Music Feeds’ New Aus Music Playlist is updated once a week with all of our favourite Australian releases from the preceding seven days. This week’s playlist features the first taste of The Murlocs’ upcoming album, Rapscallion, Anna Lunoe’s latest rave-bait, alt-pop excellence from Keelan Mak, Eluera, Northeast Party House’s ZHR and loads more.
The wait for more hyper-sensory pop from London-based collective Superorganism is over. Four years separated the release of Superorganism’s self-titled debut from their new album, World Wide Pop. And at times, you had to wonder whether the sugar-loaded experimental pop outfit wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
The collective convened in London a short time before releasing their 2018 debut album. They struck gold with the single ‘Something For Your M.I.N.D.’ in 2017, a track that had its origins in an online, transhemispheric collaboration. This was enough to encourage Japanese born vocalist and lyricist Orono Noguchi to abandon university plans in the USA and move to London to join the rest of the group.
The remainder of Superorganism – which currently includes a total of five members – had relocated to the UK capital from New Zealand and Australia. Once Superorganism came out in March 2018, the band got busy with a series of international tours, including their first Australian visit for Splendour in the Grass 2018.
Along the way, Superorganism made a lot of new friends, such as Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus and the pride of Nagoya, CHAI, who’re just some of the guests to appear on World Wide Pop, an album that comprehensively lives up to its title. Music Feeds got in touch with Orono via email to chat about the new record, the band’s self-perception and their friends in high places.
Superorganism – ‘Teenager’ feat. CHAI & Pi Ja Ma
Music Feeds: World Wide Pop starts with ‘Black Hole Baby’, which includes snippets of various radio hosts lavishing praise on Superorganism. The track also features the hook, “Welcome back to black hole honey,” with a cheerful “welcome back” backup vocal. Were you trying to downplay expectations by sort of making a joke out of them with this song?
Orono Noguchi: Not really. To me, it’s more of a doomsday celebration track about doing another album cycle, because the music industry is just a big black hole.
MF: When you made your first album, the project was relatively fresh and you’d spent only a limited amount of time working together as a collective. Were you able to harvest a similar level of energy and enthusiasm when you began working on World Wide Pop?
Orono: It’s been five years since the band started, one-point-five years since I started therapy and the success of our band is still something I’m not totally sure about. But it doesn’t really matter too, because all this crap we’ve been doing, we’d probably be doing it regardless of whether or not the band was “successful.” So to answer your question, it wasn’t all that different.
MF: Despite all the flowery commendations heard on ‘Black Hole Baby’, you aren’t quite pop star-level famous, but you did experience a considerable rise to international recognition with Superorganism. How prepared were you for that? And have you had to lean on one another to stop it from going to your heads?
Orono: When I read the part of your question that said “you aren’t quite pop star-level famous,” I was like “Ummmm excuse me, what are you talking about yes we totally are!” But actually nah you’re probably right, I’m just roleplaying as Hannah Montana in my head (like 89% of the time.)
And no, no one is prepared to become “famous”, which I don’t really consider ourselves to be anyway. Fame is pretty messed up and doesn’t seem all that fun, so it’s not something any of us are interested in.
Superorganism – Something For Your M.I.N.D.
MF: World Wide Pop has loads of special guests; some venerable names and some like-minded contemporaries. Was having guests on the album one of the primary goals for World Wide Pop?
Orono: It wasn’t a goal necessarily. It’s more something that came together naturally. We just ended up making so many friends all over the world – not just musicians – so it made sense to get as many buds as possible involved.
MF: Of the album’s guests, CHAI and Gen Hoshino are Japanese, Pi Ja Ma and Axel Concato are French, Stephen Malkmus is American (and Boa Constrictors, too?), and Dylan Cartlidge is English. Is the album title a reflection of your vision for the Superorganism project?
Orono: Boa Constrictors is American, yes. Actually, he is an American hero. Again, this wasn’t something that we decided on super consciously, but yeah, the title did end up reflecting that international vibe going on in the record, which is cool.
MF: Superorganism songs typically encompass a spectrum of emotions and contrasting energies. You have an enigmatic presence as a lead vocalist, which a contrast to the excitable background vocals and hyperactive sound effects, for example. Were you able to welcome the voices and creative ideas of outside contributors without much friction?
Orono: Oo I’m an enigma? That’s cool. And ummm yeah it was chill, not much friction. We’re not fans of conflict. Not our preferred method of making sick art either.
Superorganism – ‘Into the Sun’ feat. Gen Hoshino, Stephen Malkmus, Pi Ja Ma
MF: You’ve been special guests yourselves on CHAI’s ‘Hero Journey’ and Gen Hoshino’s ‘Same Thing’. Do you feel like you’re building a network with contemporary musicians who have a similar outlook to your own?
Orono: Me personally, not really. I’m not trying to go out of my way to do that. I’m just kinda doing my own thing. Making friends is cool though. But the more musicians I meet and interact with, I think to myself that I won’t ever be eating lunch at the cool kids table (and I like it that way.)
MF: Stephen Malkmus is an indie rock hero and a big influence on Superorganism. What’s he been like to work with?
Orono: He is basically a super chill, super cool dad. Very easy and fun to work with, and of course his brain is full of crazy, weird, awesome ideas. He’s the man.
MF: You’re doing appearances at several record stores around the UK when the album comes out and you’re also hosting a listening party at a record store in Melbourne in early August. Are you record collectors/record store nerds yourselves?
Orono: I only have a handful of records. My collection consists of my favourite albums when I was in high school, gifts from friends, and a couple ones I snatched at the Domino offices.
Superorganism Australia 2022
Thursday, 4th August – Phoenix Central Park, Sydney
Friday, 5th August – Album Party at Sound Merch, Melbourne
Kavi’s new EP, KRUSHED!, is one of 2022’s most anticipated debuts. The single, ‘REALITY TV’, introduced the Eora/Sydney-based Kavi to the Australian public in late 2021. ‘D-TRIPLE-U’ followed in early 2022, with both tracks showcasing Kavi’s taste for pop and electronic retro-futurism.
Kavi is the project of Malaysian-born musician and model Karvesh Pillai. Pillai worked in tandem with producer Rino Darusman to create KRUSHED!, drawing from a pool of influences that included pop, new rave and hyperpop acolytes Charli XCX and Shygirl. Here, Kavi goes into detail about the artists who inspired KRUSHED!.
Kavi – ‘KRUSHED!’
Five artists who influenced Kavi’s ‘KRUSHED!’Charli XCX
The inventor of pop, songs, EPs and albums, Charli XCX is a mother to many, myself included. My world was never the same following the arrival of Charli’s Pop 2 mixtape. I had been experimenting with making music in school for a few years before Pop 2’s release, but never felt that the sound I was developing was authentically me.
I view Pop 2 as a project in which Charli harnessed the technicolour energy of hyperpop – pioneered by artists such as SOPHIE, A. G. Cook and Danny L Harle – and fused it with incredibly well-constructed, familiar songwriting. The result was a body of work that was experimental, yet accessible to audiences who mightn’t have been familiar with the world of hyperpop, which is something I aim to achieve with KRUSHED!. I’m manifesting a Kavi XCX release. One day.
Ninajirachi
I don’t think Ninajirachi gets enough credit for her impact on the Australian music landscape. She’s been pushing the boundaries of electronic music in Australia for years and is a pioneer of an incredibly exciting scene of local electropop artists.
Her album with Kota Banks, True North, is a project that was foundational to the making of KRUSHED!. Nina’s perfectly saccharine yet hard-hitting production served as a reference point for my EP, while I was in the process of curating a sonic mood board for how I wanted KRUSHED! to feel.
Ninajirachi & Kota Banks – ‘True North’
caro<3
I discovered caro<3 as I was writing ‘lungs’, the closing track on KRUSHED! and the last song I wrote for the project. Relative to the other songs on the EP – big, expansive pop songs – the intimate, downtempo vulnerability of ‘lungs’ took inspiration from caro<3’s Heartbeats/Heartbreaks LP. An album packed with the most beautiful, shimmering, meditative soundscapes, the project’s hero is caro<3’s gorgeous voice – super tastefully processed without taking away from her delicate delivery.
Shygirl
Co-founders of the UK-based NUXXE collective and label, Shygirl and Sega Bodega’s work together is club-inspired pop perfection. Shygirl’s ALIAS EP, with production from Sega, was a huge inspiration for KRUSHED!, fusing high energy, rave-esque production with addictive melodic hooks and clever lyricism.
