Parramatta’s premiere summer festival The Plot returned this year ready to bring Plotters some of the biggest up and coming names in Australian music. Part I features Gold Fields, Indian Summer, Ocean Alley, Polographia, Tash Sultana, Ivan Ooze, Ziggy Alberts, Dylan Joel, Montaigne, Vera Blue, Elizabeth Rose, Alex Lahey, Pierce Brothers, Confidence Man, Luca Brasi, Japanese Wallpaper, Allday and The Bennies. Check the action below.
Gold Fields
Indian Summer
Ocean Alley
Polographia
Tash Sultana
Ivan Ooze
Ziggy Alberts
Dylan Joel
Montaigne
Vera Blue
Elizabeth Rose
Alex Lahey
Pierce Brothers
Confidence Man
Luca Brasi
Japanese Wallpaper
Allday
The Bennies
Photos: Teresa Pham/Howl & Echoes
Here it is, your weekly playlist of some of our favourite new songs this week! We try to cover as much ground as possible, and here’s a few amazing new tracks we might have missed throughout the week.
Enjoy!
- Roots Manuva, On A High
Off the back of last year’s stunning new album Bleeds, On A High can be found on the upcoming deluxe version. Backed by an eerie, synth-based instrumental and a thin, rather unsettling vocal loop, Roots paints a dark, lyrically illustrative picture, ominous but not quite as gritty as some of last year’s tracks. This is another great track, with Roots continuing his reign as one of the UK’s best hip-hop exports ever. Read our review of the incredible Bleeds here. - Aphty Khea, Onyx Glitz
Aphty Khea has just released a two-track EP, and it’s so good that we’re featuring both right here. The slinky, electro-trip hop offerings immediately evoke a lush, immersive atmosphere that I quickly found myself lost among. The rhythm and sparse instrumental layers, predominantly percussive effects and glitchy piano trickles, create an unsettling backdrop which slowly builds behind the multi-layered vocal melody. - Aphty Khea, Peacebloom
The second half of Khea’s EP, Peacebloom begins with a briefly noisy sample, before we’re immediately thrust into a much deeper atmosphere. The huge beat and deep, resounding bass quickly forms a syncopated rhythm, as a seductive vocal loop injects melody up above. I absolutely love how deep and trippy this instrumental is, and the vocal melody is simply sublime. Of the two, this is my favourite, but put together, you’ve got an incredible eight minutes of sonic magic. - Marcus, Toast
Another incredible upcoming name in hip-hop from our own backyard, Melbourne’s Marcus has this week released new track Toast, following on from his new mixtape Pizza For Breakfast. The production is really beautiful, courtesy of Basquiat JR, best known for producing Joey Badass’ Christ Conscious. Marcus has a really smooth, natural flow, an absolute pleasure to listen to for the track’s theme-appropriate 4:20 running time. - Ryan Hemsworth, Wait ft. Keaton Henson & Mitski
Goddamn. The Adult Swim singles series just gets better and better each week. Today, we’ve got a brand new Ryan Hemsworth production, featuring deep vocals from Keaton Henson, along with the delicate darkness of Mitski, who just released new album Puberty 2. This is a deeply emotive track, and the low chords, robotic synth effects and both guests’ vocals altogether create something really quite heavy and introverted. - Tempesst, Broke Down Blues
Lightening the mood a bit, The Aussie born, London based duo Tempesst are back with a rich, twangy, guitar-laden campfire track. Raucous and bluesy (as the name might suggest), this is so, so catchy and a real pleasure to listen to – you can absolutely picture this as a late night festival singalong. - Dom Zilla, Tonight
We’ve covered the UK’s Dom Zilla a couple times before, and each time, I love it. New track Tonight is a blissfully smooth, full, soulful offering. “I don’t need nobody tonight,” he begins, forming a calmly comforting atmosphere that flows so beautifully throughout this wonderful track. - Japanese Wallpaper, Cocoon
Melbourne’s Japanese Wallpaper, aka Gab Strum, has finally returned with new track Cocoon. The first track since his self-titled debut EP, this is a warm, rich tune, showing off a deep melody and a really beautiful, full, warm soundscape. This marks Strum’s first track featuring his own vocals, and it couldn’t work better. I can’t wait to hear more. - James Vincent McMorrow, Rising Water
The bearded man with one of the most delicate voices in folk music has returned, and he’s had one hell of a makeover. This is a really exciting new direction that he’s heading in, following his 2014 album Post Tropical, and I really, really like it. Swift percussion, a funky bass and a wonderful melody come together in the first track off his newly announced third LP, We Move, out September 2. Listen to Rising Water here. - Kacy Hill, Lion
G.O.O.D Music’s Kacy Hill has released released Lion, the first track to be released from her highly anticipated debut album, out later this year. This is a truly incredible track, and I can’t wait for the full record. Dark yet dainty, emotive and commanding throughout, showcasing her incredible, unique vocals and a powerful chorus. Listen to Lion here.
