Ciggie Witch
Indie pop
Ciggie Witch make cruisey, guitar-led indie pop. Everything rests within a slacker haze, but there’s also definite investment in the songwriting. As melodists, they’re adept without clambering for attention. It’s the sort of music you could have playing in the background for half an hour only to suddenly realise you’ve been lulled into the centre of its world.
Thursday June 16 – Hotel Metro – Adelaide, SA
FACEBOOK | UNEARTHED | SOUNDCLOUD | BANDCAMP
Sean O’Neill
Indie folk
Sean O’Neill’s baroque indie folk tunes seem to reside in the world of daydreams. They’re not fantasy pieces, but rather they carry the feeling of freedom and possibility that surfaces during an afternoon reverie.
Thursday June 16 – The Bird – Perth, WA
FACEBOOK | UNEARTHED | BANDCAMP
Glaciers
Slacker pop
Glaciers are launching their new LP, Living Right, which is preceded by the single ‘Career Crisis’. A career crisis mightn’t sound like an ingredient for living right, but a work related predicament can catalyse a freshly imaginative approach to how you structure your life. Anyway, Glaciers make very accommodating indie pop music, so this career crisis comes with a soundtrack of infectious guitar melodies and reverby vocals.
Friday June 17 – John Curtin Hotel – Melbourne, VIC
Paul Conrad
Pop/electronic
A few years back I had a stint playing in the band on X Factor. It was mime work, essentially, but it did help to know the songs you were pretending to play. Another guy in the faux-band was Paul Conrad. At the time, his band outside of X Factor sounded a bit too much like mid-period Kings of Leon. I lost track of him for a few years, but it turns out he’s now making somewhat slimy electronic pop music. It’s somewhere between The Weeknd and Lana Del Ray. Not quite the cutting edge, but there’s a curious narratorial perspective that gives it distinction.
Friday June 17 – Oxford Circus – Sydney, NSW
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Emma Russack
Folk/indie
Emma Russack’s new album In A New State is capable of altering your state of mind with each repeated listen. Russack looks back on the relationships of her youth, reassesses her life priorities, gains a zen outlook against impending stresses and make explicit pledges to treat herself with more respect. The experiences she portrays aren’t always rosy, but against a backdrop of quietly experimental indie pop and alt-country, her outlook is imperturbable.
Friday June 17 – Caravan Music Club – Oakleigh, VIC
FACEBOOK | SPUNK RECORDS | SOUNDCLOUD
The Keepaways
Electropunk
The Keepaways make high-tension electronic punk music. It’s not so much indebted to synthpunk as it is a composite of the frantic energy of hardcore with skittering electronic sounds and hip hop beats. Really a lot better than another fuckin’ band citing Joy Division as an influence while simply ripping Joy Division off.
Friday June 17 – Brightside – Brisbane, QLD
Lupa J
Indie pop/electronic
Imogen Jones is Lupa J, a classically proficient violinist who’s transposed her talents to electronic pop music. I anticipate big things. She’s still only 18, but her productions have a textural deftness that’s never overdone; the sort of thing you’d expect from someone who’s been doing this for years. She ain’t a show off, but she’s not afraid to demonstrate her talents as a composer, singer, arranger and producer.
Saturday June 18 – Newtown Social Club – Sydney, NSW
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Taipan Tiger Girls
Darkwave
Imagine a crisp winter morning, there’s not a cloud in the sky and the wind is still, and yet the only way to feel a bit of warmth is to sit directly under the sun. The only non-shaded area is at the back of the yard near the rosemary bush and lemon tree. Naturally this spot attracts bees. But you’re so desperate for warmth that you sit there anyway, with bees revolving your head and filling your ears with an increasingly ominous buzz. You feel halfway between content and terrified. That’s essentially the sensation conjured up by Taipan Tiger Girls’ extended drones of psychedelic immersion.
Saturday June 18 – The Tote – Melbourne, VIC
Josh Rennie-Hynes
Folk/country
I reckon Josh Rennie-Hynes has listened to a bit of Paul Kelly. I know I have. Big fan, primarily of the ‘80s/’90s stuff with the Coloured Girls/Messengers. But my first exposure to Paul was via the 2001 LP Nothin But A Dream, which contains a bunch of acoustic plucked country ballads. That’s where Rennie-Hynes slots in, and the resemblance is most agreeable.
Saturday June 18 – Black Bear Lodge – Brisbane, QLD
WEBSITE | SOUNDCLOUD | YOUTUBE
Saatsuma
Electrosoul
Saatsuma have a taste for house music, hip hop and R&B. These influences contribute to club-ready pop songs with a soulful undercurrent. They’re not emulating ecstasy highs, but rather giving the heart a tug while prompting sensual bodily movement.
Sunday June 19 – Northcote Social Club – Melbourne, VIC (w/ Olympia)