I love the more pop-leaning direction that Shygirl is currently heading in with her recent releases, and am in awe of her versatility as both a vocalist and songwriter.
daine
I was hooked on daine’s ‘My Way Out’ from my first listen and it became a staple of my 2020 lockdown soundtrack. daine’s knack for capturing emotive vulnerability in their lyricism is something I admire and it’s exciting to watch them develop their sound and continuously deliver poignant songwriting against new sonic backdrops.
I discovered daine’s music around the time I began conceptualising KRUSHED!, and their early releases informed the way I approach songwriting, especially in the context of hyperpop, which is a genre that I think can often place greater emphasis on production over well-written lyrics.
Tasman Keith has delivered his debut, the Album Of The Year contender A Colour Undone. Keith, a Gumbaynggirr man and the son of trailblazing Indigenous hip hop artist Wire MC, was raised between regional Bowraville, New South Wales, and Sydney. After releasing 2017’s upfront hip hop joint ‘Might Snap’, he consolidated his profile with the credible EP Mission Famous and 2020 mixtape To Whom It May Concern.
But, as early as 2019, Keith presented an indie-rock project, Evenings, a collaboration with Darwin’s Stevie Jean. He then recorded ‘First Nation’ for Midnight Oil’s ARIA #1 The Makarrata Project alongside Jessica Mauboy. Keith joined the Oz rockers on their 2021 tour, impressing pub-rock heads around the nation.
Tasman Keith – ‘Might Snap’
The pandemic afforded Tasman Keith the opportunity to slow down. Apart from watching Breaking Bad, he spent time in Bowraville, reflected and wrote music. A Colour Undone explores not only different facets of Keith’s artistry but also the man himself. He brought in Western Sydney’s Kwame to executive produce. The friends had previously worked together on the raw ‘THESE DEVILS’, off To Whom It May Concern, and last year’s loosie ‘ONE’.
“It wasn’t too difficult of a choice for me,” a relaxed Keith says over Zoom. “When I told him I wanted to make an album, he’s like, ‘Let me produce it.’ I was like, ‘Aiiight, sweet, let’s do it.’”
Kwame encouraged Keith to embrace R&B and pop and to even sing – resulting in ‘LOVE TOO SOON’, a romantic bop. “He’d push me to be a bit more melodic and do some things that were out of my comfort zone.” Keith duets with Mauboy on the jam ‘HEAVEN WITH U’, which is very JAY-Z and Beyoncé circa ”03 Bonnie & Clyde’. Other guests include the acclaimed Genesis Owusu, drum and bass star Thandi Phoenix, and Sydney rapper Phil Fresh.
Lyrically, A Colour Undone is personal, philosophical and poetic. It captures Keith amid a phase of accelerated growth, as he was “having to deal with some shit.” The MC ponders human connection, emotional immaturity in a relationship, the cult of machismo, intergenerational trauma, and communal expectations as a First Nations man.
Keith emerges with “clarity”, feeling centred. The album retains Keith’s trademark braggadocio, as heard on the lead single ‘5FT FREESTYLE’ – recalling Snoop Dogg circa Doggystyle. Still, he implores fans to listen attentively to the jazzy epilogue ‘TREAD LIGHT’, which honours his late cousin Knox. Above all, A Colour Undone expresses sorrow, joy and resolve.
A Colour Undone, released during NAIDOC Week, was a triple j Feature Album, and Keith hosted rage. Next, he’ll hit the road, his first stop Splendour In The Grass, declaring, “I made the album to be a live album.”
Tasman Keith – ‘5FT FREESTYLE’
Music Feeds: Every time you have a new project, you level up. But I realised what makes you unique is you’re like an era artist. Everything has been conceptualised. I wondered how you approached A Colour Undone – if you had that big statement in mind or if it evolved?
Tasman Keith: The nights spent by myself in the hotel rooms on the Midnight Oil tour allowed me a lot of space to kind of go through what I needed to go through, things that I’d always pushed to the side due to making music or constantly working – things like death in the family, past traumas. It’s things I’m still dealing with. But I think it’s a lot that I didn’t necessarily address at all – I thought I was good. And, with that, came clarity. I was really honest with myself.
I was just like, “What don’t I have?” Some would argue, but I was like, “I don’t have the big records,” you know what I mean? That’s why you get a ‘LOVE TOO SOON’ or a ‘HEAVEN WITH U’, because intentionally I wanted to write that.
So what happened was we’d lock into Alex The Astronaut’s studio for six days. Prior to that, we had, I think, three or four tracks from the album roughly done. We had one day in the studio before that six-day lock-in. In that one session, we wrote ‘HEAVEN WITH U’, ‘CHEQUE’ and ‘FIND U’ all in 12 hours.
Every song that we made in that six days is on the album. We got to the seventh day, tried to make one more joint and, for the first time in that week, we were like, ‘Nah, this feels false. The album’s done.’
MF: It sounds like you were dealing with a lot. Yet, at times, this album feels quite liberated. How were you psychologically as you approached it?
TK: It was interesting. I think, by the time we locked in, I had started to take steps towards knowing what I need to do for my psychology. Therefore I think a lot of it was able to come out of me without it being forced. I just really felt like I wanted to make the music I’ve always wanted to make.
I just made music without any care for judgement, or just to have fun with it – just to make records that do have an underlying message, but if you don’t have the capacity and the time to listen to it, to understand that at a deeper level, you need to come back to that later, whenever that may be, that’s fine.
Tasman Keith – ‘HEAVEN WITH U’ ft. Jessica Mauboy
MF: ‘PROUD’ almost has a house beat. Tell us about some of the styles you explore on this album.
TK: I don’t think I noticed that until I put out ‘LOVE TOO SOON’, ’cause these are genres and types of songs I’ve always listened to and wanted to make, and I feel like I’ve always made, but it’s been demos that have laid around that nobody else outside of my circle has heard.
So I think it’s just basically like I wanted to go pop. I wanted to have this soulful moment with ‘HEAVEN WITH U’. ‘SHARKS’ was kind of rock-influenced. And none of this was really directly intentional before those lock-ins. But I’d just walk into the room and we’d be like, “What do we wanna make today?” We would reference something, reference some sounds, and then would make a ‘LOVE TOO SOON’.
MF: A Colour Undone also sees you explore different facets of yourself. You show a real vulnerable, emotional and even romantic side. Was it difficult for you to let down your guard and do love songs?
TK: It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, purely because I addressed a lot of things prior to making the album, which allowed me to just kind of be myself in the studio. Before, yeah, I had songs that spoke on different topics and some songs that weren’t necessarily just hip hop. But I feel like what I did, just sitting down myself and being like, “Okay, who do you wanna be? What do you wanna talk about? What don’t you like about yourself? What do you like about yourself?”, all this made having these songs easy, because it’s like, “This is what I like and this is what I love and this is what I’ll make.”
The only time, post-writing it, that I would feel like, you know, “Damn, I’m nervous about putting this out,” is literally the day before ‘LOVE TOO SOON’. I was like, “I’m so nervous for this record to come out” because it’s so different and I feel like that’s me.
I showed my cousin ‘LOVE TOO SOON’ and she was like, “That’s the Tasman I grew up knowing. That’s the Tasman that used to watch the MJ videos, used to like cheeky dancing.”
MF: What kind of reaction did you get to it from people outside your circle? Were you surprised?
TK: Oh, yeah, it was great! I was like, “Damn, I need to dance more.” So now I do it live [laughs].
Tasman Keith – ‘LOVE TOO SOON’
MF: It sounds like this album was a learning process. What did you take away from making it? What were the big lessons?
TK: I guess not to be such a perfectionist. Most songs on the album – maybe like 70 per cent of the songs on the album – were made in Alex The Astronaut’s studio. The next week we were scheduled to go and re-record the vocals at my engineer’s house, so it was properly cut. We got there and went to re-record the vocals and just weren’t hitting the same. In the demo vocals, I wasn’t overthinking and being like, “Let me get this take and this, this, this.” And so it just taught me to kind of let go sometimes.
MF: There’s this perception that you’re slept-on, and you addressed this on Twitter not long ago. Yet, every time your name comes up in conversations, people just go on about how great you are. Do you feel that it’s more important to be seen as underground but very credible and consistent, or would you prefer to be hyped up and have haters?
TK: I’d prefer to be hyped up! I’m trying to make money [laughs]. There’s always gonna be people that hate, for sure. I saw that tweet and I was like, “I’m content where I’m at.” I’m still obviously working and wanna get to where I wanna be. But I know that everything happens when it’s supposed to happen – and I can’t control that.
