Mix Tape 28
Mix Tape Twenty Eight is another huge edition some awesome selections, check it out…
Artist, producer, DJ and cultural icon Peggy Gou returns with her first new music in nearly two years. Inspired by the eclectic house and pop classics that defined the Balearic sound, alongside 90s and 2000s dance anthems and Peggy’s own inimitable contemporary club production, (It Goes Like) Nanana makes an early claim to to soundtrack sunsets and sunrises the world over.
(It Goes Like) Nanana is released via XL Recordings / Remote Control, her first release for the label. Following in the footsteps of previous Peggy Gou anthems, (It Goes Like) Nanana features Peggy herself on vocals and is the first track to be released from her highly-anticipated debut album.
Speaking about the single, Peggy says “There’s a feeling we all know but is hard to describe, that feeling of love, warmth and excitement when you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones and the energy speaks for itself. It’s difficult to put into words but to me it goes ‘nanana!’”
Peggy first premiered the track to a rapturous reception during her recent headline set at the closing of London’s iconic Printworks venue. “London and the UK have always been a special place for me.” she says. “It’s the city where I discovered my love of music and a place that has always shown me so much support. So it was an honour to close Printworks and the perfect place to debut the track”.
Double Agent is the new single and video by Murphnick, the artist formerly known as Nick Murphy, co-founder and former co-singer-songwriter of much-loved Melbourne pop psych outfit The Anyones.
Double Agent is the second single from Strange Ride, a collection of songs heavily influenced by country rock, folk and soul, and referencing the likes of The Byrds, Stones, Beatles, Delfonics, Neil Young, Television and Pavement.
Nick says “Double Agent” was “loosely based on travelling alone through Asia when I was 19, meeting a friend from Denmark and having a ball.” And then it “turned into an espionage story…”
Eora/Sydney based musician, songwriter, singer and presenter GEORGIA MOONEY (one quarter of ARIA Award-winning folk band All Our Exes Live In Texas) today shares her delicate, achingly beautiful album closer Soothe You alongside a cinematic black and white live performance video. As well as recent singles Break It Off, War Romance and I Am Not In A Hurry, Soothe You will appear on Mooney’s forthcoming debut album Full of Moon, out August 25 via Nettwerk.
Soothe You is a slow-building piano-led lullaby that sees Georgia Mooney’s characteristically timeless, bell-like vocals take centre stage on a bed of exquisite, heart-wrenching strings. Speaking to the bracing confrontations we’ve all had with our own mortality over the past few years, the track contemplates the fragility of life and all that we hold dear, as Mooney reaches through this brutal clarity to protect those she loves; to be a shield to the pain and “soothe you, if it’s the last thing I do”. Mooney says of the track, “Soothe You came all at once in the depths of the pandemic. With unrelenting sadness enveloping the whole world, and the shock of how suddenly everything had turned upside down, I had a longing to write a lullaby of sorts. Sometimes I felt like society had received an almighty slap in the face for getting so complacent. Like all of us, I kept thinking of how desperately I wanted to protect the people I love. With music, I only ever want to make people feel good, feel connected and feel transported. Soothe You weeps with you and holds you close.”
Currently on the road taking their electric live show across the UK, Ireland & Europe, Melbourne’s Teenage Dads return this week with a science fiction-inspired new single Speedracer, and announce a huge 30-stop national headline tour across Australia & New Zealand over August – September of this year playing to their biggest venues to date. Speed Racer is out now everywhere via Chugg Music.
Combining gritty yet melodic retro-inspired vocals, tight-knit rhythms and memorable hooks, Speedracer captures the essence of the band’s eclectic fusion of genres and proves again the band’s perfected knack for engaging story-telling. “In reference to the 1967 anime and 2008 film, “Speedracer” is the person that sends your heart racing at a 1000 miles per hour without a second thought.” The dynamic interplay of funky basslines, driving percussion, and vibrant synth textures creates a mesmerising sonic landscape reminiscent of the Talking Heads’ experimental spirit and proves again the breakthrough act’s knack for story-telling.