Image: Ryan Hemsworth / Adult Swim
It’s video roundup time! Once again, Howl And Echoes are coming in hot with the freshest, most eyeball stimulating music videos to be dropped by the artists you love and some of the artists you don’t know you love yet, of this week. We do all the dirty work and herd them all into one convenient web-based location for you to enjoy every Friday so that you don’t have to. Have yourself a good old gander at the latest offerings from:
Phia – Do You Ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf16XVY8qKA
Kicking this week’s edition off with a new video from Melbourne experimental duo Phia, who have put this one together in the lead up to their upcoming debut album The Ocean Of Everything. The track is pure pop at its absolute bubbliest, a nifty little kalimba melody and some pulsing synths and handclap beats anchored oh so sweetly by singer Sophia Exiner’s gentle vocals.
The video sees Phia indulging in a whole lot of arts and crafts, creating paper cutouts of some of the lyrics and throwing glitter and paint around like there’s no tomorrow. Keep an eye out for The Ocean Of Everything when it lands later this year.
Last Dinosaurs – Wurl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiposuP7I3Y
Returning in a massive way last year with the release of their sophomore record Wellness, Brisbane indie rock royalty Last Dinosaurs are still riding the positive waves generated by that album in the New Year, this week releasing a video for Wurl from that album.
In typical Last Dinosaurs fashion, it’s a punchy little rock song with a chorus that absolutely soars. The video has been drenched in pastel colours, the clip meshing together a whole bunch of old stock footage with shots of the band playing and conducting a few different science-y projects.
If you’re in Melbourne next week you can catch the Last Dinosaurs guys at the Melbourne Zoo as part of their Twilight Series before they head out on a tour of Indonesia and Thailand.
Bleached – Wednesday Night Melody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hFYgMBDPFE&feature=youtu.be
Does Howl And Echoes love us some Bleached or what. We were well and truly won over by their previous video for Keep On Keepin’ On, the lead single from their upcoming sophomore record Welcome The Worms.
The riffs are utterly gargantuan, and stomp along with the kind of raw power that would make Joan Jett grin from ear to ear. The accompanying video is a cracker too, two-thirds of Bleached in Jessie Clavin and Micayla Grace coming home to find singer Jennifer Clavin deader than disco. With a gig in Hollywood to honour, do Bleached cancel?
Fuck no they don’t, they rig Jennifer’s cadaver up with ropes and go full Weekend At Bernies with her and then tossing her to the wolves. Because of course. It’s videos like this that make writing these roundups every week an absolute pleasure.
Welcome The Worms is out April 1st via Inertia.
Little May – Remind Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-gB9R8FNec
Keeping with rocking all-girl groups is the new video from Little May. One of the heavier tracks on their stunning debut record For The Company that blew listeners everywhere away, Remind Me sees Little May diversifying their captivating sound and doing it well.
The video is a collaboration with renowned Sydney visual artist EARS. Matching the frenetic energy of the track, it’s awash with colour and wholly organic, a mixture of milk, water, oil and food dye apparently used in creating some of the hypnotic liquid sequences.
You can catch Little May as they support City And Colour on their Australian tour across March and April and then again on their largest ever headline tour of their own in May.
Third Floor – Thinking Of You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-p53-A9ZfA&feature=youtu.be
Sticking around in Sydney for this next one, it’s the debut video from producer Aaron Bannie, also known as Third Floor. He has an upcoming EP Dream State that he’s putting a visual twist on, releasing its four tracks with accompanying videos as an episodic short film.
Thinking Of You marks the beginning of protagonist Charley Rose’s story, a dark romance narrative backed by a hypnotic synth-based soundtrack. Water seems to be a constant, lashings of late night rain, the waves on the beach and a dripping tap that sonically mirrors the steady click percussion grounding the track all featuring prominently.
Third Floor definitely has us hanging out for episode two.