And so, like, do I think I’m slept-on? Nah – I think I’m where I’m supposed to be right now.
MF: What is your five-year plan at this point? Has it changed over time?
TK: It’s still international-level touring, having an album sell, and all the heights. But, personally, I’ve just narrowed it down to a real simple thing. It’s just being happy and separating music from my everyday life – which I’ve never done – and just kind of finding purpose and happiness in the small things, as much as I am in this big thing, and being present for people that love and care for me.
The realisation I’ve come to is that, of course, my community is Bowraville and that’s where I’m from. But right now what my community is is the people around me that love and care for me unconditionally. So it’s doing it for them and doing it for myself, first and foremost – and being happy will lead to everything else I wanna do in the next five years.
After plotting its release last month, Brisbane hard rock mainstays The Butterfly Effect have formally detailed their upcoming fourth album. The new record, aptly titled IV, will be the group’s first since 2008’s Final Conversation Of Kings, and will arrive on 2nd September.
Having initially split in 2016 following a separation with vocalist Clint Boge in 2012, The Butterfly Effect reunited in 2017, releasing a handful of singles since 2019. The announcement of their new record also comes accompanied by the release of their second single this year, ‘Visiting Hours’.
The Butterfly Effect – ‘Visiting Hours’
“It feels amazing as always to be releasing new music and I really think this song is one of our best,” Boge explains in a statement. “To me it is about our eternal search for meaning and worth. It’s about the human condition and an existential crisis that faces us all, but at the same time as asking questions it has an undertone of hope and I hope that resonates with everyone that listens to it.”
Originally demoed back in 2009, the track has been a long time in the making, stemming back to original sessions for what was to become their fourth album. The release of IV though appears to connect both the past and the present for the band, with the group describing the album as representative of what they’ve been through over the last decade.
“It feels like there’s lots of contemplation of death and rebirth. Disconnection and then reconnection,” explains bassist Glenn Esmond. “The temporary nature of time, the passing of dreams, getting older, dealing with change, finding new meaning in life.
“All of these are completely understandable when you consider the history of the band over the last 10 years and where we all find ourselves as we get older.”
The Butterfly Effect will also promote the release of their new album with a national tour, supported by Thornhill and Caligula’s Horse, with details available below.
IV is set for release 2nd September.
The Butterfly Effect – IV
IV
Dark Light
So Tired
The Other Side
Wave Of Tides
Unbroken
Nil By Mouth
Great Heights
Start Again
Visiting Hours
The Butterfly Effect – Australian Tour 2022
Supported by Thornhill and Caligula’s Horse
Friday, 30th September – Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD
Saturday, 1st October – Mansfield Hotel, Townsville, QLD
Sunday, 2nd October – Harrup Park, Mackay, QLD
Thursday, 6th October – Blank Space, Toowoomba, QLD
Friday, 7th October – Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, 8th October – Unsw Roundhouse, Sydney, NSW
Sunday, 9th October – Hobart Uni Bar, Hobart, TAS
Thursday, 13th October – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, VIC (Sold Out)
Friday, 14th October – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Sunday, 15th October – Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide, SA
New York City indie-rock outfit the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are no longer part of the 2022 Splendour In The Grass lineup. The group announced the cancellation of their upcoming Australian tour, citing unspecified “health issues” as the reason for the last-minute about-turn.
“We are so sorry to announce that due to health issues we will be cancelling our upcoming shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Splendour in the Grass,” the group said in a statement. “The disappointment weighs heavily on us, we apologize for such disappointing news. We’ve been waiting a long time to see you again and we hope to return soon to fulfill our commitments in good health and spirits for you.”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Spitting Off The Edge Of The World’
Splendour in the Grass has announced that the The Avalanches will fill the space left by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Splendour Amphitheatre on Friday, 22nd July. “We’re so happy to be coming home to play Splendour again and can’t wait to see you all there,” the group said in a statement. “We’re sending love to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ planned Australian tour was to be their first visit to the country since they performed at the penultimate edition of the Big Day Out in 2013. It was also set to be one of their first international treks since the end of their three-year hiatus in 2017.
The group were scheduled to perform headline dates with support from Wet Leg in Melbourne and Sydney on 20th and 24th July, respectively. While these dates have been cancelled, no announcement has been made as to whether Wet Leg will play their own shows.
The Beths have unleashed a new single, sharing the title track of their forthcoming album, Expert In A Dying Field. The new track comes one month after the record’s announcement, accompanied by lead single, ‘Silence Is Golden’.
With their new album scheduled for 16th September, The Beths explained recently they’d began working on their new album in guitarist Jonathan Pearce’s New Zealand studio, only for a months-long lockdown to halt progress. As a result, the group quickly pivoted, working on the record remotely, before reconvening while on the road, and ultimately finalising the recording during three days spent in a Los Angeles recording studio.
The Beths – ‘Expert In A Dying Field’
Sharing their record’s title track as their latest single, the song sees The Beths embracing a new sense of earnestness and vulnerability. As per an accompanying press release, lead songwriter and vocalist Elizabeth Stokes explains that the single introduces the listener to the overarching theme of the record.
“In the course of knowing a person you accumulate so much information: their favourite movies, how they take their tea, how to make them laugh, how that makes you feel,” she explains. “And when relationships between people change, or end, all that knowledge doesn’t just disappear.”
The Beths will release their new album on 16th September, with an Australian tour scheduled to begin the day prior in Melbourne.
The Cat Empire frontman Felix Riebl is going solo once again, announcing the release of his new album, Everyday Amen. The new record serves as Riebl’s first full-length solo release since 2016’s Paper Doors, and follows on from his 2020 EP, Black Room White Walls.
Set to arrive on 25th November, Riebl has accompanied news of the album’s announcement by sharing the title track of the record as a new single. “Sometimes the lyrics for a song just seem to flow, and though you don’t understand them, intuitively they feel like they punch and resonate musically,” he explains in a statement.
Felix Riebl – ‘Everyday Amen’
“It’s a great feeling when that happens, when you’re speaking and don’t feel the need to really understand what you’re saying,” he adds. “This song, which became the title track, introduces everything the album’s about. I wanted it to feel like an overture for something grand and subtle, introspective and extrovert. I wanted to turn the everyday on its head.
“The question, what’s an ‘Everyday Amen?’ has informed all the visuals around the album… it’s that particular feeling of viewing your familiar world in an unfamiliar way. It can be filled with grace, or just plain ridiculous.”
Recorded with Andy Baldwin on production and engineering, and Ross Irwin on co-production and arranging, Everyday Amen is a collection of tracks that “details the wonder and obscurities of life with joy and exuberance”. In a statement, Riebl describes the record one that is a celebration of live, and one of the “most exuberant” albums he’s ever been involved in.
“It brings together Worlds that are particularly special to me,” he explains. “One of them is international, full of fragments and scenes that drift around my mind after years of tour. I’ve recalled the rush and colour of the big shows, but also the wandering travel moments. The other one is my domestic life, equally over the top, but in a more insular, everyday way.
“The songs, which range from the raw to the near orchestral, live in places where life overflows, in one way or another. For me, this album is the coming together of those different states. It’s a celebration of the extrovert and introvert in me, and the music comes to life at those points where the familiar flips and suddenly becomes magic.”
Everyday Amen is set for release on Friday, 25th November.
A new report by The Guardian claims that Splendour In The Grass knew of impending changes regarding the attendance of under-18s as early as last month. This claim goes against what organisers told fans earlier this week when announcing the news to ticketholders, just days ahead of the festival’s commencement.
On Monday, 11th July, Splendour In The Grass alerted fans that on Friday night (8th July), all underage ticketholders had received a message from ticket outlet Moshtix “informing them of late developments regarding Splendour’s Liquor License”. According to the festival, this message outlined the fact that “all patrons under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times whilst at the event and campgrounds”.
Splendour In The Grass told under-18s of the rule change earlier this week
Clarifying that this was not their decision, the festival explained that the “new rules have been imposed on [them] by NSW Police.” Organisers also explained that as a result of this change, any underage attendees may be subjected to a fine if caught without a responsible adult.
As The Guardian reports, however, organisers were allegedly aware of the change as early as last month, but the news wasn’t made public until “the day the deadline for reselling tickets expired”. Organisers reportedly took part in a roundtable discussion with the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, NSW Liquor & Gaming, and Police NSW back on 16th June to discuss the festival’s compliance with 2019 legislation in NSW parliament, which saw music festivals deemed “high-risk” events.
