With a 1M stream Spotify single under their belt (“Do It Like You Do”) and several sold out London shows to their name UK duo KAWALA’s arrow is pointing decidedly up. New single “Funky”, which we are very pleased to premiere here at B3, combines a cool, measured tunefulness to cascading polyrhythms and runs of candy sweet guitar. “Funky” is out May 24 on Mahogany Records.
Things are starting to break for Melbourne’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (think The Strokes and Parquet Courts). Sub Pop has signed them for the US and they just completed their successful run on the Laneway Festival tour that hit major cities in and around Australia. They’re Coachella-bound in April and will hit other US cities before heading to Europe for a trek that will include the Primavera Festival in Barcelona. Here was our chat prior to their successful hometown set at Laneway Melbourne.
Hear Bruce Rave’s weekly new indie jams on three stations, with show announcements on his Go Deep With Bruce Rave facebook page. Archived shows available on the KX 93.5 site, where you can also subscribe to receiving the weekly two-hour version as an iTunes podcast at no charge.
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My SXSW intention this year was no interviews and to just focus on seeing bands. When I was invited to interview Albert Hammond Jr, well you don’t turn down a Stroke. Besides, he’s been turning out wicked solo stuff. For those of us who loved the Strokes’ early sounds, Albert has preserved much of that feel on his albums and shows how he’s influenced countless bands over the past fifteen years. He’s a down to earth, upbeat guy and his live show was a top SXSW highlight this year.
Hear Bruce Rave’s weekly new indie jams on three stations, with show announcements on his Go Deep With Bruce Rave facebook page. Archived shows available on the KX 93.5 site, where you can also subscribe to receiving the weekly two-hour version as an iTunes podcast at no charge.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Australian artist Benji Lewis has released “DEEP BLUE,” a bubbly pop track verging on neo-soul with warm drums and scintillating synths. While the melody meanders and never quite seems to find its grounding, the sunny instrumentation remains a captivating hook. Look forward to the artist’s upcoming EP, which will feature this track along with several more colorful tunes.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Optimystical has released “June,” a new tune that’s come out just a few weeks after their debut single. The group is continuing down a road of electronic hip-hop and R&B with the new song, busting out a web of melodic guitar, dreamy vocals, and experimental layering. Close your eyes and take a listen for some smooth, summery genre-bending.
The title track from Galapaghost’s new album Pulse is a stirring ode to the attack at the Orlando nightclub back in June of 2016. While the tune suffers from some heavy-handed lyrics, reverberating guitar spins outward, as if remembering those lost. Mallet-like percussion takes you by the hand, and the track locks onto the tenderness of the tragedy. It’s a dark, pop ballad that awards listeners a dose of true reverence—and, man, do we need it.
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View from up the hill. Laneway-Melbourne takes place at the Footscray Community Arts Centre, on the banks of the Maribymong River with downtown Melbourne across the way. It’s highly accessible via public transportation. Photo: Andy Hazel
At a time when so many of the largest festivals have become all things to all people, Australia’s Laneway Festival continues to shun the mainstream in order to present fans with stellar lineups of artists much more on the edge. Typical Laneway crowds might be 15,000 and this traveling extravaganza hit six locations around Australia plus Singapore. I had my second Laneway experience in Melbourne on Feb 3. As with any similar event, one must choose when there are 40 different bands on 5 stages. Here are my highlights in the order I saw them.
It was my second time seeing London’s melodic, punkish Dream Wife. They were good last May at The Great Escape in Brighton, UK and they’re really good now. Their self-titled album has dropped here in the US. Melbourne’s own Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever showed why they’ve been snagged for this years Coachella and Primavera festivals. They blasted a large throng with their propulsive set that reminds of The Strokes and Parquet Courts, among others. I’ve been hearing great things about Sylvan Esso live and they delivered. With their big sound, one might be surprised to see they’re actually a two-piece. They had their crowd shaking their bodies. I’d seen Wolf Alice twice before, both times at B3Sci SXSW parties. They went from good to very good and now this is a band that is arena-ready. Look out for them as a significant headliner if their next album is another winner, and kudos to Mike and Troy at B3Sci on their foresight. I’m not much of a hip-hop guy but Anderson Paak was someone I really wanted to see based on live stuff I’d seen online. What a set! It varied from his straight-ahead hip-hop to his retro r&b to disco. Easily the most excited and largest crowd, and Anderson even played some drums. Mac Demarco added to the mayhem when he jumped onstage to do a handstand. This was the evening I got to finally cross Father John Misty off my bucket list. His powerful set was exactly as expected. Biggest surprise for me was Odesza, who played with far more drive and stage visuals than I anticipated. They even brought out a drum line a couple times, which people buzzed about for days afterwards. Pond played their usual high-energy show and showed us some excellent new tunes. Closing the main stage was The War on Drugs who justified that position with their ace and tight musicianship.