Japanese Wallpaper – Arrival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QLzap62rnU&feature=youtu.be
Having enjoyed 2015 and as big a breakout as a young artist could possibly hope for Melbourne multi-instrumentalist and freakish music prodigy still in his teens (!) Gab Strum, aka Japanese Wallpaper. Having just ended a huge Laneway tour, he’s this week dropped a brand new video for Arrival off of his explosive eponymous EP.
Dreamy and atmospheric, his collaboration with the extraordinary Dustin Tebbutt is given stunning visual justification here. Directed by Thomas Pollard, it features some stunning bushland shots, the video’s protagonist watching as the car that was her home spontaneously erupts in flames mesmerising and heartrending.
Japanese Wallpaper’s star looks set to skyrocket in 2016.
Skegss – Heart Attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSYsN8kKfpQ
Byron Bay legends Skegss are kicking off their 2016 with their latest music video. Heart Attack was the final track on their debut EP 50 Pushups For A Dollar and represented a much more mellow sound than we’re used to from Ratbag Records’ finest. It’s nonetheless become a live favourite in a very short time.
Shot in grainy black and white and evidently filmed on the road for their headling ‘A Chinese Feed And A Couple Of Beers’ tour just gone by (watch out for members of their outlandishly entertaining tour mates The Pinheads making cameos), it features the Skegss dudes and friends shredding up a skatepark and then a stage, Heart Attack providing a breezy, jangly soundtrack to a glimpse of life on the road.
Catch Skegss this weekend playing Mountain Sounds (don’t worry, they’re not clashing with Violent Soho)
DMA’s – Too Soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GjEbrUHOl4
With their debut album Hills End just a week away, Sydney trio DMA’s have been extra busy in the lead-up, wrapping up a gargantuan Laneway tour last week and releasing the video for second single Too Soon.
It’s a straight up rocker from DMA’s, with a chorus that I heard bellowed straight back at the band when they played it to an unbelievably vast Laneway crowd in Brisbane. The video for it is in typical DMA’s lo-fi fashion, a mixture of shots of the band feeling the song in slow-motion on a rooftop, in a hazy pink living room, in a dark room in black and white. It captures the Britpop sound and vibe perfectly, something DMA’s have built a career on as one of Australia’s best and brightest exports.
Hills End is out next Friday, February 26th via I Oh You.
Here and Howl & Echoes, we love Japanese Wallpaper. The young Melbournian, otherwise known as Gab Strum, has had a well documented and acclaimed rise to prominence over the past year, where he released his debut EP Japanese Wallpaper, performed a slew of shows across the nation, spoke to us, all while completing his final year of high school.
He’s kept fans clamouring for more with the incredible batch of artists featured on his album, such as Airling, Pepa Knight, Wafia and Jesse Davidson. Now, after a period of relative musical silence since his Charli XCX remix, the man returns with a deluxe remix EP featuring UV Boi, Sable and more.
Brisbane native UV Boi lends his skills to Waves featuring Pepa Knight, while Sable does a rework of the Between Friends, the track that brought Japanese Wallpaper to forefront of the Triple J Unearthed comp. Also featuring on the EP will be Anatole, Elkkle, Grynpyret, Foxes In Fiction and Ceres.
Forces has been remixed by both Teen Daze and Yumi Zouma. The song starts out as a slow and gentle collection of drum beats, perfectly complemented by Airling’s soothing vocals.
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The prodigal young bedroom producer has a big performance bill ahead of him. He’ll be playing nationally across the Laneway Festival circuit just as his EP drops, so keep your eyes peeled for this boy wonder.
Japanese Wallpaper Deluxe EP is out January 29 on Zero Through Nine via Inertia.
More: Read our interview with Japanese Wallpaper
Japanese Wallpaper, the prodigal young bedroom producer hailing from Melbourne, Victoria, has just delivered another remix of his signature blend of ethereal, emotive air-pop that sounds lighter than helium. Lending his skills as a producer to a Charli XCX, he’s done a rework of her song Need Ur Love that is so characteristically JapWall (as he’s known to his friends) that it’s ridiculous.
The beginning of the track sounds eerily familiar to Arrival, like you’re floating above a cerulean blue ocean which blends seamlessly into the azure sky on the horizon. Then the light, elegant tinkle of the xylophone begins, before Charli’s saccharine vocals blend harmoniously with the gentle strum of the guitar.