“The condition to require minors to be accompanied by a responsible adult is not a last-minute change – it is an obligation under the law and was agreed to at a meeting with the festival organisers, NSW Police, Liquor & Gaming NSW and ILGA on 16 June,” a statement to The Guardian from the ILGA said.
“NSW Police and ILGA both fully support the need for this condition,” it continued. “Any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
A Splendour spokesperson told The Guardian that they had not accepted Police NSW’s recommendation to the ILGA that all underage attendees should be under the guardianship of a responsible adult. However, the ILGA reportedly asserted to the festival during their June roundtable that the festival was required to conduct itself in the same way as any venue serving alcohol would.
Melbourne-based rock outfit Majak Door have just unleashed their new single ‘Seeing Red’ and announced an Australian East Coast tour to celebrate.
A DIY effort produced and mixed by the band’s vocalist and guitarist Frankie Vakalis, ‘Seeing Red’ is a gritty, lo-fi jam with dreamy vocals that tackles themes of resilience in the face of hard times.
Watch: Majak Door – ‘Seeing Red’
“The song touches on feelings of remaining strong, stepping back from yourself, taking a breath and letting things come as they are,” the band explains in a press statement.
“It’s a victorious beat of the drum calling to better times, a raw energy channelling hope, despair and love.”
The group’s celebratory tour will see them visit fans in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Wollongong later this month.
You can catch their full list of tour dates below, and take ‘Seeing Red’ for a spin above.
As Billboard reports, the legendary groove metal band’s surviving singer and bassist will reunite for their first live shows as Pantera in two long decades, with a North American tour in the works for 2023.
Watch: Pantera – Cowboys From Hell
The bandmates are linking up with Artist Group International to make the tour happen, with spokesperson Peter Pappalardo telling the magazine: “We are thrilled to be working with such an iconic band and bringing their music back to the fans”.
It’s unclear at this point which musicians will be joining Anselmo and Brown on the road for the tour, stepping in for late founding members and brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul (Dime was of course infamously shot dead during a show in Ohio back in 2004, while his brother Vinnie passed away in 2018 from heart disease).
However, it’s long been rumoured that the pair’s childhood friend, guitar icon Zakk Wylde, would be the #1 choice to fill in for Dime on guitar.
“Well, Zakk is a busy man … We spoke about it maybe one time,” Anselmo told Chilean news outlet Humo Negro back in 2019. “If everything was lined up, I would do it, sure. Fuck yeah! Why not?”
It’s also unclear whether the tour would expand beyond North America to anywhere else (*cough* Australia *cough*) but we can hope…
We’ll keep you in the loop with any more news as it develops.
Danger Mouse and Black Thought (The Roots) have given us another taste of their forthcoming collaborative album Cheat Codes, releasing the new single ‘Aquamarine’. The woozy slice of hip-hop features a soulful hook from British vocalist Michael Kiwanuka.
Speaking about his involvement in the track, Kiwanuka said the music inspired him to write lyrics centred on the theme of courage. “When I heard the music I just had a feeling to sing about standing up for something that’s unique and following that path,” the singer explained in a statement. “I don’t know why but that’s what came out.”
Watch: Danger Mouse & Black Thought – ‘Aquamarine’ (feat Michael Kiwanuka)
Kiwanuka continued: “Sometimes when you’re following something that’s unique to you it’s as if ‘enemies are all around’. At times life can feel fragile like ‘everything’s burning down’. For some reason the chords and music made me feel that way.”
The single comes accompanied by a kaleidoscopic music video directed by UK creative duo UNCANNY, which you can check out above. Meanwhile, you can hear the full album Cheat Codes when it drops on Friday, 12th August.
In addition to Michael Kiwanuka, the record features the likes of A$AP Rocky, Run The Jewels, Kid Sister, MF DOOM, Joey Bada$$, Conway the Machine and more.
P!nk is back with a new single, a pop protest anthem dubbed ‘Irrelevant’. Written in response to the current social climate in modern America, the track marks the rockstar-popstar’s first musical offering of 2022.
“As a woman with an opinion and the fearlessness to voice that opinion, it gets very tiring when the only retort is to tell me how irrelevant I am,” P!nk says of the track. “I am relevant because I exist, and because I am a human being. No one is irrelevant. And no one can take away my voice.”
Listen: P!nk – ‘Irrelevent’
Putting her money where her mouth is, P!nk will be using all the proceeds from the single to do some good in the world. She’s announced that all the cash from the release of ‘Irrelevant’ will be donated to the American nonpartisan voting initiative created by Michelle Obama, which aims to change the culture around the voting process in the US and increase participation in each election cycle by helping to close race and age gaps.
The song’s release comes after P!nk was outspoken in her condemnation of the historic US Supreme Court decision to overturn Row V. Wade and essentially ban abortion across the United States.
“Let’s be clear: if you believe the government belongs in a woman’s uterus, a gay persons business or marriage, or that racism is okay,” the singer wrote, “THEN PLEASE IN THE NAME OF YOUR LORD NEVER FUCKING LISTEN TO MY MUSIC AGAIN. AND ALSO FUCK RIGHT OFF. We good?”
Meanwhile, ‘Irrelevant’ also marks the first collaboration between P!nk and Grammy-Award winning producer and songwriter, Ian Fitchuk. You can take it for a spin above.
G Flip has returned to bless our ears with a new single and it’s a really, really special one. Dubbed ‘Waste Of Space’, the track is a heartrending indie-rock ballad reflecting on the artist’s gender identity.
A candid account of the inner turmoil, self-loathing and social rejection they felt growing up identifying as non-binary and not understanding why they didn’t fit in, ‘Waste Of Space’ is undoubtedly set to galvanise G-Flip’s status as a queer icon and probably save some lives in the process.
Watch: G Flip – ‘Waste Of Space’
But it almost wasn’t released.
In a lengthy letter to fans accompanying the single, G Flip confesses they were initially hesitant to put the song out into the world. “A few months ago, my gender identity was thrown into headlines and talked about more than I ever thought was possible,” G Flip explains. “I’ve been flooded with messages and questions about being non-binary.”
G Flip says some of the messages were positive, including from “parents reaching out and asking on how to best support their non-binary children, as well as messages from people who just want to understand what being non-binary is and means.” But there were also many negative messages, including “a lot of hateful messages about my gender identity and people even telling me that I’m not non-binary.”
They continue: “As I receive more and more of these messages, I realise how much education the world needs when it comes to gender identity. Even though I wasn’t sure if I’d ever release this song, the more I thought about it, I realised how much the world needs this song.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would ever release this song”
“Today is International Non-Binary People’s Day,” the artist continues. “I’m releasing this song because I know that if I had this song as a kid, it would have changed my entire life.”
G-Flip says their first memory of being confused about their gender was when they were just seven years old.
“I played with the boys and wore the boys uniform to school because I thought I was one of them,” they explain. “One day, the boys told me I couldn’t play with them anymore because I was a girl. I went to the girls table in hopes that I would belong there. But they also told me I couldn’t play with them because I was dressed like a boy. I was left in the middle, with no one to play with. The kids would call me a ‘waste of space’ and I was ostracised. This left me confused.”
G-Flip goes on to muse on the fact that, when you Google the term “non-binary”, it says “neither a man nor woman”. But, to the artist, it means so much more than that. “It’s a spectrum. I’m not neither, I feel like I’m both. Everyone lies on a different part of the spectrum, even those who identify as a girl or a boy,” they explain.
“I’m releasing this song because I know that if I had this song as a kid, it would have changed my entire life.”
With that in mind, G-Flip has tried to uplift as many fellow non-binary and gender non-conforming creatives as possible during the production of ‘Waste Of Space’.
“I’m proud to say the entire cast of the music video identify as non-binary or gender-fluid, and the crew behind the camera are over 85% queer and 55% gender non-conforming,” the artist says. “For everyone involved with ‘Waste Of Space’, it wasn’t just another day at work. We are all passionate about the overall mission of my project to bring queer and non-binary representation to the world.
“I feel like my purpose on this earth is to educate the world on gender identity and be the non-binary role-model that I never had growing up.”
As a final thought, G-Flip adds: “Representation in the media matters. I, along with so many other gender non-conforming souls, are here. We are present and we are going to make noise so that this generation and future generations aren’t ostracised for being their beautiful, authentic selves.
“To anyone who’s ever felt like a waste of space, you’re not. You’re important, you matter, and you have purpose in this world.”
You can watch the video for ‘Waste Of Space’ above.
