The Underground StageEssential new music from Australia’s most exciting artists
This ridiculously good debut channels the very best bits of Montaigne and Regina Spektor – as well as both Kates Bush and Miller Heidke – to create a shimmering wonder, a towering wall of pyrotechnic whimsy carrying enough power with it to wipe whole civilisations clean off the map. The musicality here is weapons-grade, swooshing […]
After a swift costume change into a new name, the artist formerly known as Boydos returns as Human Noise, and brings this jagged little thrill along for good measure. A hair over two minutes long, it’s wired to the rafters the whole way through, with its tense muscles and clenched jaws hinting at a particularly […]
For those of you who have delved into the most sorely under-rated bands of the 1990s, The Bush’s latest track will conjure fond memories of Madder Rose, with its tricksy little guitar lines, vocal motifs conveying both strength and fragility, and an inescapable rhythm to lose yourself in. For those of you that haven’t gone […]
A thoughtful outing from the fizzy bunnies of Royal Chant, though it is no less welcome for it. Taken from their three-track ‘Superstar’ EP, we find them channelling Cohen and Reed in both the vocal and the melody, with as much world-weary metaphor as they can muster. This is Royal Chant in contemplative mood, with […]
Obscura Hail’s new ‘Siren’ EP is out, from which this track is taken, and once again we’re treated to the off-kilter delights of a slightly sprained musical mind. Where previous release ‘Doomer’ was a full-bore space-cadet opera, this track is more kitchen-sink drama with its tales of taking selfies with Gameboys and pirating Living End […]
Georgia June’s swaggering musical confidence is always an instant pleasure, but when coupled with the vulnerability of lyrics like this, they’re just transcendent. Tub-thumping rhythms lay the groundwork for that immense vocal to soar and fill the room, but its theme is of confidence dented and emotions fractured. This latest from them might stomp around […]
One of the many victims of the pandemic was SoSo’s debut gig, which – for a live debut! – had already sold out before it was covid-cancelled. This still annoys me, and it annoys me even more every time I hear a new track from them, because this band have absolutely got their engines revved […]
If NOCON’s debut was a statement of intent, the anti-pop of ‘Hoax’ is a demonstration of their breadth. Here, the aggression is dialled down while leaving the avant-garde fully intact, leaving you with a hypnotic little charmer, its spiralling eyes drawing you into a world that is equally as soothing as it is carnival-clown strange.
EGOISM’s woozy dream-pop takes a wearier turn here, with a new track that’s as delightful as it is depressed. The guitars are still sparse and sparkle like lens flares, but the lyrics & vocals are considerably more weathered. Melodic refrains recur from previous single ‘You You’ (literally the same “you-oo-oo”), and the contrasting registers are […]