I know what’s it like when you become a dad. In those early months when your baby is tiny, going out to see bands all the time becomes a little more difficult. Then your kid is a couple years old, but you still don’t go out as much as before.
That’s all fine. Comes with the territory.
But that’s no reason to be disconnected from what the hell is happening in the music scene. Here’s four of the best Australian bands and artists you should jump straight into. Let’s update this regularly.
RVG
In my opinion, Australia’s best new band. They’ve done it the old fashioned way – having the best songs. Their debut A Quality Of Mercy was reissued in October after a broad wave of people arrived upon its existence, demanding copies. RVG stands for Romy Vagar Group, and they came together to perform Romy’s material as recently as September 2015.
The live show is like late 70s hero rock, performed immaculately with great power. There’s a vitality in the material that reminds of The Go-Betweens, but I think that’s just a byword for extremely well written songs.
Sampa The Great
Potentially the Australian artist with the greatest international appeal for 2018. She is flawless. Artful. Transcendent. I heard from Jonti (featured below) that when Sampa performed her collab verse on Island Rose from his Tokorats album, she wrote and recorded the whole intricate thing perfectly in one take within five minutes. That ability is rare.
Rhymes To The East is from her November mixtape Birds And The BEE9.
Jonti
Introducing Jonti, a South African born, adopted Sydney native signed to California’s Stone Throw Records. He’s known for technicolour psych-pop, hip hop and surreal electronica, and is a touring member of The Avalanches. His other collaborations include Mark Ronson, Santigold, King Krule, The Dap-Kings, Hodgy Beats and Steve Lacy.
His Tokorats album came out in November and was about seven years in the making. It was a big musical highlight of 2017 for me and Sleeping and Falling (the first single) is a good place to start.
Death Bells
Sydney band that released their second album, Standing At The Edge Of The World in September. It’s a killer record. Two of their members are founders of the Burning Rose label, an ideal place to look for post-punk and heavy synths. Let this post be a gateway into a whole scene of bands you might be into.