During an appearance on the Graham Norton Show in October 2017, Liam Gallagher fessed up about a major drawback of being a solo artist: “See now I’ve got to do all this chatting, haven’t I?”
Concurrent with Oasis’s rise to the top of the pops in 1994, Liam and his brother Noel became media mainstays. The Beatles-worshipping lads from Manchester were arrogant, unfiltered and routinely scandalous – i.e. good value. Liam hasn’t left the limelight since, even when the critical and commercial fortunes of his music career have faltered. But unlike Noel, who positively relishes the promo circuit, Liam has never looked particularly comfortable in the interview setup.
The younger Gallagher is far more at home sneering behind a microphone or firing off tweets for the amusement of his 3.6m Twitter followers. But even if he’s just waiting for the interview to end, Liam’s media appearances never fail to offer a few memorable one-liners.
Ahead of the ex-Oasis front person’s Australian tour in support of his third solo LP, C’Mon You Know, we’ve rounded up ten of Liam’s funniest interview moments.
On ‘BBC Breakfast’
“If I did see a politician taking drugs he’d get a crack ’round the head.”
When Liam sat down with BBC Breakfast’s Colin Paterson to promote his second solo album, Why Me? Why Not., he voiced his disapproval of London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the idea of politicians taking drugs. He also directed criticism at “fake rock’n’roll stars that hang out with politicians.” It was clearly a dig at Noel, who in 1997 attended a music industry reception hosted by former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
On Noisey’s ‘British Masters’
“I see myself as one of the fucking true great rock’n’roll singers on the planet.”
While roaming through North London’s Hampstead Heath dressed in a parka, tinted sunnies and shorts, Liam reflects on wild nights with Steve Coogan, Maradona and John McEnroe. He also lets host John Doran know, in no uncertain terms, where he sits in comparison to rock music’s all-time greats.
Promoting the ‘Supersonic’ documentary with Bonehead
“They don’t buy music because some spotty little Herbert from Hastings called Bartholomew gives it nought out of five.”
In a 2009 Q Magazine interview, Noel described his little brother as “rude, arrogant, intimidating and lazy. He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.” Liam’s anger shines through in this promo interview for Mat Whitecross’ Oasis documentary, Supersonic. What’s grinding Liam’s gears on this occasion? The extent to which smartphones have ruined the concert experience, mass surveillance and the dire lack of serious mettle in the contemporary music scene.
Making Tea on BBC
“You’ve got to do it yourself these days because these fucking little smart-arses download fucking tunes.”
It’s unclear how accurate Liam’s recollections of the ’90s are, but a nostalgic glow colours his face whenever he looks back on the decade of hard-partying and ludicrous record sales for Oasis. It’s easy to perceive Liam as being a bit dim, but beneath the singer’s oft-myopic braggadocio lies a healthy sense of humour, as displayed in this short clip of him making a cup of tea.
On the ‘Graham Norton Show’
“I pissed all over his sound system.”
Sitting on the Graham Norton sofa alongside Kate Winslet, Idris Elba and Chris Rock, Liam theorises that he and Noel’s relationship began to sour when Liam couldn’t find the loo. Elba recounts a spat that he and Liam got into after the former messed up the singer’s hair. It makes you wonder how many other celebrities have had strange Liam Gallagher encounters.
‘Live Forever’ documentary
“Before you know it, I’d end up licking John Lennon’s face.”
Sitting in a leather armchair loudly chewing gum, Liam is at his most laconic in this interview, which was filmed for 2003’s Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop documentary. But that doesn’t impede the delivery of some batshit statements.
For example, he shares his belief that Mancunians have longer arms, which explains his distinctive swagger. He also declares his belief in reincarnation, insisting he was John Lennon in a previous life. The fact Liam was born in 1972 and Lennon lived until 1980 doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Behind the Tweets
“I probably walked past a mirror or something and just thought, ‘yeah, you are cool man.’”
Liam’s an active Twitter user and his tweets aren’t always polite (or coherent). Here he attempts to explain some of his more lateral 280-character musings, which range from the psychedelic to the narcissistic.
On ‘The Project’
“I bumped into John Lennon on the cosmic path.”
The Project has broadcast some pretty terrible interviews over the years. This segment revisits well-trodden Liam Gallagher interview territory, but it’s worth it for Liam’s recount of the mushroom trip that put him in touch with John Lennon and essentially ignited his passion for music.
Liam Gallagher’s Weekly Music Corner
“You know the teacups in Disneyland? Sitting on them, in the rain.”
Liam’s not the world’s most adventurous music listener. He likes The Beatles, Bowie, the Stones, the Stone Roses and not much else. But this three-part series of music reviews are still worth a look. He gets a feel for some surprising entries, including Ugly God and Tricky. Episode two includes a new single from Ringo Starr, which brings a look of pure joy to Liam’s face.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Liam Gallagher story on ‘Conan’
“I am John Lennon.”
Liam provided the inspiration for Dimwitted Nobby, the main character in Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2016 film, Grimsby. While promoting the film, Baron Cohen told Conan about a hostile run-in with Liam at a GQ Awards after-party. It turns out Liam’s not kidding about being the second coming of John Lennon.
Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share stories about how the music they love has influenced their lives. Here, 18-year-old LA musician morgen confesses her love for Kate Davis’ 2019 LP, Trophy.
morgen’s latest single, ‘Mom Jeans’, is the Californian artist’s first release since turning 18 and leaving home. It’s a song about body image and how our self-perception is warped by societal pressures and the expectations projected onto us. “People’s opinions shouldn’t affect the way you present yourself,” said morgen, “because you deserve to wear whatever makes you feel good.”
morgen on Katy Davis’ ‘Trophy’
I remember the first time I heard the album Trophy by Kate Davis. I was sitting in my dad’s pickup truck on the way to school with my black leggings on and 20-pound backpack. My father had been a fan of hers for a while and had signed up for some sort of exclusive deal where he helped support the making of her album so he got a CD. Anyways, the first song comes on, ‘Daisy’, and my little 15-year-old brain was absolutely shook.
I had never heard anything like it before. The tone was rough and her vocals were jazzy and unique. I was immediately hooked. Every time I got in my dad’s car, I insisted he play Trophy. It got to a point where my dad just handed me the CD one day because he had had enough. It didn’t really help matters much because I didn’t have a CD player, so I ended up just bringing it all over the place.
I had it in my mom’s car for a bit, and then my dad’s, and then my trailer. It was a prized possession until she put it on streaming platforms. And when that happened… oh, it was on all the time. There was no rest. It was like she was speaking to me, romantic to romantic. I felt like, finally, someone understood my feelings towards the idea of love and jealousy and how f’d up the world is.
Kate Davis – ‘Daisy’
Every song on Trophy spoke to me in a different way, as if it were the soundtrack to my existence at the time, specifically ‘Cloud’ and ‘Dirty Teenager’, which just encapsulated my desire to be loved and to fit in. Truly, Trophy became a very close friend of mine.
What’s interesting is that even though I am in a completely different place in my life now, the album still works as my soundtrack. The songs have morphed into different meanings – and I have now latched onto different songs that I feel resemble what I’m going through – but I can still relate to the album as a whole. It’s honestly the only album I’ve ever had this experience with. Usually I move on after about a month, but not with this one; it’s like comfort food in a way.
On a less personal note, Trophy also influenced my love for jazz. I started practising jazz piano shortly after, partially because I wanted to get better at my instrument, but a large part was wanting to be like Kate Davis. She really was my idol for a long time. Her choice of melodies and chord structure was everything I wanted in my music. I owe her big time – I genuinely wouldn’t be the same artist if I hadn’t found her music. She completely changed my music, and I am endlessly grateful.
The organisers of Western Sydney-based music and technology festival SOUND WEST have announced the program for this year’s inaugural edition. After being postponed, the event is finally set to make its mark in Parramatta next month, running from Saturday, 20th to Sunday, 28th August.
‘Astronaut in the Ocean’ rapper Masked Wolf leads the performance lineup, delivering a live set at Parramatta’s Commbank Stadium on Saturday, 20th August. The conference will also include sessions and workshops with local artists and songwriters like L-Fresh the LION, A.GIRL, Nardean, Khaled Rohaim and Styalz Fuego.
SOUND WEST brings live music and tech to Western Sydney
SOUND WEST will bring live music events and music programs to various Parramatta venues across the nine days. In addition to the music sessions and live performances, companies such as Shopify, TikTok, Spotify, Culture Kings and Linktree will be participating in SOUND WEST’s dedicated music and technology industries conference.
