To Send Our Love – World’s End Press
Melbourne quartet World’s End Press take after such fine nu-disco acts as LCD Soundsystem, the Juan Maclean and !!! – but evade the cheesiness that can befall bands of that genre thanks to a thin slick of Brit-style bleakness. Head to Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria on 8 February to see the group in action, part of a series of musical Sunday afternoons held at the gallery throughout the rest of summer (Husky and Alpine are still to come). To Send Our Love, taken off the band’s 2013 self-titled debut album, has a spacey-sounding synth that conjures miles of star fields, through which frontman John Parkinson’s vocals let fly.
Pedestrian at Best – Courtney Barnett
Renowned for her lyrical wit, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has the ability to transform even the most mundane topics into thought-provoking tunes. Pickles from the Jar came in at number 52 in this year’s Triple J Hottest 100, and includes her signature pairing of inner monologue with a grungy rock guitar. The first single from her highly anticipated debut LP, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, is called Pedestrian at Best and sees Barnett – in customary straight-talking fashion – ponder the thin line dividing hate and love. Laced with grim humour, she rattles off about masturbation, gold diggers and origami. Catch her touring the country with the Laneway festival and then Golden Plains festival in February.
Keep on Coming Back for More – Paul Kelly featuring Clairy Browne
Having long established himself as one of Australia’s greatest songwriters, Paul Kelly’s latest incarnation as leader of a soul troupe simply serves to underline the fact. The Merri Soul Sessions tours Australia throughout the first half of February, including twilight zoo gigs in Melbourne and Sydney, and borrows its title from his latest album of the same name, with an eclectic mix of singers and musicians performing Kelly tunes new and old. Right from the opening Smells Like Rain to the rousing Keep on Coming Back for More, the album has more than a whiff of the American South although it takes its name from Merri Creek in Northcote, Melbourne, close to where the record was recorded. With Kelly taking a backseat for much of the record, powerful vocals from singers such as Clairy Browne and Vika and Linda Bull add to the revivalist feel.
Render Me – Mr Scruff
Equally obsessed with tea, fish and genre-spanning marathon sets, Mr Scruff will be bringing his mixed bag of Cuban-disco-Afro-funk-hip-hop-house (and everything in between) to Australian audiences throughout February. Alongside the tumble of beats and rhythms, there will likely be some cuts from his 2014 album Friendly Bacteria, such as Render Me (featuring the Chet Faker-esque Denis Jones). The UK DJ will be playing sets that go for over five hours (he’ll be powered by his own range of tea) and you can be sure every hip in the venue will be shaking, with many a horizon expanded by the many obscure musical gems collected on his global travels.
Thru – Vallis Alps
On the back of their recent self-titled EP release, avant-garde synth-pop duo Vallis Alps, made up of Canberra vocalist Parissa Tosif and Seattle producer David Ansari, are winning over electronic music fans with their glossy synth-pop. In single Thru, Tosif provides lighter-than-air vocals to Ansari’s trilling, bleeping synthesised sounds. And just as the song threatens to float away on a cloud of whimsy and cuteness, a breakdown halfway through suddenly introduces a chunky and more grounded drum’n’bass beat.