Among the people I was sorry to miss due to inevitable festival conflicts: The UK band Shame who I heard put on a strong early afternoon performance. I’ve played them on my radio show along with Aussies The Babe Rainbow who also have a good reputation for their live show and I hated missing both. I’ve seen the massively talented Moses Sumney a couple times in LA and missed him here. Moses is another veteran of a B3Sci SXSW party where it was obvious a few years ago that he was on the cusp of a major ascension. Mac Demarco played three years ago when I was also on hand, and he was a top highlight. I unfortunately had to miss him this time around.
I can’t recommend this festival enough for anyone having the chance to catch up with it next year. Laneway management, the PR people, and the staff on the ground are all top notch. Then there’s this lineup. Nowadays it’s rare to find such a stellar group with an indie focus, all playing in one day.
Anderson Paak played a set that transcended the hip-hop genre and was real hard not to love. Photo: Andy Hazel.
Hear Bruce Rave’s weekly new indie jams on three stations, with show announcements on his Go Deep With Bruce Rave facebook page. Archived shows available on the KX 93.5 site, where you can also subscribe to receiving the weekly two-hour version as an iTunes podcast at no charge.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Palehound has released “Sea of Blood” as part of an upcoming two-track release titled “YMCA Pool”, scheduled to come out on January 26. Fresh female vocals dance atop indie rock pandemonium. The dissonant mash of compressed guitar and a seemingly 16-bit drum track flood my ears with the same eerie acoustics of a literal pool. Suddenly, I’m floating on my back at the YMCA—the squeals of wet tile echo in the distance as prepubescent progeny run along my periphery. The tune is care-free and jarring, making it perfect for those in search of a confused and ecstatic burst of energy.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Coming at us like an ’80s synthpop demo, BØRNS has released “I Don’t Want U Back” as a tease from his upcoming album, Blue Madonna. His effervescent falsetto approaches as a one-man army evocative of Bleachers with the slightest tinge of autotune. What begins as possible lo-fi indietronica quickly turns into what we can only describe as thumping, self-sustaining pop. Slide it in your outdated CD player and roll down the windows.
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After more than a year of silence, the French duo VTCN Radio finally released their debut album, Mydraise. It’s mood is mysterious and confidential, but it nonetheless delivers. I personally like how it’s not so in your face with an intense melody and love the chilled-out vibe. If you like downtempo electronic and dubstep, you’ll enjoy these slow, hypnotic tunes. Stream the title track below.
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The impeccable synth-pop of “Two Loves” is new from Manchester UK duo Koalas. Propelled from its start position by peppy minor chord synth stabs, a percussive main vocal melody and a kinetic rhythm track, “Two Loves” is magnetic from the off.
Koalas’ Samuel Jones adds about the track’s genesis and inspiration, ““We wanted the song to act like a modern Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams but written from a more positive perspective. I like the idea of a song alluding to themes around human love and kink but without ever being too obvious or explicit, demanding an emotional response and not just physical. Musically the track is a bit of a ride with stark contrasts in dynamics and density between the different sections of the song. It’s a favourite for us to play live as there’s probably the most room in this tune to go off map. ”
“Two Loves” is a component part of a new AA single from Koalas (with “Lover”) for label Low Four. Stream the B3SCI Premiere of “Two Loves” below.
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“At My Door”, the debut track online from Brooklyn via Texas songwriter Payton Odom is one of those extraordinary at-the-beginning moments when a great lyric and melody and perfectly-tuned production come together for a new artist in a most remarkable way. On “At My Door”, Odom matches a spare piano-driven aesthetic to subtle electronics and a cool midtempo rhythm track to a wonderfully plaintive lyric. Odom describes writing “At My Door”, “I wrote ‘At My Door’ while rumbling underneath the East River on my morning train ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan, which is always a bit of a lucid dream. For me, the song is about knowing how to stay safe by staying alone, and wondering about whether the push-pull of a relationship will ever settle.” Stream the B3SCI Premiere of “At My Door” from Payton Odom below.
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