If you have a classic case of Monday-itis, the cure is here. The last day of Bonnaroo is streaming live RIGHT NOW!
This weekend has already seen Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper perform with Earth, Wind and Fire and actors Jon Hamm and Zach Galifinakis kick off the Superjam, so who knows what you could be witness to?
The 4 day multi stage festival has a pretty stellar line up this year, featuring the likes of DMA’s, Courtney Barnett, Alabama Shakes, Run the Jewels, Mac DeMarco, Jamie XX, SBTRKT and so so many more. You can check out the full line up here. With so much talent in one place, it is no wonder that it has become a melting pot for on stage collaborations, and a general bro-down for all involved.
The full schedule for today is below; you will just need to add 15 hours to translate to Eastern Daylight Time. Highlights for today include Spoon at 10:45am, The Bluegrass Situation Superjam featuring Ed Helms at 12:30pm and Caribou at 1:45pm.
This should see you through your Monday morning, and if you are able to shake the festival envy after watching, you can thank us later.
Click here for the full live stream
Sunday, June 14:
Channel 1
5:00 p.m.: Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear
5:45 p.m.: Twenty One Pilots
8:00 p.m.: Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters
9:15 p.m.: Sal’s World
9:30 p.m.: Billy Joel
Channel 2
5:00 p.m.: AWOLNATION
6:30 p.m.: Brandi Carlisle
7:45 p.m.: Spoon
9:00 p.m.: D’Angelo and the Vanguard
Channel 3
6:15 p.m.: Jerry Douglas Presents Earls of Leicester
7:15 p.m.: Rudimental
8:30 p.m.: Punch Brothers
9:30 p.m.: The Bluegrass Situation SuperJam featuring Ed Helms
10:45 p.m.: Caribou
So you just read our feature on the worst songs of 2015 so far, and I know that you heard some things you can never un-hear. You might be wishing that you’d googled the crimes of a serial killer instead – it might have been less disturbing. You might have even preferred to read about this creepy thing going on in Sweden right now. But, just like that time you drank a bottle of Passion Pop and vomited all over your best friends favourite shoes, some things just can’t be undone. Turn off that Ed Sheeran track you have been listening to on repeat to heal your pain. You’re better than that. We can get through this together.
Our “worst of” list gave you six tracks, and I am a strong believer that there must be at least twice as much good in the world, so let’s look on the bright side with the 12 best songs of 2015 so far.
12. Holy Holy: You Cannot Fall For Love Like a Dog (Album: When the Storms Would Come)
Holy Holy are already making massive waves and their debut album isn’t due out until the 17th of July. If this track is anything to go by, it is going to be expansive and powerful – a crowning achievement for the Brisbane/Melbourne duo. The pair, who we interviewed last year, produce a sound that is sophisticated and effortless, with sublime melodies, amplified by driving guitars.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVadO8BHRk]
11. The Chemical Brothers: Go ft. Q-Tip (Album: Born in the Echoes)
Daft Punk did it with their album Random Access Memories and The Chemical Brothers do it again with Go. Listeners are transported to a sleazy jaw-clenching nightclub in the best possible way -The kind of place where open chested shirts and questionable facial hair choices are not only accepted, but encouraged. And it sure as hell is better than the goddamn Salmon Dance
If it was a club from Saturday Night Live character Stefon, it would be the one called: “Thank You! Located inside a crashing blimp, this Eurotrash utopia is the creation of beatnik doctor Soul Patch Adams. This place has everything: Zip lines, fish food, that fat Hawaiian guy that no one invited, an old Pakistani woman that looks like a California Raisin…”
From album Born in the Echoes due out on July 17, I’ve got my dancing shoes ready for a marathon. Pre-order it here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2RPDZkY88]
10. Gang of Youths: Vital Signs (Album: The Positions)
Australian indie rock outfit Gang of Youths are just killing it with their vibrant chorale sound. They have all the weight and depth of bands like The National or Arcade Fire, but with far fewer collective years – so just imagine where they’ll end up! Vital Signs is an epic track spanning seven and a half minutes with a pulsing drumbeat and an anthemic build that reminds me of everything good about indie music. As wonderful, if not more so live than on record, make sure you get to a GoY gig as soon as you can.