Over 35 keynote sessions and workshops will run at Commbank Stadium on Thursday, 25th August. Among those will be Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, who will share his experience creating the accessible music festival Ability Fest.
“SOUND WEST is held in the heart of Greater Western Sydney, a region loaded with diverse and incredibly talented artists and creatives,” Alcott commented. “I’m a massive music fan and love a good festival so I’m excited to be here with NEC Australia to share with the industry the vision we have for an inclusive festival with Ability Fest.”
“SOUND WEST will bring together brilliant minds, industry leaders and music enthusiasts to share ideas and network,” said Geoff Lee, Member for Parramatta. “Parramatta is undergoing a renaissance and this event will showcase the talent and new job opportunities within music and technology across Western Sydney.”
Head here for more info, to see the full program and to purchase tickets for this year’s SOUND WEST.
The title track from Metallica‘s third studio album, 1986’s Master of Puppets, has entered the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for the first time ever following its inclusion in the latest season of Stranger Things. The track features in the finale of the show’s fourth season, with Joseph Quinn’s character Eddie Munson shredding the song’s guitar riffs.
‘Master of Puppets’ has debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 at #40. The Californian metal band shared a statement on social media last week regarding Stranger Things‘ adoption of the song. “It’s an incredible honor to be such a big part of Eddie’s journey and to once again be keeping company with all of the other amazing artists featured in the show,” the band wrote.
The ‘Stranger Things’ effect
‘Master of Puppets’ isn’t the only song to have received renewed interest following its inclusion in Stranger Things. Kate Bush‘s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)’, released one year earlier than ‘Master of Puppets’ in 1985, enjoyed a massive resurgence after it was included in the first half of Stranger Things season four.
Following its inclusion, ‘Running Up That Hill’ climbed to number one on the singles charts in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and more. In the US, it made it to number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Amid its resurgence, Bush acknowledged its popularity with multiple statements on her website, even giving a rare interview on BBC Radio.
“What’s really wonderful, I think, is this is a whole new audience who, in a lot of cases, have never heard of me and I love that,” Bush told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour host Emma Barnett. “The thought of all these really young people hearing the song for the first time and discovering it is… well, I think it’s very special.”
Boutique festival Handpicked is set to return to regional South Australia after a two-year hiatus, taking over Lake Breeze Winery in Langhorne Creek on Saturday, 12th November. Leading the lineup is Adelaide’s own hip hop kings Hilltop Hoods, fresh from releasing the Eamon collaboration, ‘Show Business’, earlier this year.
Closing out the festival will be time-travelling DJ Hot Dub Time Machine. “Hot Dub Time Machine is synonymous with celebrating – his show has become notorious as an explosive celebration of music,” says organiser Kate Cooper. “Getting down amongst the vines will be a most epic way to close the night at Handpicked.”
Middle Kids, The Rubens and more to appear at Handpicked Festival
Elsewhere on this year’s Handpicked lineup are Middle Kids, The Rubens, Wafia, Babe Rainbow, The Dreggs and Steph Strings, providing a genre-diverse mix for festival-goers. Outside of the music, Handpicked will showcase Lake Breeze’s wines, while food trucks will be serving up local produce.
Handpicked Festival 2022
Hilltop Hoods
The Babe Rainbow
The Dreggs
Hot Dub Time Machine
Middle Kids
The Rubens
Steph Strings
Wafia
Saturday, 12th November – Lake Breeze Winery, Langhorne Creek, SA. Pre-sale tickets for this year’s Handpicked Festival are available here, including both general admission as well as camping tickets.
Barkaa, Thelma Plum and Baker Boy lead the nominations for the 2022 National Indigenous Music Awards. The awards will be handed out during a star-studded live ceremony in the Darwin Amphitheatre on Saturday, 6th August.
The 2022 NIMA ceremony will feature performances from Thelma Plum, King Stingray, Emma Donovan & the Putbacks, Birdz and Fred Leone, with more acts still to be announced.
Barkaa – ‘King Brown’
Barkaa, who’s known for her hard-hitting rap tracks, leads the nominations count with four. The Malyangapa and Barkindji woman is nominated for the songs ‘King Brown’ and ‘Black Matriarchy’, as well as New Talent of the Year. Gamilaraay artist Thelma Plum has secured three nominations for her single ‘Backseat Of My Mind’, while Yolngu man Baker Boy earned three nominations for his debut album, Gela. All three artists are nominated for Artist Of The Year.
Other nominees include The Kid LAROI, Jessica Mauboy, Electric Fields, Archie Roach, Dallas Woods, Tasman Keith and Tilly Tjala Thomas. Find the complete list of nominees below. Tickets are on sale now from the NIMA website.
Thelma Plum – ‘Backseat Of My Mind’
2022 National Indigenous Music Awards Nominees
Artist of the Year
Kid Laroi
Jessica Mauboy
Baker Boy
Electric Fields
Thelma Plum
King Stingray
Song of the Year
Backseat of My Mind – Thelma Plum
Made For Silence – Miiesha
Milkumana – King Stingray
Sometime – Mo’Ju
King Brown – Barkaa
Ball and Chain – Xavier Rudd ft J-MILLA
Album of the Year
Baker Boy – Gela
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks – Under These Streets
Jem Cassar-Daley – I Don’t Know Who to Call
Birdz – Legacy
Dallas Woods – Julie’s Boy
Archie Roach – My songs 1989 – 2021
Film Clip of the Year
Love Too Soon – Tasman Keith
King Brown – Barkaa
Blak Matriarchy – Barkaa
My Mind – Baker Boy
Automatic – Jessica Mauboy
New Talent of the Year
Barkaa
Jem Cassar-Daley
Lil Kootsie
Tilly Tjala Thomas
Dobby
Dameeeela
Community Clip of the Year
Koori Mob – Our Country, Our Life – Desert Pea Media
Gumbaynggirr Collective – Through the Smoke – Desert Pea Media
Doomadgee, QLD – Where We Wanna Be – Indigenous Outreach Project
Numbulwar, NT – Loud & Proud – Indigenous Outreach Project
Ballarat, VIC – Don’t Give Up On Yourself – Indigenous Outreach Project
Australian folktronica singer-songwriter Gordi has shared the new single, ‘Inhuman’. A soul-baring timestamp of a stint as an emergency doctor during the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Inhuman’ encapsulates a uniquely Australian experience of 2020, as the pandemic took hold while parts of the country were still recovering from ravaging bushfires.
“When I wrote this song, I was thinking about the blackened roadsides on my drive from Sydney to Lismore in 2019,” Gordi’s Sophie Payten explained in a statement. “I had to turn back halfway because the fires were too out of control.”
Watch the video for Gordi’s new single ‘Inhuman’
Payten was on her way to begin working at Lismore Hospital. Once there, Payten met “countless patients who couldn’t be discharged because their homes had been destroyed,” she recalled. “Hearing one story after the next made me numb and being numb to that sort of tragedy feels like forgetting to be human.”
‘Inhuman’ is accompanied by an amusing video, which depicts Gordi being stalked by a giant lobster while on a walk around Melbourne. Directed by frequent collaborator Triana Hernandez and dreamed up by Gordi, it’s a colourful and abstract metaphor for how we learn to wrestle with widespread tragedy.
“Escaping the inescapable was the vision for the video,” Payten said. “When I pictured this inescapable tragedy, I pictured a giant red lobster – stalking me until eventually I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”
The single will appear as the title track on a new EP from the celebrated singer-songwriter, due out on Friday, 19th August. The process of creating the Inhuman EP allowed Gordi to reclaim her voice after the prolonged stint as an ER doctor. ‘Inhuman’ follows ‘Way I Go’ in providing a glimpse of what we can expect from Inhuman. The EP is available for pre-order here.
Queensland rockers Violent Soho have shared a new single ‘Kamikaze’ and announced an indefinite hiatus. The Mansfield grunge icons shared the deflating news with fans via a statement posted on social media.
“After nearly 20 years in Violent Soho we’ve experienced so much as a band – It’s been incredible and life-defining,” the statement said. “We feel so grateful to have experienced the journey and to all the people that believed in our music and showed us so much support.”
Violent Soho announce plans to lay low “for a bit”
The band went on to explain that changes in circumstances have prompted them to relinquish their Violent Soho commitments for the time being. “As individuals we’ve found ourselves in different places over the last few years and so we’ve decided it’s time to take a break and lay low for a bit,” the band said.