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The refrain ‘I need ur love, I need it even when it hurts me’, sounds so lighthearted, so very joyful despite the obvious desperation embedded in the actual lyricism of the song. It sounds like a children’s song, the kind of song that evoke nostalgic memories of jumping carefree on a trampoline or running through the sprinklers on a hot summer’s day.
The whole thing smacks of Japanese Wallpaper’s distinctive sound – he’s really developed his own unique, transcendent style which is starting to verge on the iconic.
It’s been a big year Japanese Wallpaper, real name Gab Strum, who after winning Triple J’s Unearthed High has gone on to play Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass, perform his own solo tour, all before he’s completed his VCEs. We were lucky enough to speak to Strum when he was in town for his Sydney performance in July. At only 17, he counts Wafia and Airling among his friends, and collaborated with Jesse Davidson and Pepa Knight (Jinja Safari’s frontman) for his debut EP.
All this before he can legally drink. It puts us (older) mortals to shame.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3QOTFLyAY&w=560&h=315]
Since winning Triple J’s Unearthed High competition in 2014, Gab Strum, aka Japanese Wallpaper, has wowed audiences nationwide with his ability to create his own brand of heavenly, unmistakably ethereal, hypnotic pop. “Maybe it’s a cathartic thing,” he says, “I guess it just sounds like my brain really.”
The excellent level of production, craftsmanship and creativity of Japanese Wallpaper’s music often makes you forget that he’s just 18 and about to do his VCEs – no small feat considering he’s already had one of his songs featured in a film, was playing over 18 gigs before he was 18 and has earned praise from the likes of fellow critically acclaimed artist Chet Faker.
Having just released his debut self-titled EP, Strum is now on his first tour, which will take him through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and finishing off in a performance at Splendour in the Grass. Dressed in a colourful button-up shirt and his trademark black-rimmed glasses and up-turned cap, I caught up with Strum at the FBi headquarters in Alexandria, fresh off the plane from his Brisbane performance the night before.
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“It was lots of fun, a really good reception. I was pretty nervous about it before… Well, the first show was last night in Brisbane and I was pretty nervous about that, but it went well. Now I’m just excited for the rest of the tour.”
Hailing from Melbourne, Strum seems to be part of a new wave movement of organic electronic music, a scene which caters to the needs of emerging, independent artists. “In the Melbourne scene, there’s a lot more underground stuff. There’s the whole scene with Tornado Wallace and Sleep D, and it’s a bit more techno. here, it all seems to revolve around Astral People and the Future Classic thing.”
But then again, the incredible accessibility and expediency of modern day, easy-to-use, music-making technology, such as your garden-variety programs like Garageband, and online publishing platforms like SoundCloud, means that now, more than ever, young musicians, especially electronic artists, can get the exposure that was once off-limits to them.
“Fifty years ago, whenever kids that wanted to start experimenting with music-making and production, those tools just weren’t really out there. If you wanted to do production, you couldn’t… Booking a studio would be really expensive, and then getting it pressed to vinyl and all of that.”
But no matter what the surrounding circumstances are, cream always rises to the top. The beautiful originality and melancholic ambience his music possesses is a hybrid between his own productive capabilities and many of the collaborations he’s had to date, which can often come as a breath of fresh air when you work mainly as a bedroom producer. “It’s good to have another pair of ears on things. I often find that just producing on my own (music) and sitting at my desk with headphones on and like not moving for hours. You can get really caught up in what you’re doing, but sometimes it’s hard to step back and actually listen objectively.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3QOTFLyAY&w=560&h=315]
Released just under three weeks ago, Japanese Wallpaper is a collection of ambient, gentle and highly emotional anthems. It is as if the music you hear was dredged from the recesses of your subconscious, the music to theme that dream you once had, but can never recall. Released gradually over SoundCloud, his debut collates all of his original work thus far and recruits the talents of Pepa Knight (co-frontman for Jinja Safari), Jesse Davidson Airling and Wafia; the latter two he counts among his friends.
“I just really liked their music and Airling and I were already friends. I just called [Jesse] up and was like, “Hey, I really like your stuff,” says Strum. “I got really lucky and I mean, everyone that’s on that record I’ve got a lot of respect for,” he adds.
