Words: James Frostick
Band image: Charlie Hillhouse
Frosty synth-pop three-piece 100% has awoken from an elongated hibernation period with new sounds to share. Last week the Naarm and Meanjin-based group released ‘Abandon’, a composition imbued with the group’s signature coolly detached atmospherics and operatic, moonlight-clothed glamour. It preludes the release of the trio’s debut album, Clear Visions, which will be released later this year via esteemed underground hit factory It Records.
Words: James Frostick
Artist image: Nicole Reed
Naarm/Melbourne duo Vacuum sowed some sensational aural discord when they dropped their self-titled debut album through Heavy Machinery Records and It Records back in February. After letting our brains marinate in their brand of knotted industrial unce for just over a month, the duo is reaching out once more from the strobe and shadow to gift us with their self-directed and produced visual treatment for standout slice ‘I’ll Call You’ – an unsettling-yet-hypnotic montage that pairs perfectly with its sinisterly sneaking soundtrack.
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Ross Coulter
Cover art: Richard Lewer
Naarm/Melbourne dream-pop two-piece Time For Dreams is today unveiling ‘A World Of Your Own’ – the second single from its sophomore album Life of the Inhabitant (out next year via It Records). Imbued with a palpable yearning couched within a sense of desperate loneliness, this serene lullaby-like composition navigates the the illusory nature of a one-true love – a idealised companion born from fanciful imagining and wanting.
Continue reading Video Premiere: TIME FOR DREAMS – ‘A WORLD OF YOUR OWN’
Words: James Frostick
Band image and cover art: Josh Watson
Naarm/Melbourne via Dunedin experimental dark wave duo Ov Pain is making some moves ahead of the release of new album The Churning Blue of Noon – out next year via It Records. The album’s lead single ‘Excess and Expenditure’ is a gripping introductory statement to the group’s next chapter; a colossal monolith wrought from dark and intimidating sound, breathtaking in its sheer density and power.
Continue reading Premiere: OV PAIN – ‘EXCESS AND EXPENDITURE’
Words: James Frostick
Artist image: Margarita Strateas
Nicolaas Oogjes is stepping away from the heat-beat release of NO ZU – donning a Stetson and a pair of Cuban heels, thereby transforming into his outsized cowboy-electronica and synth-sleaze persona Cong Josie. Today marks a formal introduction to the artist’s enigmatic sonic persona via new digital single ‘Leather Whip’. This rodeo is a throbbing piece of sweat-drenched hedonism and peacocking virility that cloaks a tongue-in-cheek self-awareness and earnest critique. It’s a striking and unpredictable turn for a figure who has built a career out of creative artistic pivots.
Words: James Frostick
Artist image: Louis Oliver Roach
The world keeps spinning, as does the Australian underground music scene. Volume three of Brief Breakdown features an eclectic mix of new music, including Time For Dreams’ warped electro-pop, bruised and boozed rock’n’roll from Knifer, an energetic exercise anthem from Hearts and Rockets, brutal hardcore from UAV, dystopian techno pop from Mahne Frame, dilapidated improvisational noise from Deepfake, experimental electronica by Bridget Chappell and soothing psych-pop from Muma Ganoush.
Words: James Frostick
On Friday September 25, songwriter and guitarist Chris Smith released his long-anticipated record Second Hand Smoke via It Records. Assembled and recorded over the better part of a decade, Second Hand Smoke is a compendium of dog-eared ideas accumulated over years – musings that have been given time to mature and settle, creating a lived-in and fully realised end product. Chris has kindly shed insight into the record via a track-by-track breakdown – a wonderful accompaniment to the listening experience. Continue reading Track by Track: CHRIS SMITH – SECOND HAND SMOKE (IT RECORDS, 2020)
Words: James Frostick
Melbourne/Naarm guitarist and songwriter Chris Smith is today announcing his fourth album Second Hand Smoke, his first full-length release since 2007’s Bad Orchestra. Lead single ‘Animal’ is a downcast self reckoning – a melancholy country-blues ballad about picking the stitching of the soul and plucking at the stuffing inside.
Words: James Frostick
Artist image: Leisa Hayhoe
Melbourne-based indie-rock veteran Claire Birchall is on the cusp of releasing her new solo record Running In Slow Motion this Friday –a moody synth-pop opus signifying the artist’s fist foray into the realm of electronica. As a final taster, Claire is releasing the visuals for the album’s title track and third single – a languid ode to loneliness and disconnection.
Continue reading Video Premiere: CLAIRE BIRCHALL – ‘RUNNING IN SLOW MOTION’
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Barry C. Douglas
A trio of Melbourne-based music veterans have teamed up to form an exciting synth-laced outfit. ATOM, which features members of Crime and the City Solution, The Moll Flanders Band and REPAIRS, is premiering the debut single from its forthcoming record In Every Dream Home. ‘Run Out’ is the name of the track, and it paints a grim picture of the inevitable finality of our system’s rampant excess.
Weirdo Wasteland 