass the original. (Greg Moskovitch)
Au.Ra – Jane’s Lament (Felte)
Tim Jenkins and Tom Crandles, two Sydney musicians whose Au.Ra project grew out of looped improv pieces that the two would systematically unspool, make the kind of jangly, dreamy psychedelic music that you just want to sink into. The pair deftly manage to corral the best and most blissfully hazed-out tropes from psych rock, shoegaze, indie rock, and ambient music, with a focus on slow-building atmospherics, a constant, droning groove, and, much to the listener’s delight, melody.
Like other records in this vain, texture and rhythm is everything — how else do you get those tasty hallucinatory vibes? — but what makes Jane’s Lament such a consistently rewarding listen is an adherence to fairly conventional song structure and tunefulness. Sounds whirr and drift, seemingly sliding out of speaker cones like apparitions, but the ever-present vocals offer you that little golden rope from the heavens that ensure the music remains at the forefront and isn’t relegated to background noise. (Greg Moskovitch)
Russell St. Bombings – Russell St. Bombings (Smart Guy Records)
Introducing the musical lovechild of Eastlink’s Zephyr Pavey and Al Montfort from Total Control/Dick Diver and The UV Race, Russell St. Bombings.
This is the debut self-titled EP from the duo the features 6-tracks that seamlessly melds a cocktail of sonic elements from experimental, lo-fi and psychedelica.
The band have commented of the release, “The tracks range from improv noodling recorded on an iPhone at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera to eight-minute bouts of unrelenting bliss with bits of melody here and there.”
If you dig the sounds of Panda Bear or Spaceman 3, we can guarantee that Russell St. Bombings’ EP is for you. (Joe Harris)
