Sarah Mary Chadwick
Alt folk
“Makin’ it work / Oh brother it’s hard,” begins Sarah Mary Chadwick’s recent single ‘Makin’ It Work’, and the line could sum up the feeling Chadwick’s songs regularly convey. The Kiwi-via-Melbourne songwriter’s singing is never half way committed. Even when it’s a creeping whisper, she injects all available emotion into what she sings. Making it work might be hard, but Chadwick’s hard work makes for a vital listening experience.
Thursday September 1 – Northcote Social Club – Melbourne, VIC
Born Joy Dead
Indie rock
Born Joy Dead have a new single called ‘Sourdough’, for our money their best effort yet. It’s built around a propulsive indie rock groove, with delay-ing guitars and a lurching bass riff that’d sound at home on a TV On the Radio record. The sentiment resonates too: despite how often I vow to only buy “good bread” from now on, I never quite feel financially stable enough to splash out on that $8 sour dough.
Thursday September 1 – Black Bear Lodge – Brisbane, QLD
The Beverly Chills
Surf punk
The Gooch Palms are hopping around the country at present and they’ve brought LA pals The Beverly Chills along for the ride. The Bevs have plenty in common with Gooch Palms: there’s two of them, they display a healthy sense of humour and they make economic garage punk. However TBC are a far less personable beast. Their recordings are filthy, grime sodden things and they’re prone to the odd outburst of goth metal.
Thursday September 1 – Jive – Adelaide, SA
Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Facebook
Sans Parents
Power pop
Sans Parents’ ‘Can’t Stop Moving’ is one of the catchiest singles of the year. The verses give a nod to The Cars’ ‘Just What I Needed’, while the chorus is unfettered power pop bliss. This week they finally released their debut EP, The Dead End, featuring hooks and distorted guitars aplenty. It’s not cutting edge innovation, but it is wonderfully refreshing.
Friday September 2 – The Foundry – Brisbane, QLD
Facebook | Soundcloud | Unearthed
Golden Syrup
Rock
We first met Sara Retallick back in 2011 working under the pseudonym Jimmy Tait. Jimmy Tait expanded out into a full band and released two LPs of vocal-centric indie rock, sometimes neatly manicured, sometimes noisily explosive. Retallick’s now working under the moniker Golden Syrup and this weekend she’ll be launching her debut single.
Friday September 2 – Gasometer Hotel – Melbourne, VIC
Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud
Ali Barter
Pop rock
Ali Barter has gone all-out radio-friendly pop rock on her latest single ‘Girlie Bits’, and it’s paid off. There’s no trickery at play here, at least not arrangement wise – the verses are sweetly PG, while the chorus cranks up the distortion and asks you to sing along. Within, however, Barter includes allusions to problematic sexual politics discourse.
Friday September 2 – Republic Bar – Hobart, TAS
Facebook | Website | Soundcloud
Love Chants
Experimental
Sydney’s Love Chants will make you feel uneasy. They’re not going for shock value, but they’re also not taking the obvious route. The band’s gentle, warped experimental soundscaping inhabits the border of loveliness and failure. It’s a testing experience, but simultaneously freeing.
Saturday September 3 – Newtown Social Club – Sydney, NSW (w/ Sarah Mary Chadwick)
Kitchen People
Garage rock
Kitchen People are sick of fielding questions about when they’ll get a real job. What’s a real job anyway? If it means limited freedoms and cumulative diminishment of the soul, then these guys would much rather stay in the filthy instability of the present. Well at least that’s the impression you get from their no-nonsense, melodic garage rock tunes.
Saturday September 3 – Mojos – Perth, WA
The Tambourine Girls
Psych pop
Judging by the name of their latest single, Sydney outfit The Tambourine Girls could be running out of ideas. It’s called ‘The Tambourine Girl’, but the track’s belting psych pop and stadium sized drum beats suggests the opposite is the case. It feels like this band featuring four males have arrived at a compositional sweet spot.
Sunday September 4 – Newtown Social Club – Sydney, NSW
Darren Hanlon
Folk
There are some reassuring constants of 21st century Australian indie music, and Darren Hanlon is most certainly one of them. His idiosyncratic, wit-filled folk pop illuminated a world of weird, not-so-cool kids in the early-‘00s, and his continued escapades remind us that the weirdos haven’t gone away.
Sunday September 4 – Jackson’s Bakery & Cafe – Harden, NSW