As for playing live, Strum would be the first to say he finds it a little daunting. “I’m not a natural front person,” he admits. “I’m pretty shy in front of a crowd. So it’s pretty scary.” Keen to not just ‘look like a guy checking his emails’ when he gets up on stage, Strum incorporated a variety of other elements into his show, singing on some of his tracks, having guest vocalists feature live and playing keys so “It’s not just like pressing play on a track”. He’s also been thinking about putting a band together for the next round of shows
After he wraps up his tour, Strum’s focus will shift back to his schoolwork. But music is still very much on the horizon for him once that’s out of the way. “Once I finish school, I’m going to be able to get a studio space somewhere and just sit for a couple of months and make a record. So I feel like this is kind of a closing chapter, which is good.”
Spoken like a true musician.
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Japanese Wallpaper tour dates:
Wednesday 8th July (SOLD OUT) – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (18+) – Tickets
Saturday 11th July (SOLD OUT) – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (18+) – Tickets
Sunday, 12th July – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (U18 matinee) – Tickets
Sunday 12th July ( SOLD OUT) – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne – Tickets
Friday, 24th July (SOLD OUT) – Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay – (You can try buy tickets here)
Check out our review of him here.
Japanese Wallpaper is also available on Spotify and iTunes via Zero By Nine.
Japanese Wallpaper is set to release his self-titled debut EP on June 18. The EP will be followed by an east coast tour (dates below). Chances are it will be the last time you get to see the prodigal Gab Strum this year because, get this, he’s on hiatus to concentrate on his final high school exams! And yet this offering makes it difficult to harbour even the slightest resentment of Strum (trust me I tried) for his talent, his maturity and for finding a sound to confidently call his own.
The EP belies Japanese Wallpaper’s youth with its delicacy and restraint. It plays like an ethereal dream, as each track seems to be a highlight until the next begins. It is easy to see how Japanese Wallpaper has already garnered comparisons to ambient legend Tycho, and there is also an elegant quality reminiscent of Air‘s Talkie Walkie. Indeed the whole EP is capable of evoking pleasant memories and emotions, in a way that only well produced and slightly intangible electronica can. Perhaps this is noticeable because it charts Strum’s progression from a bedroom producer to Triple J Unearthed High 2014 Winner, going from Breathe In (feat. Wafia), through to current single Forces (feat. Airling).
Another feature of the EP is Strum’s ability to attract other up-and-comers to his project, in the same way that Flume has done. Among those to work with Japanese Wallpaper are Jinja Safari co-frontman Pepa Knight, Airling and Jesse Davidson. Strum’s ability to match vocalists to music is highly impressive and it culminates in the weightlessness of Arrival, featuring Dustin Tebbutt, the final track on the EP and a delightful way to go out. Good luck in your exams Gab, if you can’t find find any music to study to, I’ve got an awesome EP you can borrow.
Japanese Wallpaper EP is out on Thursday, June 18 on local label Zero Through Nine, through distributor Inertia.
JAPANESE WALLPAPER EP EAST TOUR DATES
Thurs, July 2: Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
Sat, July 4: Newtown Social Club, Sydney
Sat, July 4: Newtown Social Club, Sydney (AA)
Sat, July 11: Northcote Social Club, Newtown
Sun, July 12: Northcote Social Club Matinee, Newtown (AA)
Fri, July 24: Splendour In The Grass, Byron Bay
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/197550609″]
Japanese Wallpaper yesterday announced something special for his fans. Not only does he plan to go on an East Coast tour (alongside one of Sydney’s brightest, Montaigne) in the lead up to his appearance at Splendour In The Grass, but he’s also (finally) announced his debut EP.
Known better by his mum as Gab Strum, the Melbourne artist took to Facebook to announce that the EP is ‘a collection of everything I’ve released from the past few years as well as an exclusive track that you’ll only be able to hear if you buy the EP’. He also wrote that pre-orders for both digital and 12” vinyl would be coming soon for the collectors among you.
Considering that he’s only 17 years old, he’s all about the all ages shows, giving Sydney and Melbourne two shows each (one all ages and one 18+). At the moment, the Brisbane leg will only feature an 18+ show.
This will be JW’s final headline tour for the year, having already played at Secret Garden Festival and opening for Highasakite (read our review here), among other things. It’s safe to say that Japanese Wallpaper is straight up killing it – and it looks like this is only the beginning.
EP tracklisting:
1. Between Friends (featuring Jesse Davidson)
2. Waves (featuring Pepa Knight)
3. Breathe In (featuring Wafia)
4. Forces (featuring Airling)
5. Arrival
Get it on June 18!
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