We needn’t look further than our own backyards for amazing new music across pretty much every genre there is. Sure, there’s great stuff coming from overseas too, of course, but we’ve seen an incredible run of fantastic tunes from upcoming and established Australian acts over the last few months, and it’s only getting better. Here’s some of our favourite recent Australian indie and electronic releases.

PVT, Another Life

All hail PVT, who are about to release their first album in three years, New Spirit. Last week they dropped this video for recent single Another Life. It’s the second taste of the album, following from last year’s triumphant nine-minute epic, Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend. The pristinely produced video, directed by Jim Pillion, is an utterly engaging visual accompaniment to the layered, dynamic, fairly ominous single. It was filmed in central Romania, and is absolutely magnetic.

Joyride, Twilight Driving (Methyl Ethel cover)

One Dayer Joyride returns with a cover of a track a little out of his comfort zone, revamped the eerie 2015 indie track with a bright and bouncy electronic treatment, while keeping it still fairly sparse and understated. Joyride’s airy vocals and spritely synths transplant the track into a completely new, unexpected environment – and that’s the best kind of cover. This is the first in a new series for Joyride, who has selected a few of his favourite Aussie songs to rework – we’re excited to see which tune he picks next.

Ali Barter, Cigarette

Ali Barter has today announced her debut album A Suitable Girl, set for release on March 24. The 11-track offering features, among other tracks, Girlie Bits and the newly released Cigarette, which furthers her dynamic, bright grunge-pop sound. Her high, dulcet lilt is a beautiful contrast against heady, distorted guitar chords and chugging riffs, making for another jangly, catchy tune from the upcoming artist. Already known for her energetic live performances, we have no doubt that Barter’s album will be a heartfelt, acclaimed debut.

Oliver Tank, Swerve

It’s been a full three years since we heard from Oliver Tank, once touted to be the next big thing in Australian electronic (unfortunately his rise was largely eclipsed by that of another young electronic gun emerging at the time, Flume). New single Swerve sees him expanding on that gentle atmospheric sound he became first known for, taking things even slower and more ambient than before, injecting Bon Iver-type harmonies into the sparsely used vocal layer. We’re looking forward to see how this sound develops, assuming a new EP will be on its way in the coming months.

Fierce Mild, Solaris

Fierce Mild’s new single Solaris sort of cherry-picks elements of many of rock’s most epic genres – Pink Floyd–esque chanty bits and pained yells, postrock-inspired flickery guitars and huge-crescendos-followed-by-instant-breakdown, a little metal percussion for added ferocity. Fierce Mild clearly have a lot of talent for emulating their favourite artists, and though they currently wear their influences a little too proudly on their sleeves, I genuinely feel like they will craft something quite special once they come into their own.

Wet Lips, Can’t Take It Anymore

Can’t Take It Anymore is a fantastic feminist punk anthem from Melbourne’s Wet Lips, an aggressive, partially tongue-in-cheek take on how the band found themselves getting booked as the “token girl band” on all-male lineups. Sonically it’s simple and bouncy in the best way possible, awash with the energy and punch of a band like Sleater-Kinney and a Siouxsie-style singalong chorus. The lyrics are hilarious at times, pointed at others, and make a damn important point about how female bands are still perceived by so many today.

The Brouhaha, Audrey’s Song

Audrey’s Song is a gorgeous, soulful piece out of Adelaide. Kelly Breuer’s velvety smooth vocals are not only rich and jazzy, but sincere in a way that really does make you believe “we’re gonna feel alright,” as the chorus insists. The folk instrumentation is simple and sunny, but the flippant twists and twirls of the melody, along with the backing vocals, serve as the perfect embellishment to the playful, feel-good tune.

Image: Wet Lips c/o Future Popes

2016 has been another huge year for breakout grunge-pop artist Ali Barter. Following on from the release of her outstanding AB-EP in 2015, the singer has toured the country alongside the likes of City Calm Down, The Jezebels and The Rubens, as well as appearing at festivals including Laneway Festival, Fairgrounds Festival and Disconnect, and is about to play Beyond The Valley and a headline tour in support of her new single Girlie Bits. Between all the touring, she has also had time to send this essay viral courtesy of Junkee, in addition to scoring heavy triple J rotation. It’s been 12 months since we last caught up, so we figured Christmas was the perfect time to check in on how she was feeling.

2016 has been a huge year for you, what are some things that you have learnt from those bigger shows this year?

Playing with The Jezebels was really awesome because they have such a tight show. I haven’t done an incredible amount of touring in my life. I’ve had bits and pieces here and there but watching them is really great because they are so high energy and you can just tell that they have toured a lot. It’s just good to watch people who have done it for a really long time and just realise, cool, this is what can happen when you work really hard at something.

