Sydney’s Cassette Kids are the final addition to The Big O bill. On the cusp of something big, Cassette Kids have already earned a fierce reputation thanks to captivating vocalist Katrina Noorbergen. They have toured with The Presets and shared the stage with Ting Tings, New Young Pony Club, Van She and many more.
Crystal Castles / Alice Practice This was the first track I ever heard from Crystal Castles and it blew my mind. The sounds and textures were unlike anything I’d heard before and the song had this attitude and energy that I loved immediately. As a vocalist, I loved how messed up everything sounded, and it made me want to hammer some vocals through an amp and crank up the distortion.
Boasting perhaps the greatest band name on the planet, Scottish four-piece We Were Promised Jetpacks releaesed their debut album, These Four Walls, on Pod Records [Inertia]. Standing alongside the likes of Frightened Rabbit, Glasvegas, and The Twilight Sad as leading figures in Scotland’s indie-rock renaissance, the band’s first full-length was recorded almost entirely live.
The Twilight Sad / I Became A Prostitute This is the new single by one of the best bands around. It’s pretty perfect. We’ve been lucky enough to see this live three times recently, and each time it’s felt like that footage of the nuclear bomb going off that they love to use on TV. You know when the house gets flattened?
White Ink, Black Ink is Wheat’s most straightforward, heavy-hitting indie rock album to date. It looks at life’s ups and downs and how to cope with everything, creating songs both for the listener and for themselves. “Now, even the live show is much more about the clarity and sincerity of the communication,” says Harney. “The new songs have a much bigger than us sort of feel,” adds Levesque. “In February 2008 my Dad died. It was my first real meeting with that kind of physical absolute. Most of us are a sum of our total, not a total of our some. It’s not really who we were, but how and by whom we are survived.”
Dan Deacon / Build Voice This song totally blew me away because I had no idea what to expect from this record. It starts with some noise music and then builds and builds. Then this completely triumphant melody starts and carries the thing away. The sounds are warm and amazing. The structure is timeless. True beauty.
After twelve years, five albums, hundreds of shows, festival appearances, and a string of gold and platinum awards, Something For Kate front man Paul Dempsey is spending 2009 stepping out on his own to release his first solo album in the middle of the year. Recorded at a friend’s house on the NSW central coast, with producer Wayne Connolly and mixed in LA with Doug Boehm, the album is a departure from the heavier, more intense Something For Kate sound. Dempsey plays every instrument on the record, and uses space and atmosphere in every song.
TV on the Radio / Dancing Choose This track has so much manic energy: buzzsaw synth-bass, mad shuffling drums and a rapid-fire lyrical rant that sounds like some kind of crazed public service announcement. Guaranteed to shake you from your mid-morning malaise.
Tom Hespe, Xavier Naughton, Jai Pyne and Ivan Lisyak are Sydney band, The Paper Scissors. They play rock music, taking particular notes from funk, hip hop production, Bowie, and Talking Heads. They sometimes pay homage to folk stylings, country music and Film Soundtracks, dabbling in gigabytes worth of music.
Broken Social Scene / 7/4 (shoreline) This tune blows me away every time. Broken Social Scene really personify an amazing mix of artfulness and pop genius, being able to do a tune in an obscure time signature (7/4) complete with hooks and a beat that perfectly soundtracks highway driving. Killer! The way Kevin Drew and guest Feist sing together is beautiful — you can tell they were singing it at maximum lung volume with a tenacity not found in many vocalists.
‘This is a scary time for a lot of people, government-wise, art-wise, and especially business-wise,’ says Company of Thieves singer, Genevieve Schatz. ‘People seem to be very held back in what they’re willing to invest in — personally, emotionally, and financially. But at the same time, there’s a new, gutsy energy coming out right now, almost a generational thing. There’s a feeling that we’re at the edge of big change right now. Great art always rises up when change is going on’. These exciting — if uncertain — times are reflected in the eclectic sound of Ordinary Riches, an album that moves effortlessly from the seemingly jaunty, piano-led In Passing and the catchy pop tones of Pressure to the arena-ready sing-along chorus of New Letters and the Jonny Greenwood-ish guitar figures on Old Letters.
Animal Collective / My Girls It’s pretty much impossible to sit still by the end of this song. Say what you want about this band, but I find them to be one of the most fascinating bands around today. They sound like no one else. With every album, they transform into something new. Their songs become more accessible, but they stay just as indefinable as always. Not to mention that the lyrics in this song are absolutely beautiful.
Formed in mid-late 2005, The Seabellies have quickly built upon the already-considerable reputation of their frontman, Newcastle singer-songwriter Trent Grenell. Joining him on stage is his younger brother, Kyle, along with Antony Martin on piano and keyboard, and guitarist and bassist Eddie Garven. The most recent additions to the line-up are Sean Kelleher on drums and Stephanie Setz, rounding out the band and taking on the viola, metalaphone, melodica, keys, and anything else the band can find to add into the mix of sounds.
Broken Social Scene / Ibi Dreams of Pavement This song appeals to me no matter what mood I am in as it has that perfect blend of pain, despair and celebration, all rolled into one. It’s always a little confusing to listen to, because it feel like fun hurt, and that is the beauty. It has the best siren guitars and drum-fills award to boot.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