9. A$AP Rocky: L$D (Album: At.Long.Last.A$AP)
To be honest, I wasn’t sure about A$AP Rocky’s latest release until I heard this track (but read our album review here to judge for yourself.) My best advice: turn it up loud. Real loud. You don’t just want to hear those sweet opening bass notes, you want to feel them right down in your toes. Overlaid with some saucy vocals from A$AP it’s enough to make a nun hot under the collar. It’s slick, smooth and surprisingly lovely. Considering it’s the only non-rap track on a sprawling rap album, we’re thinking A$AP could even consider a career move to making indie-psych music in the future. Oh, and for a stunning live rendition of this track, check this video out from A$AP’s recent performance on Jimmy Fallon’s late night talk show.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feDLr_e4v5A]
8. Torres: Sprinter (Album: Sprinter)
Torres weaves a story with her voice in a way that evokes PJ Harvey or Fiona Apple, but has a sadness that is all her own. Considering that Torres, aka Mackenzia Scott worked with PJ Harvey producer Robert Ellis and Portishead’s Adrian Utley, it’s not surprise that this is one hell of a gorgeous sound. Sprinter is a complex, emotional and enthralling track that makes you feel everything. I may be a glutton for punishment but I can’t stop listening.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6SIw30IOt8]
7. Alpine: Foolish (Album: Yuck)
The first taste of sophomore album Yuck, Foolish (which was appropriately released on April Fool’s Day) is very much the opposite. Sweet, syrupy and delicious, it’s a track that will no doubt leave you on a sugar high. Foolish sails you down a little river of good vibes and leaves you feeling toe tappingly blissful. The follow-up to their chart topping debut album A is for Alpine, Yuck officially dropped last week – purchase it here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6I4MZUtCCo]
6. Editors: No Harm (Album TBC)
Some songs just can’t be summed up in words. I could try and say it’s like the genetic recombination of Nick Cave and James Blake but it still wouldn’t sum up the cold, dark, haunted beauty in a way that does justice. Having been around for a lot longer than other artists on this list, it’s pure bliss to see bands who can consistently release songs of this calibre, four albums and more than a decade into their musical career. Deep, rich and seriously powerful, you need to listen to this track.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/200911419″]
5. Tyler, The Creator: The Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6-12 (Remix) (Album: Cherry Bomb)
Sometimes he can be hard to love, but when Tyler the Creator is on, he can also be hard to hate. The Odd Future ringleader, (who will be visiting our fair country later this year) just dropped his new album Cherry Bomb, and this is easily our favourite song from the release. On The Brown Stains… he is all the way on. It’s not ground breaking, sure, but it doesn’t need to be. Loud and obnoxious and raw in a way that’s really quite unique to the gravel-voiced rapper, there’s so much to love about this track.
4. Tame Impala: Cause I’m a Man (Album: Currents)
Kevin Parker and co. keep on dishing out their own brand of chill psychedelic licks that melt faces like ice cream on hot pavement. If I had to sum this track up with a picture it would look like this:
Their HIGHLY anticipated new album, Currents, is due out July 17th (the same day as the Holy Holy record, so it’s going to be a great day for Aus music!) If you need me, don’t, because I will be very much unavailable. Let’s hope that they actually see money from the sales this time. The internationally renowned psych-rockers will also be headlining July’s Splendour in the Grass, meaning that we’ll be among the first in the world to hear the new material performed live!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hefh9dFnChY]
3. Courtney Barnett: Pedestrian at Best (Album: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit)
I love our homegrown rock poet Courtney Barnett with a big heart and a healthy dose of jealousy. Who doesn’t? We love her so much that we’ve not just taken photos of the Melbourne artist rocking out, but we’ve reviewed her live show twice.