You just completed your own national run of dates to see out the year. Did you go about things any differently in light of those experiences?

It was kind of the first time I’ve played a full set, not just a support set. We played for a full hour, and I haven’t done heaps of that. It’s just about learning the audience, keeping them engaged, learning how to structure your set, just wanting to give the audience a really good time and thinking about the kind of things that wouldn’t bother you if you were a support act.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4xdkil-DFQ

How did it go touring this year with the rest of your band? Has that changed the dynamic?

We spent a lot of time together in the second half of this year, and they are all really easy to tour with. They are all really easygoing people so we can just be good friends. It shows when we play, we have a good time together. When you spend more time together and tour with each other, you get to know each other and when you play music, it all comes together in a really nice way. I’m lucky that the people who play in my band are legends and really fucking good musicians as well.

How did you guys all meet?

I started out playing open mic nights so I met some people through there, but I wanted to meet more people so I went to uni. That was where I met Andrew who is my drummer, and then Tyler, who plays bass, also plays with my friend Ben Wright-Smith. My guitarist also plays in Dorsal Fins and used to play in Eagle & The Worm, so he was this muso dude who played around a lot that I met through the scene. We just all came from our own funny beginning.

On Instagram, you have been sharing pictures from the studio. Is it ever a challenge getting your backing band on board with what you are doing musically?

I write all my own music, so I start off writing by myself and then I do some co-writing with other people before bringing it to the band. I’m lucky that they like what I bring to them, they are pretty chill. They just like to play music and they play with various other bands to so I’ve never had to deal with issues. They might think bad things but they never say it.

One of the highlights of 2016 for was collaborating onstage with Ecca Vandal for Triple J’s 10 years of Unearthed party. Are there any big collaborations coming up for you over the next 12 months?

I did some co-writing on the album I’m currently writing which was fun. Nobody is performing on the record, but Bertie Blackman and I did some co-writing, and I also some co-writing with Adalita which was a dream co-write, despite the fact that she had a horrible cold and was only there for two hours, with me feeling really bad that she had come such a long way just to write a song with me. She was amazing, though.

You’ve said in the past that “classic songwriting” is what you really love and aim for. How do you define this personally?

I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra, my dad and I would listen to him along with Cole Porter and Geroge Gershwin and all those old standard writers. When I think of classic songwriting I think of really simple structures, like “verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.” Song. Done. I also love pop music so I love a catchy hook or a tag-line, similar to Sia in Chandelier. I guess they are two artists that I look to. Country music also has classic songwriting. Stuff that has a really nice melody and simple structure, plus a message.

Do you feel that simple songwriting is a thing of the past nowadays?

No, I don’t think it will ever die. At the core of most music, you can find that simplicity. For example, some of those Flume songs are just dressed up in beats and this modern interpretation, but if you look closely, there is a really simple song in there. If someone wants to, they can sit down and play it with a guitar. I still listen to people like Cat Power, and people will listen to that stuff forever. It’s the same with The Beatles. A human singing a song with an instrument will never die.

Just to touch on your article you wrote concerning women in music, do you feel that artists have any type of responsibility to use their platform for activism?

I don’t think musicians have a responsibility, they should just do what they do. Obviously, if people want to speak up they should use what they have, though. I didn’t even realise that when it ended up being the Junkee article happened. I was just typing an angry Facebook post like every man and their dog does, and then it got some attention. I wasn’t doing it because I was thinking, I’m gonna stand up for women and change the world and blah blah blah. I did it because it was just a feeling I had. I don’t think anyone has a responsibility. Do whatever the fuck you want. I do think it’s a good platform though for people to bring attention to injustices or whatever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjqtZqc1ac

Ali Barter will appear at Beyond The Valley over New Years – details here – and will be on tour in January:

Screen Shot 2016-12-28 at 12.25.04 PM

Image: Supplied

First coming to attention as the winner of Triple J’s Unearthed competition in 2013, Ali Barter has been on a steady rise ever since. From her humble beginnings at open mic nights around her hometown of Melbourne, to travelling over to LA to write and record her new single. Barter has crafted sombre pop songs with an ear catching attention to melody. Now though, she has returned with a rocking new single Far Away, some of her best work to date. Howl and Echoes got to chat with the songwriter about all things India, new beginnings, and taking the drastic action of deleting all her notes off her phone.

How was your Australia Day?

I felt like I didn’t know what to do with Australia Day because there’s so much division in what to do with the day. Do we hate ourselves, do we pay our respects, do we get drunk, or do we just listen to Triple J? I was quite happy to just hang with babies and be able to not think about anything else, besides changing nappies and feeding children.