“This isn’t the end of the band,” they added, “but we are looking forward to giving ourselves some space, focusing on our families, and giving back to the community which fostered and carried us.”
In addition to releasing ‘Kamikaze’, Violent Soho have booked an Until Next Time farewell gig at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on Saturday, 10th. September. DZ Deathrays and LOSER are on board as support acts for the show.
DZ Deathrays posted a tribute to Violent Soho on Instagram. “Well this is a very bitter sweet announcement,” they said. “Our favourite band for the past 20 years have given us the honour of warming up the stage for them on their final show (hopefully for not too long).”
DZ Deathrays described Violent Soho as one of the first bands in Brisbane with whom they became “great friends” and said that “while a lot has changed since” the strength of their friendship hasn’t changed.
Violent Soho – ‘Kamikaze’
Violent Soho are one of Australia’s most successful modern rock acts. The Brisbane foursome have been festival mainstays for the last decade. They’ll play Splendour In The Grass later this month before going out on high with the show at Fortitude Music Hall.
Violent Soho’s most recent album was 2020’s ARIA #1 Everything Is A-Ok. The record came out during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdowns, meaning the band had to wait over a year before playing shows in support of the record. Since then, Violent Soho have rocked their way around the country, including a triumphant headline set at UNIFY Gathering in March.
Thelma Plum has shared a new single, ‘When It Rains It Pours’, and announced a new EP, Meanjin. ‘When It Rains It Pours’ follows Plum’s recent single, ‘Backseat Of My Mind’, and sees the beloved singer-songwriter deliver another breathtaking song from the heart, about the heartland.
“After far too much solo time spent in lockdown, I was sitting on my balcony watching my neighbours set up this extravagant looking dinner party during a classic Brissi downpour,” Plum said in a statement regarding the origins of ‘When It Rains It Pours’. “I was lonely and missed my family terribly. I longed to be sitting around a table with them, but I wrote ‘When It Rains It Pours’ instead.”
Listen to ‘When It Rains It Pours’
Reflecting on the creation and purpose of Meanjin as a whole, Plum said, “We all know what happened at the start of 2020 – I was in the middle of recording an album in London when the world changed an in between lockdowns and floods I kept working on music and it became apparent that I had a whole separate body of work, which was a love letter to my hometown of Meanjin – so here it is for you all.”
To celebrate the release of Meanjin, Plum will be hitting the road throughout August and September. GRAACE and Jem Cassar Daley will join Plum for each show, much to the delight of Plum herself. “I can’t believe am lucky enough to have both GRAACE and Jem Cassar Daley join me on this tour,” she said. “They are artists I adore and I can’t wait to see you all.”
Thelma Plum – ‘Meanjin’ Tour 2022
Thursday, 25th August – Blue Mountains Theatre, Springwood, NSW / Gundungarra and Dharug Country
Friday, 26th August – The Cambridge, Newcastle, NSW / Awabakal Country
Saturday, 27th August – UC Refectory, Canberra, ACT / Ngunnawal
Thursday, 1st September – Forum, Melbourne, VIC / Wurundjeri Country
Friday, 2nd September – The Gov, Adelaide, SA / Kaurna Country
Saturday, 3rd September – Spring Time Festival, Gold Coast, QLD / Yugambeh Country
Friday, 9th September- The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD / Meanjin
Saturday, 10th September- Nightquarter, Sunshine Coast, QLD / Kabi Kabi Country
Friday, 16th September – Roundhouse, Sydney, NSW / Gadigal Country
Saturday, 24th September – Good Day Sunshine Festival, Busselton, WA / Wadandi Boodja
Tickets for the Meanjin tour go on sale on Thursday, 14th July at 9am here.
Eluera’s new single ‘Madeleine’ is rooted in a period of personal chaos for the Central Coast songwriter and musician. Eluera’s professional fortunes have gone from strength to strength over the past half decade. The artist’s 2019 single, ‘Good When We Fight’, has notched more than a million streams. But behind the scenes, Eluera has been engulfed in instability and emotional unrest.
Her songwriting panache has suffered no such drawbacks, however, and ‘Madeleine’ is the artist’s smartest pop confection to date. Music Feeds caught up with Eluera to chat about the new single, her creative drive, and what the future holds.
Eluera – ‘Madeline’
Music Feeds: Who were some of the artists that first got you excited about writing songs?
Eluera: When I first started writing I was listening to a lot of Florence and the Machine and Daughter. Just lots of sad girl songs really.
MF: Growing up on the Central Coast, did you find a community of like-minded creative people?
Eluera: I went to a great music school where I had a few mentors who really encouraged me to get into writing and performing, who I am so grateful for. There were a lot of young people my age doing the same thing there, busking around the town, so it was a pretty supportive crowd to be around.
MF: What sort of things generally inspire you to write music—is it the work of other artists? Navigating your emotions? World events?
Eluera: I really just write to get my feelings out, ‘cause I have a lot of them [laughs]. I find it hard to use my words and speak what I’m feeling, so it’s nice to have an outlet like writing music. I always find I write the best songs when I am writing from an honest place about what I’m going through in the moment.
MF: Tell us about the origins of ‘Madeleine’ – did you have anything specific in mind for this song, in terms of sound and production?
Eluera: We actually wrote it completely on guitar and were unsure where the production was going to go. I was loving bass-forward tracks at the time, so we tried that and also blended it with some Western-ish guitar to bring back the feel of how we originally wrote it.
Then, in the bridge, I just wanted it to feel completely like the heartbreak chaos I was feeling at the time, which is now my favourite part.
MF: ‘Madeleine’is about feeling insecure in a relationship and projecting things onto someone from a place of fear rather than fact. It’s a big thing to realise, that you were doing this. Did writing ‘Madeleine’ help you get a better understanding of why you felt this way?
Eluera: I definitely still really felt that way for a long time after writing the track as I was still in the situation. It wasn’t until after my relationship had ended that I had come to terms with the fact that it was a mix of my insecurities and an unhealthy relationship creating all this chaos that I was projecting onto other people, which left me feeling really guilty about it. But sometimes you can’t see clearly until you’re out.
MF: You released ‘Petty’ in April 2021. What sort of growth have you undergone as an artist since then? Do you think you’re entering a new phase of your artistic journey with ‘Madeleine’?
Eluera: I definitely feel like I’m entering a new era as I’ve been working on so much music the last year and have really been enjoying just writing on my guitar in my room and going where the songs take me. I’ve been trying to let the songs come naturally and not be too critical on what I want the sound to be like, which I feel like has been helping me make my most authentic music yet.
I feel like I finally have a clear image of what I want to put out into the world and I’m very very excited about all the new music I’ve been making.
MF: What’s next for Eluera? An album, EP?
Eluera: I have a few more singles coming out this year and a few shows, but I am also working on an EP at the moment as a little time capsule of the mess this year has been for me, which is a nice silver lining.
Lasca Dry is back with ‘The Ocean’, her first single of 2022. ‘The Ocean’ is a psychedelic pop-rock tune with stadium-sized grooves and a searing guitar solo. The new single arrives alongside a music video from director Nathan Guy. Music Feeds is premiering the music video.
‘The Ocean’ follows Lasca Dry’s debut solo album, Sweet Sea Surrender, which landed in February 2021. ‘The Ocean’ got its first spin on triple j Unearthed radio.
Lasca Dry – ‘The Ocean’
Lasca Dry grew up in Ulverstone, Tasmania, a small town on the apple isle’s northern coast. She was reared on a diet of ’60s and ’70s classics, which inspired her to start writing her own songs. Dry’s songwriting journey began in earnest in 2013 when she co-founded the folk duo, The Habits, alongside Daniel Bicanski.
Dry branched out solo a couple of years later, choosing to work under her given name, Lasca Dry. Her pursuit of a career in music was complemented by her studies at Hobart’s Conservatorium of Music and her regular busking performances around the city of Hobart. Flash forward to 2022, and Lasca Dry has supported artists such as Weyes Blood, Paul Dempsey, Didirri, and Tim Rogers, and performed at major festivals Dark Mofo and Falls Festival.
Dry describes ‘The Ocean’ as a song about “expressing the feminine through elements in nature.” She goes on, “[It’s] using the ocean as a metaphor, and the different forms that the ocean takes on – the smooth, the calm, the crazy, and everything in between.”
“It’s about women,” Dry adds, “but mostly about myself, and how we have a vast internal world, and how necessary the feminine is for the existence of everything.”