I often find myself wondering why I can’t be witty and profound while making catchy ballads about smoking weed and tending to my garden. Why can’t I be a modern female Bob Dylan with a great haircut? The answer is because she already does it so well, and deep down I think I am ok with that. Pedestrian At Best was one of our first tastes of her brilliant album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, which has gone on to become one of our absolute favourite albums of the year so far.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-nr1nNC3ds]
For now I will just make do with singing the lyrics really loud. Do it with me: I’m a Scorpiooooo!
Feels good right?
2. Alabama Shakes: Don’t Wanna Fight (Album: Sound & Color)
Brittany Howard can do no wrong. When the first single off Sound and Color, burst onto the airwaves in February I was a little nervous. I loved the band’s debut Boys & Girls so much I wasn’t sure they could live up to the hype. But all my expectations were turned on their head with that husky squeal, that soft growl, that old soul bursting from her 25 year old body. It’s pure ecstasy. If you loved their first album, you’ll love their second offering even more. Brilliantly complex and overwhelmingly diverse, it’s another one of our absolute highlights of the year so far.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nin-fiNz50M]
1. Kendrick Lamar: King Kunta (Album: To Pimp a Butterfly)
Was there ever any question that this would be at the top of the list? Kendrick Lamar is the golden goose with the Midas touch in 2015. Yes, that’s a lot of references to gold, but probably not enough to summarise how amazing this song is. It is smart, soulful, catchy and everything you want from a “song of the year.” Plus, if that isn’t enough it also incites some amazing dance moves, even from a rhythmically impaired white girl like me. As politically and culturally powerful as it is musically brilliant, this was a shoe-in for our top choice.
Try NOT dancing like Taylor Swift every time it comes on.
2015, I’d dare you to release a better song, but I am not sure my heart could take it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRK7PVJFbS8]
Today being a transgender woman may be a little easier than it was ten years ago. It may even be easier than it was one year ago. But, it still isn’t as easy as it should be. In recent weeks we have celebrated the progression of attitudes in light of Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out, but for every hundred supporters there is one vitriolic detractor. Unfortunately words and actions of hate cut deeper than those of support, and the road towards acceptance still feels a long way off for some.
On Friday night local Sydney punk rock musician and trans woman Stephanie McCarthy was brutally bashed while she was waiting to perform with her band Love Maul at the Town Hall Hotel in Newtown. We covered the story here. It was shocking to see that despite an outpouring of encouragement towards Ms. Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover, acts like this were still a reality for some. About her attackers McCarthy says, “one offender has already been arrested and charged, and the main offender’s arrest wont be far away.” While justice may be served in a legal sense, it is alarming to see something like this happen in Newtown, a place historically known for its diversity and acceptance.
Ms. McCarthy moved to Sydney from Newcastle after transitioning two and a half years ago and says, “I found the Newtown/Inner West area to be the safest place for someone like myself, and on the whole it has proven to be that way.” Many blame the lockout laws in Kings Cross for an increase in violence in the area, with an overflow of those left on the streets flooding in and looking for fights. While the State government maintains that it is trying to make the streets safer, it’s actions are driving attackers right towards those who are most vulnerable. As McCarthy states: “The lockout simply doesn’t work. It just moves the violence from one area to another.”
Anyone who has been out to the Cross on a Friday or Saturday night can likely imagine the perpetrators. However, the reason why males that revel in their own masculinity are so threatened by transgendered women remains confounding. Last week we openly spoke out about vulgar comments made by prominent rappers Snoop Dog and Chris Brown, including a particularly repulsive statement by Snoop calling Caitlyn Jenner a “science project.” While it may not be surprising that proponents of a genre of music often criticized for it’s treatment of women would not be spearheads for the transgender cause, it is nonetheless disturbing that these messages are being received and gaining momentum.
On Snoop, Brown and those that perpetuate transphobia McCarthy comments: “Men like these need to degrade others to validate their own heterosexuality. It is immature, pathetic and it encourages the violence like the type I suffered.”