In an interview a while ago you said you, “stopped playing around with beats and synths and trying to be cool anymore,” what made you want to change your approach?

I guess I felt like it wasn’t me. I think doing a few EPs was really good too, because I got to try some things out. I’ve not always known exactly what I want to sound like or exactly who I am. So you know, you have to experiment a bit.

I got down to the simplicity of it and thought; what do I listen to, who do I like, and what am I drawn to? So then it became really easy and clear what I had to do, or what I didn’t want to do anymore. It’s a process of elimination sometimes.

Is it right that you were a choir singer for ten years?

Yep, I was in the Australian Girls’ Choir for about ten years.

So did that feed into your music later on, or did you try to distance yourself and get as far away from it as possible?

I guess when I was 17, 18 I resented it a bit and didn’t want to do it anymore [laughs]. I tried to get as far away from it as possible. But no, I learnt incredible things there. I love harmony. I love putting harmony on things, so I would never have learnt all that stuff if I hadn’t have been in the choir for so long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrwULoNd2w

You came up the traditional way, playing open mic nights and building your fan base up from a local base. You haven’t followed the steps nowadays where a lot of people start as bedroom producers, what made you follow this route?

Well for starters I’m a terrible producer. So I tried, but I could never pick a damn sound. I would look at it all and not know what to do with it. It would drive me insane. I just wanted to write songs and sing them.

I started quite late, I think I was 24 when I started playing and writing songs properly so I just wanted a safe place. Open mic nights are a safe place for a beginner, so I just did a lot of them. Then the next thing happened because I just kept on doing the next thing. I don’t think I’ve tried to force it too much, which is a good thing for me.

You said you were looking for a sense of community and found it in music, what was it about music that gave you this sense of connection?

I never grew up with any other musicians or people who wrote songs in high school or after it. It was only when I was 24 that I met people doing that. I really liked the sensitivity and the obsession with song. You just sort of band together and I’ve got a really amazing group of friends who play music. I guess sometimes it takes a while for you to find your place. I tried other groups of people, like I worked in hospitality for years but just ended up drinking too much, so that scene wasn’t really for me. Then I found all these muso’s and thought it was really good.

You’ve got your own label Ronnie Records, was this created with all these friends or is it a solo thing?

It’s just me and Oscar Dawson. We started that a couple of years ago, must have been 2014 when we released my first EP Community. We’ve got other friends jumping on board now, Ben Wright Smith. I’m not sure if he’s doing something that we’re involved with this year, it’s all very loose.

So you’ve sort of found that community you were looking for with your label?

Yeah, we just help each other out. Also last year Ben and I did a few shows together and it was really nice to support each other. You know, we share a lot of the same band members, so we were keeping it in the family a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vssiXwh-720

I want to talk about your lyrics a bit. You’ve said they’re the last thing you work on, after chords and melody. A lot of your recent stuff is very evocative though, so I was wondering if there has been a shift in the way you work with and look at your lyrics?

Yeah, I guess when I sit down to work on a song I’ll always play chord and melody first, then I’ll always have words in my phone that I have written down from some other time. That’s sort of the way it still happens. I don’t know if I’ve changed it. I sometimes get bored with the process, and I think I’m a bit bored with it now. I think I might have to do something different.

I actually just deleted all of my notes in my phone the other day, I thought they were all sad and depressing. So now when I’m writing I’m like “I don’t have any words!” [laughs]. I’ll have to go on a holiday or something and have an experience so I can start writing lyrics again.

Talking of holidays, you said you were a big fan of India and regularly went there. What makes you keep going back, and what is it about Indian music that you love so much?

I love India, it’s just one of those places where it’s a land of extremes. It’s very beautiful though. It’s colourful, the food’s amazing, and it’s so big. I haven’t seen nearly enough of it and I’ve been there four times.

I find the music really soothing. Sometimes I can’t listen to Western music because it gets me too fired up, like it’ll start me off thinking about writing again. On Spotify I listen to Night Ragas for each different time of the day. The night ones are particularly relaxing, they’re so beautiful. Then I can also pretend I’m in India when I listen to it.

Your previous releases had quite a sombre pop sound, but your new single Far Away sees you with a different sound. You went to LA to write last year, was it that experience which changed your sound or was it something you were moving towards naturally?

I think I was moving towards a different sound before I went to LA. But by going there and getting a different perspective I came back and thought ‘I want to record this differently.’ I don’t want so many layers, I just want it to be a bit simpler. I didn’t want it to be so heartfelt and languid. Let’s just try a loud, fast song.

Far Away is a complete expression of how I was feeling on the day. So when I came back home I just wanted to record it in a day. I didn’t want it to be a long and drawn out process.

