All Nations – Blue King Brown
The roots and reggae band Blue King Brown may be based in Melbourne, but their genesis took place in that hippie haven Byron Bay, where frontwoman Nattali Rize and partner Carlo Santone performed as a percussive duo called Skin. The band – now six members larger – make groovy, politically conscious tracks which still echo that region’s culture of protest music. All Nations, from the band’s 2014 album Born Free, is a catch-all dub anthem for any demonstration, with lyrics like “calling all nations” to “take it to the streets”. Rize said the song’s video, filmed in Indonesia’s West Papau and pitching the band as freedom fighters, is a statement supporting “self-determination and freedom for West Papua … All Nations at its core is about people power”. Catch them touring around the country.
Shake It – Steve Smyth
Just when we thought we couldn’t take any more bearded singer-songwriters (think Chet Faker, Jonathan Boulet and Angus Stone), Steve Smyth comes along to prove there’s always room for one more. Both his beard and music are impressive and multilayered, and Shake It, the second track on his second album Exits, demonstrates Smyth’s powerful, raw voice that is as comfortable belting out Oz rock-style choruses as it is with folk and blues. Smyth describes Shake It as a reaction to living under a state or system that you feel powerless to change. “Sometimes the only way to shake it loose is when your eyes are closed and send your body to a naive abandonment on some unlucky dance hall,” he says. Smyth is back touring after breaking up a fight and suffering a broken jaw, which forced him to postpone a series of gigs until he recovered – proving shaking it out is not the only reaction to injustice.
Dirty Jeans – Magic Dirt
With Triple J celebrating 40 years of ruling Australia’s alternative music airwaves, including a star-studded concert in Sydney’s Domain on 16 January, why not revisit one of the classic tracks that used to populate the playlist. 2000 track Dirty Jeans from Geelong trio Magic Dirt came at the end of an era at Triple J – a golden one, depending on which side of 30 you currently sit on. And in many ways they imbue the dominance of rock on the station in the 90s, and the increasing playlist diversity (of gender, race and genre) that came afterwards. Much like its title, Dirty Jeans has a gritty sexiness to it, and maintained its shape in the passing years. Lead singer Adalita joins other Triple J stalwarts such as Hilltop Hoods, Bernard Fanning and the Preatures on the Beat the Drum stage.
Carriages – Tiny Ruins
Tiny Ruins, originating from the tiny islands of New Zealand, are a trio whose haunting music is destined for Sydney festival come Friday. While their latest album Brightly Painted One, won them the honour of best alternative album in the 2014 New Zealand music awards, their outre sound is not always strictly alternative. Tiny Ruins’s latest foray into surreal, alt-ish, folk-ish music is the single Carriages. Featuring lumbering basslines and Hollie Fullbrook’s soulful vocals, Carriages is an almost melancholic tune burdened by a feeling of weariness, evident in the opening lyrics: “All of the railings black against the light / early cars cold, and tired eyes / workaday, workaday / carriages of the night cry by.” Fullbrook’s recherche voice lingers over the guitar and comes with just a pinch of lyrical hopefulness.
Prescription – Nite Fields
Brisbane post-punk act Nite Fields list their influences as “Michael Hutchence on a rope” – an apt, if not slightly squeamish description of their morose, 80s inspired alt-rock. With the band signed in the US to taste-making label Felte, and on the eve of a three-month international tour, the band may very well follow the same globetrotting footsteps of success as their post-punk Brisbanite forebears the Go-Betweens. Prescription is their recently released second single from upcoming debut album Depersonalisation, and features lush layers of expansive guitar and synths, underpinned by the distinctively deep vocals of lead Danny Venzin.