In light of this, I was curious to know how the local punk scene has received McCarthy as a woman and a performer. “The Sydney punk community has been welcoming to me from day 1,” she says. “It is easily the most diverse and accepting music community I have ever been part of. Sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia is simply not accepted in this community.” In this world, the path has already been paved in some senses by front-woman Laura Jane Grace of band Against Me! who came out as a transgender woman in 2012. The group has since released an album called Transgender Dysphobia Blues.
With Against Me! touring at the moment I knew McCarthy was a fan, and asked what influence Grace has had on her as a person and a musician. “Laura has been very helpful to me over the last few years,” she says, “She and I have known each other online for several years, and she is extremely supportive of me and other trans folks in the music scene. She has also spread the word about this incident quite a bit, and has spoken to me personally about it. She, like all trans folks, is appalled that this has happened, and it is determined to see justice done. As for her music, she has been a big influence on me for years, well before either of us transitioned. Her position in the public eye is not an easy one, and she has handled it in a way many would not.”
Grace’s coming out was a relatively small blip on the media horizon in contrast to Caitlyn Jenner. While Jenner no doubt looks beautiful, some consider her media treatment over glamourised, and I can’t help but wonder if the support would be as widespread if she wasn’t as well manicured. In a tweet that hits hard a trans activitist recently stated:
Rich trans people get hashtags when they come out. Poor trans people get hashtags when they’re dead.
— Ecks (@Ecksmas) June 2, 2015
McCarthy confirms that the news is a catch 22. “Whilst the visibility she has created is certainly a great thing for the trans community, she is far from the average trans person, and she enjoys privilege that the average trans person can only dream of. Hers is certainly not the average trans experience.” While there may not be an average experience, I felt that it was important to understand what is happening through the eyes of someone that we could encounter on any given day in our local community. When someone says something mean to Caitlyn Jenner, it is almost plausible to hide behind the excuse that she comes from an attention mongering family, and forget that she is a real person. When someone attacks a local musician like Stephanie McCarthy, the truth hits closer to home.
McCarthy commented recently in the media that she has been assaulted before and knows she will be again. In closing I asked her for any words of encouragement she has for those struggling with attacks on their own sexuality or gender:
“To other trans/queer folks suffering abuse, discrimination and violence, I say to stay strong. Being out there and visible is how attitudes change. Many people in society would like to see people like me hidden from view, but I refuse to live my life like that. I made a promise to myself when I transitioned that I would continue to do the things I love, for example play and see shows, and I have kept that promise. It may put me at a higher risk of violence, but I will not be told what I can and can’t do by bigots.”
As she continues to heal from the attack, Stephanie makes no excuses for who she is, and we look forward to a time when she won’t need to.
Locals protested in Sydney this week, after transgender musician Stephanie McCarthy was bashed at a concert at Newtown’s Town Hall Hotel on Friday. The protest against violence and transphobia was held at the Hub on King Street, before moving to the Town Hall Hotel.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, McCarthy said that she was waiting to perform with her band Love Maul, when she was assaulted in an unprovoked attack involving five men. McCarthy took to twitter with shocking images of her face after the bashing, and has been deeply critical of the venue’s management of the incident, stating that they did not do enough to prevent the attack or detain the assailants. Considering that Newtown has traditionally been one of the most LGBT-friendly areas in the city, it’s a surprising and disappointing event for many reasons.
This is what happened to me last night at the Town Hall Hotel. Was supposed to play, got bashed for being trans….. pic.twitter.com/ulqa9F69Ka
— Stephanie McCarthy (@tallpunksteph) June 5, 2015
In an offhand twitter response that strikes a chord, McCarthy says: “No Vanity Fair cover for me!” Over recent weeks, the media has been rife with coverage of the transformation of Caitlyn Jenner, with a general outpouring of support for the transgender community. However, acceptance is clearly not yet all pervading. Recently we published an article about the ignorance of prominent rap musicians in regards to transgender issues when Snoop Dogg repulsively referred to Ms. Jenner as a “science experiment.” It is disheartening to see this brand of hate also pervading our local music community – and to see it within our very own society, in our very own country.
