New Releases - 31/1/2017

It's been one hell of a week for good music, so we've compiled a list of 8 for you to listen to add to your playlists/ gig guides. New material from The Pretty Littles, The Jungle Giants and Green Buzzard. 

THE PRETTY LITTLES - 'HELLUVA TUESDI' (Caroline) 

​Melbourne's much-loved cheeky garage-rock outfit The Pretty Littles are back kickin’ it on the road soon, with a bunch of shows to support super swell new single ‘Helluva Tuesdi’. In typical form, none of these shows fall on a Tuesday.

​From their killer fourth LP 'Soft Rock From The Anxious', get the raucous, lo-fi goodness of 'Helluva Tuesdi' into your head here, It’s safe to say the Littles had a solid 2016. They toured our fine country three times, added 123 Agency to their team, signed a deal with Caroline Australia and released their fourth (lets start counting Small Tows as an LP yeah?) LP ‘Soft Rock For The Anxious’. 

THE PRETTY LITTLES 
HELLUVA TUESDI TOUR
Fri 10th Feb 
Party In The Paddock, Launceston

Sat 4th March
Howler, Melbourne

Fri 17th March
El Topo Basement, Bondi  

Sat 18th March
Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle 
w/Ceres

Sun 19th March
North Wollongong Hotel, Wollongong (free show)
w/Ceres

Thur 30th March
Wool Exchange, Geelong
w/ The Living End

Fri 31st March
By The Meadow Festival, Bambra

Sat 1st April
Pier Live, Frankston
w/ The Living End

THE JUNGLE GIANTS - 'FEEL THE WAY I DO' (Amplifire Music)

Announced this morning to be joining the likes of The Darkness, Snakehips, Tash Sultana and Amy Shark on the bill of Australia’s favourite regional festival Groovin The Moo, Brisbane-based four-piece The Jungle Giants have revealed their highly anticipated new single ‘Feel The Way I Do’. The track is the first taste from the indie outfit since their critically acclaimed 2015 album Speakerzoid.

‘Feel The Way I Do’ is curiously abstract yet delightfully melodious. A seamless creative pairing of songwriting and production. The track was recorded at Empire Studios, the result of frontman Sam Hales' “5 days a week, 9-5” approach to the musical adventure of album number three.

CIRCA WAVES - 'FIRE THAT BURNS' (Dew Process)

Describing 'Fire That Burns,' lead singer Kieran Shuddall says, “Fire That Burns is a tale of two sides and how far someone will go to please another. It shows the darker side of passion.”

‘Fire That Burns’ is a perfect example of the heavier, grittier direction that Circa Waves have headed towards with Different Creatures. It’s beginning wouldn’t be out of place on the band’s debut Young Chasers, but ‘Fire That Burns’ soon erupts into a fiery, stomp of a chorus that perfectly encapsulates frontman Shuddall’s new found confidence and growth as an artist.
The heavier sound has brought a renewed excitement and sense of purpose to Circa Waves. “We started playing (the new songs) live in the room, and there was so much more energy than the first record,” says Kieran. “I think the songs are big enough, and I think we’re easily good enough live, for us to be as big as whoever now.”

AMELA - 'PUSH & PULL' (Independent) 

I'll  be having a single launch show in Brisbane on the 4th Feb at The Bearded Lady to celebrate. The single, “Push And Pull”, fits perfectly with the energetic post-summer excitement of Queensland. It oozes easy-going, East Coast vibes, illustrating sunny skies and relaxing tides that whisks you away to a holiday beachfront. Citing the likes of Sia, Björk, and Grizzly Bear, it’s this beautifully hopeful tone which captures you immediately, only to be further amplified by it’s jubilant message of chasing after your dreams. Building upon her stripped back sound, the piece is driven by a chorus of delicately strummed acoustic guitar chords, wonderfully accented by Amela’s voice that glides effortlessly through the melodies. Her sublime harmonisation shocks you; it’s near impossible to not get the odd goose-bump.

​GREEN BUZZARD - 'NEVER LET ME GO' (I OH YOU)

‘Never Let Me Go’ is a rare love song written from the perspective of Dewey Everglow, an anti-hero from Mars. He sent it back to his home planet through an SOS beacon whilst lost in space on his ship, SMR-77. Many space years later, it was intercepted by The Arcadian Space Control on Mars, where it was then properly recorded by his band Green Buzzard. It then went on to become an unlikely anthem of sorts at his favourite bar, Space Man Rodeo.

GOLDFRAPP - 'ANYMORE' (Mute)

Goldfrapp will release their seventh studio album Silver Eye on 31 March 2017 through Mute. The band, consisting of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, also reveal their new single ‘Anymore’. Featuring strident strands of underground electronica, sensual melody and metal machine pop at its core, the new track is an assertive return from the uncompromising duo. Goldfrapp follow up 2013’s album Tales of Us with the deep, dark and electronic musical palette of Silver Eye, their brand new studio album, made with an eclectic collection of new collaborators.

​Alison and Will spent 10 days in Dallas with John Congleton, Grammy-winning producer of St. Vincent, John Grant and Wild Beasts. In London they teamed up with electronic composer Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak. Brian Eno collaborator Leo Abrahams added abstract guitar textures. The album was mixed by David Wrench (The xx, fka Twigs, Caribou). 

ILUKA - 'BLUE MY SOUL' (Independent)

Cathartic and ethereal, slow-burner 'Blue My Soul' is a deeply personal exploration of femininity. There's an undeniable strength in the song and its coven-esque video; and that power comes by way of vulnerability rather than in spite of it.
 
"I’ve always felt a lot. Often more than I‘ve known how to handle. We are taught not to feel, that being sensitive is a weakness in an overly masculine, production driven society. As a woman especially we are often criticised or ridiculed if we express ourselves in a way that is deemed inappropriate or unappealing. I wanted the video to challenge that and it kind of became this celebration of 'woman' in all her light and dark. In all her fullness of expression - the power, the vulnerability, the innocence, the fierceness, the raging intensity. There is no label adequate enough to define her. There is no 'beauty' magazine adequate enough to portray her. That is the feminine. Wholly and uniquely a mystery. And that is beautiful." - ILUKA on the 'Blue My Soul' single and video

HORROR MY FRIEND - 'DIY' (Poison City Records)

'DIYS' is the trio's first single since their acclaimed debut album 'Stay In, Do Nothing' hit stands courtesy of Poison City Records almost exactly one year ago. Hailed variously as “urgent and very now” (The AU Review), “oozing with melodies and aggression” (The Music) and “frenetic, buzzing” (Musicfeeds), these guys are steadily on the up and up. Effortlessly cool and unselfconsciously dedicated.

DIYS commences with vast vocals that meander mesmerisingly along to syrupy bass tones and thumping snare cracks before careering headfirst into a crunching, hugely satisfying wall of sound. DIYS is the disparate sound of a lazy 90’s summer dragged kicking and screaming into 2017. Irrisistably energetic, rewardingly turbulent, Horror My Friend have clearly capitalised on a 2016 spent largely on the road. It’s going to sound good on the radio.