It’s got a real heavy sound, is that something that will be continued on the rest of your album?

We haven’t actually done the rest of it yet. We have done four or five demos though, and they are a bit simpler. I think Far Away is going to be one of the highest points we hit-like for that level of energy and heaviness. It’ll be a range but the single will definitely be a reference for what’s to come.

In it you talk about how you’ve spent so much time on freeways and the internet that you feel disconnected. What’s your relationship with social media, is it something you like or do you see it as a necessary evil that you have unfortunately become addicted to like everybody else?

Well yeah, that’s what it is. Social media unfortunately has the power to make you feel amazing or make you feel like you want to kill yourself. It is a necessary evil. But I always want to delete my Facebook account [laughs]. It’s just one of those things.

I don’t know, look, there’s good days and bad days, there’s ups and there’s downs. If things are going well I love checking my Instagram. If there’s nothing happening or I feel a bit insecure or down on myself, then Instagram will ruin my day [laughs].

You’re going to be performing at Laneway Festival next month, what are you hoping to bring with your show?

I just want them to be really fun and really loud. I have an awesome band and we’ve been rehearsing, and still have a couple of more sessions coming up. We’ve got some new songs to play- lots of new songs actually. Yeah, it’ll be a bit of a new vibe.

I think I care less, which is a good thing. You know, like I’m not so stressed about what I’m going to wear, what it’s going to sound like, or if it’s going to move people or whatever. I just want to play music that’s going to be fun. And that’s something I always tell the band. No one cares as long as everyone’s having a good time.

Do you think you were too caught up with things like aesthetics and what people thought of your music beforehand?

Yeah, a bit. I mean I can say that now, but I am me and I still have my little neuroses. I definitely did get too stressed about the little things before. So hopefully I can keep this going [laughs].

Finally, I read that you were a massive fan of soundtrack albums, what’s one of your favourites?

My all-time favourite is Stealing Beauty. It has Superstition by Stevie Wonder, Glory Box by Portishead, Nina Simone is on there- it’s just so good. It’s a film by Bernardo Bertolucci about a girl coming of age while on holiday in Tuscany. It sounds really daggy, but the music is really beautifully done. It’s very evocative, and I love that.

Ali Barter will be performing at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival next month: 

Dates and venues:

Friday 5 February – Harts Mill, Port Adelaide (16+)
Saturday 6 February – Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane (16+)
Sunday 7 February – Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney
Saturday 13 February – Footscray Community Arts Centre And The River’s Edge, Melbourne
Sunday 14 February – Esplanade Reserve and West End, Fremantle

Tickets and details here

 

Ali Barter is primed to release her third EP, titled AB-EP on September 4, and it is absolutely beautiful. Co-written and produced by Holy Holy‘s Oscar Dawson, and mixed by local Melbourne producer Stephen Mowat, AB-EP is a refined, enchanting collection of tracks.

The former Triple J Unearthed winner has spent the last few years sharpening her sound and fleshing out her songs with like-minded artists. She’s supported artists such as The War on Drugs, Phosphorescent and Husky, as well as making a name for herself in Melbourne’s thriving live music scene. The resulting EP is full of promise and potential. Not particularly long (AB-EP only features seven tracks, including a radio edit of Barter’s latest single Blood) each song is carefully selected, demonstrating a different angle of Ali Barter’s musical prowess.

The leading single Blood is both delicate and powerful, combining a strong guitar track with nostalgic, aching lyrics. Lines like “Your blood don’t get me high anymore” render the song one of the darker tracks on the EP. Hypercolour is dreamy and ethereal, lifted by a heavier drum beat. The song addresses the difficulties that artists face in trying to be seen, and the importance of creating a sound that makes you happy, regardless of what others think.

The EP kind of drifts gently from song to song from here on in. I Ask for So Little is a powerful reflection on the way that we make sacrifices when we are in love, however it loses motivation, toeing a confusing line between affection and contempt. If You Go and It’s Not Real show off some impressive vocals and guitar work, but don’t pack as much punch as Blood or Hypercolour. Ode 2 Summer is possibly my favourite track, reminiscent of those incredible heatwaves in Melbourne that leave you incapable of doing anything productive. With a powerful chorus, it picks up the pace of the EP, suggesting that it potentially could have been included a little more towards the beginning.

Ali Barter is definitely going places; whether she’s there quite yet, I can’t say. The EP is strong, but would benefit from a stronger emotional arch, as at the moment it seems a little more like a collection of her best singles. That being said, Barter is obviously aware of her own limitations, by enlisting a rich range of talent to flesh out and produce her songs she shows an acute awareness of the need to grow. She’s also fine-tuned her sound significantly over the course of her short, productive career. We should expect big things from her.