The suburb of Newtown is known for it’s diverse and vibrant community, and acts of this nature are becoming too common according to locals. McCarthy says lockout laws are to blame and that “there are people coming out on Friday and Saturday nights that never used to go out in Newtown, and they’re just here to bash people. They’re just here to get loaded on drinks and drugs and fight.”
We wish Stephanie all the best in her recovery and hope that the support across social media and the wider community continues to flood in. The search for the offenders is ongoing and anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Watch this short interview with McCarthy courtesy of Fairfax Media.
When it is your significant others birthday, most people would settle for a piece of jewellery and a nice dinner. But, in an act of love and generosity that is only befitting of the Kimye duo, Kim Kardashian rented out the Staples Centre so that hubby Kanye West could play ball with some NBA Players on his 38th birthday.
Twitter has been rife with images from the extravagant gathering, displaying Kanye surrounded by players including Russell Westbrook and John Wall, all wearing a jersey sporting his name. The story of course wouldn’t be complete without the presence of fellow narcissist Justin Bieber and his infamous abs. If that’s not enough, we should also mention that John Legend sang the national anthem and NBA greats including Shaquille O’Neille and Magic Johnson made videos that played on the jumbotron. The day is said to have cost $110,000.
In other KimYe news, the pair have just announced that they’re giving birth to a second child, a sibling for their daughter North West. As Kanye rapped in his verse on A$AP Rocky’s recent album At. Long. Last. A$AP (which we reviewed here) – “I’ve got one child, one child.. but i’m fuckin’ fuckin’ fuckin’ like I”m tryna make four more.” Furthermore, the couple are reportedly in talks to create a movie about their lives. While we are admittedly having trouble actually believing this story, it nevertheless sounds like a movie we would definitely watch multiple times.
All this comes after Kim took to twitter yesterday with an endearing post about her husband and baby daddy declaring him her best friend and signing off with the #SWISH that seems to be West’s buzz word of the moment.
Love them or hate them, nobody does celebrity coupledom quite like this pair.
In a recent appearance on the TED stage, mathematician Scott Rickard debuted the first ever pattern free piano sonata during his talk titled The Beautiful Math Behind The Ugliest Music.
That’s right – the world’s ugliest music. But what exactly does that mean? What makes music ugly or beautiful – and who gets to decide, anyway?
Rickard proposes that the very thing that makes music beautiful is repetition: expectation for repetition builds throughout a song or composition, and can respond with either a denial or realisation of the expected repetition. He makes the point early that creating pattern free music is not the same as randomness. It is based off a complex mathematical equation called the Costa Array used primarily in sonar.
For those like me who are a little bit number illiterate, don’t fear. Rickard explains the theory in an elementary way that translates even to the novice. Walking through the historical background of how such a piece came to exist, he brings us to an 88×88 grid, which can be paired with the 88 keys on a piano to create the sonata.
As the music is delivered for the first time Rickard jokes that it is “music only a mathematician could write.” It brings on a sense of discomfort much like the jilted clashes of a horror movie soundtrack. An occasional sound or reverberation jumps out but as you look for something to cling to, you are thrown back into the disarray.
The study is a fascinating look not only at the mathematics of music, but the creative process itself, and what compels listeners to identify with certain songs. Rickard implores the audience as they listen to “try and find some repetition, try and find something you enjoy, then revel in the fact that you won’t find it.”
You can check out the whole talk below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RENk9PK06AQ]
As part of an exhibition that has been showing at New York’s Museum of Modern Art since March, the Icelandic quirkstress Bjork has produced a 360-degree virtual reality music video, now available online to the delight of music and tech nerds worldwide.
The video accompanies the track Stonemilker, which in itself is more of the same Bjork-y chirping we have become accustomed to over the span of her 20-year career. On pressing play, you will see the petite frame of the singer on a sparse lakeside landscape shot on location in Iceland by director Andrew Huang. You can then move the screen to survey the surroundings or follow along as her flowing yellow dress moves from frame to frame. It is not the most remarkable experience on a desktop, but it is undoubtedly a taste of some pretty psychedelic future experiences.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQEyezu7G20]
If you have an android device you can pick up a pair of Google Cardboard goggles for the price of your lunch, and immerse yourself in the experience through the VR enabled Youtube add-on.
