Charlie Straight – I Sleep Alone
Guest artists offer an opportunity for bands to expand their sound. For a group fronted by a male singer, it’s a chance to bring in a female voice and develop a dramatic diversion – a delightful duet that draws in listeners with its different mix. Continue reading
Owl Eyes – Closure
Owl Eyes is the moniker of Melbourne singer-songwriter Brooke Addamo, who was a finalist on Australian Idol when she was still a teenager. Several years on, her voice has now matured into an astral pop style that is pleasantly reminiscent of Maggie Reilly (the original Everytime We Touch as well as Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield). Continue reading
Zervas And Pepper – One Man Show
Paul Zervas and Kathryn Pepper bring a bit of California sunshine to their native Wales with their luminous rock-pop that radiates with the glow and warmth of those classic Laurel Canyon bands which brightened the charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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Dappled Cities – Born At The Right Time
Dappled Cities is a veteran indie band from Australia that traces its roots to 1997 when a bunch of teenagers came together in the suburbs of Sydney to produce an arty, oddball form of pop music that plays like a Down Under version of The Flaming Lips (although the band sounds almost nothing like them). Continue reading
Sinkane – Runnin’
Set the Wayback Machine to the early 1970s for a bit of febrile funkiness, thanks to the cool grooves of one Ahmed Gallab, a Sudanese-born session musician who has worked with Yeasayer, Caribou, Of Montreal and others. Exploiting his own African roots, Sinkane has produced a patently panegyric acknowledgement to his musical forebearers. Continue reading
London Grammar – Hey Now
London Grammar sounds like a band ready to advance to the head of the class. Formed by Hannah Reid, Dot Major and Dan Rothman while attending university together, the group has fashioned a very restrained, highly stylized sound that is exquisite and exclamatory in its haunting strengths. Continue reading