Dynamite – Asta feat Allday
She was crowned Triple J’s Unearthed High winner in 2012. Now Hobart power-pop singer Asta is back with disco bells on, thanks in part to production by Andrew Klippel – who previously lent his talents to 70s soul train Earth, Wind & Fire – and Sam Littlemore (Pnau). Dynamite treads the path of Mark Ronson and Tensnake – think oodles of classic, upbeat funk given a lick of new paint. As for teaming up with Allday? The young singer said in a recent interview: “We tried to hang in Sydney after a show but he was too swamped by girls. We tweeted a lot and he loved the track. He basically did the vocals overnight in Melbourne.” Catch Asta touring major Australian cities from 26 March.
Salem Abdullah – Leong Lau
UK psychedelic DJ duo the Amorphous Androgynous have been scavenging for lost musical gems in their mixtape series A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble (Exploding In Your Mind) – The Wizards of Oz. This latest issue once again charts Australia’s contribution to psych music’s most weird and warped, reaching back several decades with Russell Morris’s The Real Thing all the way up to the current-day contributions of Tame Impala. Included is a sultry number by Malaysian-born Leong Lau, who was based in Sydney during the 70s when he released the quietly evocative Salem Abdullah.
Heaven (Must Be There) – Eurogliders
Bernie Lynch and Grace Knight of the Eurogliders are back with Don’t Eat the Daisies, a release of new tunes and acoustic reworkings of 80s new-wave hits like Can’t Wait to See You and Heaven (Must Be There) – an Australian anthem for every square peg in a round hole who’s dreamed of leaving their dusty, outback home town. Thirty years on and the relationship between singer and songwriter has changed – for one, they’re no longer married – but there’s enough musical chemistry to power another comeback tour that hits Melbourne, Sydney and stops in regional New South Wales.
Idyllwild – Mia Dyson
The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia along with Australia Council announced last week that grants of $15,000 have been offered to five Australian artists to create new sound recordings. Among the recipients was Genevieve Campbell, who will create a body of new work based on traditional Tiwi songs featuring collaborator Teresita Puruntatameri. Another recipient was singer-songwriter Mia Dyson who will record three EPs over the coming year, with each recorded in a different city with a different producer. In the meantime here’s the twisting rock and roll title track from her 2014 release Idyllwild.
LWE Mixtape – Until The Ribbon Breaks
Earlier this month Dew Process held a label party that joined the dots on talent from three point of the globe, with Wet (US) and Until the Ribbon Breaks (UK) playing alongside young Australian talent Tkay Maidza and Eves The Behavior. In this mix set Until the Ribbon Breaks revisit some of their favourite 90s British trip-hop tracks, with songs from Massive Attack, Portishead, Aphex Twin, Fatboy Slim and Tricky. “You can do a lot worse than having the 90s as your formative years musically,” the band write. “Especially as fans of the darker, more avant-garde side of hip-hop.”
