With their debut album, Keep Color, Kansas City-based quintet The Republic Tigers crafted an epic yet timeless and intimate album, weaving future folk, euphoric psychedelia, and exuberant symphonic pop with intricately crafted electronic textures and uncommon emotional depth.
The Menahan Street Band / The Contender Great song, great groove going on with the drums and guitar. The horn section is really well arranged. It reminds me of some of my favorite arrangements by Ennio Morriconne and Charles Mingus, only with a really good funk and r&b groove to it. It makes me wish I could dance.
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.
In mid-February, Australian band, The Devoted Few, release Baby, You’re a Vampire, the follow-up to their previously acclaimed album, Billboard Noises. Baby, You’re a Vampire is an astonishing record from start to finish. It’s got moments of transcendence that would make the Arcade Fire blush, dark corners that would frighten Robert Smith, and ideas that would make Brian Eno say, ‘bugger, I wish I’d thought of that’.
Pivot / In The Blood Lawrence Pike must be one of the best drummers in Australia. Whenever I see these guys live, I generally spend the whole show glued to what he’s doing. There are some beautifully messed up guitar sounds on this and the approach to playing them is one that I’ll be trying to rip off in the future.
Most people got their first taste of Australian singer-songwriter Josh Pyke’s music with the release of his exceptional ARIA Award winning debut album, Memories and Dust. But we knew of him way back in the day when he was the frontman for the sadly before-its-time Sydney rock band, An Empty Flight. His latest solo album, Chimney’s Afire, is another collection of fluid, sanguine, and deeply personal music from one of Australia’s finest young songwriters.
Arcade Fire / Antichrist Television Blues I love all the songs from Neon Bible, but the frenetic nature of this song gets my blood pumping. I saw these guys at Glastonbury last year, as well as on the Big Day Out tour of Australia, and I came to realise they are probably the best band in the world right now.
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.
