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 photos: Anita Shao
Some familiar faces from Naarm/Melbourne’s musical melting pot have thrown their talents together to form Skid City, an eruptive and disruptive quintet specialising in no-frills rock ‘n’ roll. Ahead of the April release of the group’s debut LP, Skid City are gifting the world a teensy taste in the form of ‘Blue’ – a masterclass in haywire, white-knuckled ruckus that sounds timeless and essential.
Words: Doug Wallen
Band image: Gunay
After nearly a year and a half between releases, Naarm/Melbourne psych-punk trio Bitch Diesel are suddenly a flurry of activity, dropping a new four-song tape on the way to a full album later this year.
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Kaitlyn Hickey
Naarm/Melbourne group Romero returns with a brand-new single called ‘Troublemaker’, helping blow back the leaden clouds that have lingered over our heads for most of the year. Another slice of euphoric power-pop brilliance, ‘Troublemaker’ reaffirms Romero’s emergence as one of the more vital and exciting things to happen in 2020.
Words: Lakshmi Krishnan
Artist image: Simon Karis
Sarah Mary Chadwick introduces her seventh full-length LP with an achingly post-satirical, post-grunge lead single and video ‘Every Loser Needs A Mother’. Stripped-back with a darkly confessional pairing of toughened piano refrains and vocals, Chadwick honours her past with a “smirkingly [brutal] self-depreciating” force.
Continue reading Listen: SARAH MARY CHADWICK- ‘EVERY LOSER NEEDS A MOTHER’
Words: Connor Drum
Words: James Frostick
Artist image: Laura Hannan
Hydra Fashion Week has just released a brand-new track composed in the midst of Naarm/Melbourne’s lockdown. ‘SICK (day #132)’ is a song steeped in a thick layer of melancholy, one that conveys the boredom, frustration and dispirited nature of being cut off from the world at large and the support systems we depend on.
Continue reading Premiere: HYDRA FASHION WEEK – ‘SICK (DAY #132)’
Words: James Frostick
Artist image and cover art: Cait Burgoyne
On October 7, Naarm/Melbourne-based singer and producer Ela Stiles will release Songs On Harmonium With Voice – a seven-track album featuring old and new songs reconfigured into solemn and austere compositions. ‘Lover’ is the album’s first single – a haunting and enthralling work that sees Ela manipulating the sparse palette of sound to make it feel all-encompassing – a frisson-inducing swell that could fill any vastness, physical or incorporeal.
Words: James Frostick
Three years on from the release of its debut LP Benefits of Solitude, Melbourne/Naarm-based group Dag has just dropped a new two-track release called Breathe Deeply. Lead single ‘I Will Miss The Ocean (I Will Miss The Trees)’ is a pristine piece of introspective songwriting – an ode to how the little things can tether and ground us when life’s errant gusts threaten to carry us off course. Continue reading Listen: DAG – ‘I WILL MISS THE OCEAN (I WILL MISS THE TREES)’
Weirdo Wasteland 