We are living in the future! Embrace it!
Always one to change her sound, style and image, we are big fans of the Scandinavian artist. Bjork’s fierce originality and independence is a rare trait in today’s music industry, and it’s videos like this which prove her to be more than a musician, but a pioneer.
Bjork’s last full record was Vulnicara – check out our album review here.
Alabama Shakes have premiered the video for single Don’t Wanna Fight today. Staged at the famous Capitol Records Studio A, the stripped back footage veers away from fanfare and focuses on what the group do best: rocking out. Twenty-five-year old front-woman and guitar powerhouse Brittany Howard continues to amaze, with a voice and talent well beyond her years. As she growls into the microphone from the opening note, the clip transports viewers to a place of soulful, gospel, bluesy goodness.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nin-fiNz50M]
The clip is the first in a series of four tracks off Alabama Shakes’ new album shot by photographer Danny Clinch. After falling in love with the record, Clinch says “My director of photography and I decided that the way to capture the pure energy of these songs live would be to shoot it with one camera, no edits, and follow the energy of the song. It really paid off. Not only is Brittany a powerhouse, but her range is stunning, from screaming to whispering and everything in between, with a band that is right there with her, as she is about to go over the edge.”
Don’t Wanna Fight is the lead single from Alabama Shakes’ latest release Sound & Colour. One of our favourite albums of the year so far, we highly recommend giving it a listen (and you can read our review here.) The group are doing so much more than most artists out there today; creating a powerful, diverse sound that’s not only unique, but fluid and incredibly captivating.
The group will be heading out on a mammoth US/Europe tour shortly with a slew of special guests including Australia’s own Courtney Barnett – we were blown away when we caught her live recently, so you know this is going to be one seriously great bill. If you have a bit of disposable income or find yourself in that part of the world, check out the details here.
Australian hip-hop hero Seth Sentry, drops his brand new album Strange New Past today. With this extensive, but collection of tracks Seth unpacks a suitcase of memories, baring a little bit more of his soul to listeners than ever before. Exploring his emotions, identity, and success, he casts a nostalgic glance that will strike a chord with suburban youth past and present.
The Melbourne MC waxes lyrical on opening track How Are You, talking about duelling identities and honesty. A tone of frustration runs through the lyrics that are delivered with a gruff rumble: I feel alright/I got everything I didn’t want/ I got paid/ I got my name in slightly bigger font. Grappling with fame and expectations of happiness, he hasn’t lost his sense of humour – something we hear a lot more of throughout the next few tracks. Finding a balance between the serious and the silly, he now couples his jibes with self-aware reflections bringing a welcome maturity to his rhymes.
Listeners are likely already familiar with single track Run receiving ample airtime in the lead up to the album’s release. It serves as an anthem to anyone who has ever been young, bored and broken the law. Although he hails from Melbourne’s outer southern suburbs, Seth has a way of conjuring poignant images that can apply to almost any fringe locale: There’s a bunch of Frankenstein’s up on the Frankston Line/ Dead folks scratching their neck bolts/ It’s not their fault cause they were just never given chances/ Zombies in button up FILA pants doing the thriller dance. It’s these realities with twinges of sadness that make the album so accessible.
This brand of storytelling continues throughout, littered with self-deprecating jabs about Sentry’s own intelligence, especially apparent on track Dumb. However, with literary references to Dorian Gray, Hunter S. Thompson and Carl Sagan, chances are the rapper is a little wiser than he is letting on. His self-esteem seems to be doing just fine though, displayed on the borderline egotistical, brash and incredibly impressive second single Hell Boy, littered with a gorgeous jazzy bass and soulful sampling. This track is the most prominent on the album with the deft production values of long time collaborator Styalz Fuego.