Canadian duo Tegan And Sara have announced their tenth studio album, Crybaby, which is scheduled to arrive on Friday, 21st October. To complement the news, the pair have shared their new single, ‘Yellow’.
Following on from the release of April’s ‘Fucking Up What Matters’, both ‘Yellow’ and the entirety of Crybaby was co-produced by Tegan And Sara and John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen). The video for ‘Yellow’, directed by Mark Myers, takes inspiration from Coldplay’s 2000 single of the same name.
Tegan And Sara – ‘Yellow’
“[The song] was written after we began to take steps to heal the bruises we have both carried with us since adolescence and early adulthood—wounds that never quite healed right and flare up seasonally, sending us spiralling backward in time,” Sara said in a statement. “Are we doomed to remain forever 15, breaking up and breaking apart? I hope not.”
“This was the first time where, while we were still drafting our demos, we were thinking about how the songs were going to work together,” added Tegan. “It wasn’t even just that Sara was making lyric changes or reorganising the parts to my songs, it was that she was also saying to me, ‘This song is going to be faster,’ or ‘It’s going to be in a different key.’ But Sara effectively improves everything of mine that she works on.”
Crybaby will be the first Tegan And Sara album since 2019’s Hey, I’m Just Like You. The pair remained relatively silent throughout the previous two years, playing live only once. Earlier this year they re-emerged with Still Jealous, an acoustic re-recording of their 2004 album, So Jealous.
Crybaby is set for release on Friday, 21st October.
Green Music Australia have unveiled Sound Country: A Green Artist Guide, a detailed guide that gives musicians the practical tools they need to implement sustainable solutions and involve their audiences in change. Designed for use by musicians at all levels, Sound Country looks to connect and empower artists to take charge, whether it’s simply by incorporating more sustainable practices on tour, or by becoming increasingly vocal ambassadors for change.
The Sound Country guide incorporates a wealth of knowledge and experience from a number of names, including First Nations music producer Rhoda Roberts AO and environmental consultant Matt Wicking. It also includes contributions from musicians such as Allara Briggs Pattison, David Bridie, Jen Cloher, Lisa Mitchell, Missy Higgins, Montaigne, Regurgitator, Sally Seltmann, and Tim Hollo.
Green Music Australia want to see climate action in local music
This election, we demanded climate action from our government. Musicians and fans raised their voices. And we were heard – all over Australia, people voted for the planet. We can’t wait to be part of this new era of action and save our songs. Thank you!#nomusiconadeadplanetpic.twitter.com/yvBeI7nwiq
— Green Music Australia (@GreenMusicAU) May 23, 2022
Supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, the Sound Country guide will be officially launched at the Northcote Social Club on Monday, 18th July.
“Reducing the environmental impact of the creative industries is one of the underlying principles of our Creative State 2025 strategy,” says Minister for Creative Industries Steve Dimopoulos. “We all have a role to play in protecting our future and Sound Country is a fantastic, practical resource to help our music industry do just that. I applaud Green Music Australia and encourage Victorian artists to get on board.”
In addition to the Green Artist Guide, Green Music Australia are launching an interactive website, online shareable PDF, infographic, and social media content to help get the message across. The guide itself is grouped into sex key areas: First Nations First, waste reduction, low-carbon transport, sustainable food, ethical merchandise, and climate advocacy.
“Being a travelling musician with a conscience, it’s so great to have GMA providing us (and our fans) with some specific resources with which we can try to tread more lightly on the planet,” Missy Higgins said in a statement.
“We musicians have a pretty ordinary carbon footprint,” said David Bridie. “Flights, PAs, lighting and electronic gear and so forth. I genuinely endorse the Sound Country Green Artist Guide as a clear outline by which musicians can learn more about putting into practice clear ways of looking after the planet – substantially reducing our carbon footprint and being aware of the necessary steps we all need to wake up to.”
As the opening lines of the Sound Country guide state, its message is simple and succinct: “You’re an artist. You care about our living planet and you want your music-making to be as green as possible. This guide is for you.”
Sydney alt-rock favourites Bluebottle Kiss have announced their live return. The band will play four headline shows in October, marking their first dates since 2007.
News of the group’s return was announced on Facebook by frontman Jamie Hutchings, who also gave fans an insight into what had been happening in recent months. In addition to announcing live dates for his recent project, Infinity Broke, Hutchings ended a few weeks of speculation with a formal announcement of live shows from Bluebottle Kiss.
Bluebottle Kiss – ‘Return To The City Of Folded Arms’
“We recently reissued our 1999 album Patient on vinyl,” he said. “We also printed the first Bluebottle Kiss t-shirt in many years. As well as that, Love As Fiction Records out of Perth have reissued the 1997 mini-LP Somnambulist Homesick Blues.
“However, what may excite some of you [even] more is that the line-up of myself, Ben Fletcher, Richard Coneliano and Ben Grounds are reconvening for the first time in 20 years to do four shows, across four states, in October.”
Bluebottle Kiss formed in Sydney in 1993. They signed to the Murmur label and issued their debut album, Higher Up The Firetrails, in 1995. Going independent following the release of Somnambulist Homesick Blues, Bluebottle Kiss would go on to release a total of six albums, the most recent of which was 2006’s Doubt Seeds.
Bluebottle Kiss Australian Tour 2022
Friday, 14th October – The Jade Monkey, Adelaide, SA
Saturday, 15th October – The Gasometer, Melbourne, VIC
Friday, 21st October – The Brightside, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, 22nd October – Crowbar, Sydney, NSW
Tickets on sale via the venues from 12pm, Friday, 15th July.
Brisbane indie-pop outfit The Goon Sax have announced their breakup. News of the trio’s split was shared on social media overnight, with the group revealing that “after nine years of giving it our everything we’ve decided to draw the curtain on this band.”
The statement continued, “It’s taken us places stranger, more beautiful, and far beyond anything we could have imagined, and brought us to meeting and working with so many special and incredibly inspiring people. Our gratitude to everyone who’s been with us and allowed the madness of the last 9 years to happen is far beyond anything we can palpably express.”
The Goon Sax – ‘In The Stone’
The Goon Sax formed in 2013. The band released their first album, Up To Anything, to widespread acclaim in 2016, and followed up with We’re Not Talking in 2018. In 2020, the trio of Riley Jones (drums, vocals), Louis Forster (guitars, vocals) and James Harrison (guitars, vcoals) signed with iconic New York City label Matador.
The Goon Sax’s third album, 2021’s Mirror II, was described as “a new beginning” by the label. Matador shared a statement in response to the news of the band’s split. “Though we’re sad and disappointed by this news, we respect the band’s decision,” they explained. “We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Louis, Riley and James and look forward to whatever they do next, individually or collectively.”
The Goon Sax are cancelling their upcoming tour of the US, which would have seen them join fellow Matador artists Interpol and Spoon on their joint headline tour, in addition to performing shows with the recently-reformed Pavement. However, The Goon Sax have promised they’ll play “one or two more shows” in Australia before they finally part ways.
“For us it feels like a happy ending,” the group concluded on social media. “We love each other and we love you! Thank you for everything.”
The new David Bowie documentary, Moonage Daydream, now has a release date for all territories outside of Japan. The global theatrical release of Moonage Daydream has been announced for Friday, 16th September.
The forthcoming documentary, directed by Brett Morgen (Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck), is the first David Bowie feature film to be officially sanctioned by the late artist’s estate. The film features archival narration from Bowie himself, as well as plenty of Bowie originals in the soundtrack.
David Bowie Documentary Moonage Daydream Gets International Release Date
Distribution rights for the film are with Neon (North America) and Universal Pictures Content Group (global), while HBO Documentary Films are in charge of releasing Moonage Daydream to streaming and pay TV.
Moonage Daydream has been a five-year long project for Morgen and his team. The film not only covers Bowie’s legendary music career, but spotlights the artist’s work in film, dance, painting, screenwriting, acting, sculpture and more. The David Bowie estate provided Morgen with complete access to Bowie’s personal archives, including all of his master recordings.
The film’s official trailer begins with a voiceover from US television presenter Dick Cavett. The audio is lifted from Bowie’s appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in December 1974. The next voice we hear is Bowie’s own. “All people, no matter who they are all wish they’d appreciated life more,” he says. The trailer concludes with Bowie saying, “Life is fantastic.”
Moonage Daydream is described as an immersive cinematic experience and it’ll be showing at IMAX later this year.
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PREMIERE: Lasca Dry Expresses the Feminine on New Single ‘The Ocean’
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‘Sound Country’ Provides Artists With Tools Needed To Go Green On Tour
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