Cupcake – Teeth & Tongue
New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Jess Cornelius is the tour de force behind Teeth & Tongue, and returns with a rollicking new track Cupcake. Although recorded in her adopted home city, the song has a touch of Icelandic frosting. “The recording needed vocals and a few extra bits,” said Cornelius in her press bumph, “but by that point I was in Skagastrond [in Iceland] surrounded by miles of ice and snow.” Cornelius didn’t have a recording studio there, so she says she did a call-out to local villagers for foam and cardboard, and managed to build “a really ugly-looking vocal booth, then took over the residency assistant’s office for a few days to track the vocals and synths”. The final product has instant-classic potential. Catch Cornelius supporting Courtney Barnett for an Australian tour throughout May.
Road to Ruin – We All Want To
Road to Ruin is unabashedly 90s, think indie rock with plenty of slacker-bashfulness and scuzzy guitar – you can almost see the choker chains and ironic mullets. And no surprise when it comes courtesy of Brisbane band We All Want To, the brainchild of Screamfeeder guitarist Tim Steward. Screamfeeder had their heyday in the grunge rock scene of the 90s, and Steward has said Road to Ruin is about “the heart-stopping power of those half-imagined recollections you have of teenage summers. It’s escapism, built around a rose-coloured glasses version of a past that may not even have happened.” The band’s latest album The Haze will be released on 8 May.
Dare (Gorillaz cover) – Hiatus Kaiyote
Gorillaz wouldn’t be the first band you’d think Melbourne neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote would choose to cover. But performed on Triple J’s Like a Version, lead singer Nai Palm adds some slinky slides to the chorus, and manages to find the more sultry side to a well-loved dance tune. The band’s 2013 debut album Tomahawk garnered praise from high places (think Questlove, Erykah Badu, Pharrell and Prince) so it’s with some anticipation music lovers await the band’s new album Choose Your Weapon, due on 1 May. Here’s a sneak peak of it, with first single Breathing Underwater, apparently inspired by Stevie Wonder.
Jackie – Raised By Eagles
Melbourne alt-country rockers Raised by Eagles recently released their new album Diamonds in the Bloodstream and it has all the essential ingredients of a country classic: tales of regret, flickers of hope and yearning for home. Song Jackie is the story of two young lovers, and with lyrics like “we got caught stealing cigarettes and Jackie’s momma slapped her in the teeth / you ain’t going to see him no more, you’re just a kid and he’s a thief” has no shortage of heartbreak and grit. Catch the four-piece playing with Americana troubadour Ruby Boots in Sydney (21 May), Melbourne (22 May) and Brisbane (29 May).
You Were Gone – Leon Osborn (feat Barksdale)
In You Were Gone, Fremantle producer Leon Osborn teams up with newcomer Barksdale on vocals. The song features a lively mixture of woody drum beats, sedated strings, samples of babbling children and warm foamy noise. Osborn has been slowly catching the attention of the music world – uploads to Soundcloud led to a country-wide tour in 2014 with American producer Charlie Yin, aka Giraffage. This year Osborn’s music landed him spot on the Triple J playlist, and a record deal with Pilerats records followed – here’s predicting many more milestones for this rising west coast producer.