In a recent interview with us (which you’ll be able to read soon), Seth explained that working with Styalz allowed him to find a balance between a hardcore hip-hop album and one that’s accessible to people who don’t necessarily like rap music. Having worked with many pop artists, Styalz balanced his obsessively detailed lyricism with hooks and singalong melodies. “He’s got a real pop sensibility” he said. “I always come at things from a lyrical point of view – I just wanna rap good. And he’s more like, ‘let’s make a good song… so I think there was a good balance between us.”
Equally listenable and stunningly detailed, it’s an incredibly impressive rap album, marking a completely new chapter in the rapper’s book.
Listened to in succession, the songs start to blend together with their radio friendly beats and habitual themes, but as stand alone’s there are some real ear-worms that will burrow in and scratch for days. An album that delves deep into Seth’s past – including many topics he’s never discussed openly before, including those about his father and family life, he told us that he spent a lot more time honing in on his own past here, than he did on his last album. Much of the album feels like a kind of confessional – one of those letters you write to people, but never send them. When we asked him if it was therapeutic to sift through his past, he answered, “Massively, yeah. A lot of these things were things I’d never really talked about… I just didn’t put a filter on it this time. Normally I work so hard on getting the right concept for a song and stick to that, but this time, whatever my first instinct was when I heard the music, was what I wrote about. And it felt good! I felt lighter afterwards, but it was definitely a struggle. I write a lot of revisions on songs, I’ll draft and re-draft things, so I have to keep putting myself back into that headspace every time I wanna go and add a new part to it or rewrite the lyrics. That was exhausting.
It might have been exhausting, but it’s really paid off. Flexing his lyrical muscles in a way we hadn’t heard on his previous album, he’s proved to be one of, if not the best wordsmith in the country.
Giving further homage to Seth’s small town roots, the album will be backed by a mammoth 48-date tour spanning the entire country, for which he’ll be joined by Dylan Joel and our mate Ivan Ooze (who sent us a wicked playlist a few days ago). If you would like to catch him live, check here for all the details. Oh, and click here to purchase that sweet, sweet music.
Florence Welch does not shy away from mountains on her newest release How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. On the third album from her band Florence and the Machine, she presents an offering of grandiose proportions. For what is essentially a break-up album, there is an expansiveness that makes you wonder if the songstress truly thinks hers is the first heart to be broken. Florence cry’s herself a river so big it becomes an ocean, and then sails out into its stormy depths.
Nautical themes abound right from opening track Ship to Wreck through to Queen of Peace, where Florence describes herself as “dissolving like the setting sun, like a boat into oblivion.” Each song crashes like a furious wave into the next, making the album seem unanchored and flailing with all it’s emotional discord. There is so much tragedy (sleeping pills, broken limbs, shark attack, patron saints), that as a listener, it’s like being thrashed on the shore unable to catch your breath.
Lighter moments like Kiss with a Fist or Dog Days are Over, that propelled the band to fame with their debut release Lungs in 2009, are now blips on the distant horizon. The closest HBHBHB comes to letting its hair down is the self affirming track Delilah, with its pulsing drum beat and an infectious melody. Along with second single What Kind of Man, this is a definite highlight.
Throughout the album, we are reminded that Welch has a voice that can shake walls; but this doesn’t means she needs to try to bring the house down every time. Some of her finest moments are those of restraint, like the softer Various Storms and Saints. Majority of the album is spent building towards moments where she can unleash her wailing vibrato and feels wholly overstated. The arrangements on the album are rich and orchestral, but many of the subtle nuances are lost beneath the blanketing vocals.
As someone once described it to me, Florence and the Machine make music that people’s mums should listen to. HBHBHB has a polished and digestible finish that teeters on the fringe of modern pop/rock with just the right amount of edginess. An album that will fill stadiums with its towering sounds, and audiences whose own heartache seems insignificant in comparison.
For those wanting to take part, Florence and the Machine headline Splendour in the Grass in July, with two sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne. You can check out our full list of Splendour sideshows, ticketing details and more here.