Australian alt-dance trio Haiku Hands share their newest single and music video, Nunchucka available now via Spinning Top Records.
In 2023, Claire Nakazawa, Beatrice Lewis and Mie Nakazawa return with the confidence-boosting party heater Nunchucka. Urging you to channel your inner carpe diem, Nunchucka is an electronic-punk dance floor cut featuring a choir of sung-spoken verses atop crunching synths, driving percussion and sharp word play. Kaleidoscopic sound and rowdy energy sums up the adrenaline-fuelled new single Nunchucka.
The band says on the new single: “A super charged high energy self affirmation anthem for anyone who wants to wipe off the patriarchal stain of self-loathing. A song to listen to before you go out, when you’re out, and when you get home. Enjoy your life.”
“This song has a muse.” So states Fanny Lumsden as she recounts the incredible story behind WHEN I DIE, and the inspiration for its lyrics.
The muse in question is a big, bearded lumberjack and bushy called Brett. This song is about his meticulously planned celebration for his own wake, which involves a hillside with an ‘awesome view’ (as he calls it), a bonfire of an old truck, live music from Fanny to serenade him out of this world – and his ashes getting shot out of shotguns (BYO) during golden hour!
Fanny explains, “Brett bailed me up at the pub one day to ask me how much I would charge to perform at his wake. I nominated an outrageous fee and a down payment of a cow and 2 loads of wood. He rocked up a few months later with the first load of wood and let’s just say it has taken off since then! The song is really about sticking to your guns and being true to who you are both in life and in death. I wrote it sitting around a campfire on my own on the Nullarbor Plain.
Alt-rock wunderkinds The Mysterines have returned with their new single Begin Again, an enthralling precursor to their monumentous support slots with the Arctic Monkeys on their stadium tour next month across the UK
Receiving its first play from Clara Amfo on BBC Radio 1, Begin Again is the first single to be taken from The Mysterines’ forthcoming LP, and sees the four-piece build on their signature introspective lyricism, stripping instrumentation back for an incredibly powerful set-up and delivery.
It’s the sound of a band truly refining and maturing their craft, and speaking further about the single Lia Metcalfe says: “Written during a full moon in a barn in the West Country, ‘Begin Again’ felt like finding a key to the spirit realm the evening it arrived. It felt like I was embarking on a surreal journey of self-dissolution; think of the first verse as a set of instructions, and see how far reality stretches.”
Earlier this year, the Plain White T’s shared the brand new single and video Spaghetti Tattoo, an acoustic love song in which frontman Tom Higgenson recounts a memorable first date. The video finds the band appearing as puppets, with scenes that pay homage to famous moments from film history.
The Plain White T’s new single Happy is a chill, and, well, happy track. Lyrically, it offers an optimistic take on getting through a rough patch and looking forward to the future when a bad situation inevitably improves! Ironically, the melodies and chords a melancholy as Higgenson declares, “I wanna be happy, happy, happy / What’s the point of being sad? / I wanna feel good.” It’ll have you dancing like no one is watching.
“The thing I love about Happy is that the lyrics are so optimistic and fun, but the chords and the melodies are so melancholy,” Higgenson explains. “It’s like, ‘OK, I know I’m going through something right now, but I just wanna get over it already and feel good again!’ Like I know things are gonna get better, but I’m not quite there yet.”
Boys Like Girls, the iconic pop rock band that defined a generation, are back with a new single, Blood and Sugar (Fearless / Concord Records), their first new music release since 2012. The song is available on all major streaming platforms.
Blood and Sugar is a raw and honest portrayal of the human experience, exploring the theme of indulging in something bad for you, despite knowing the consequences. As Martin, the band’s lead singer, explains, “Thematically the song is fairly simple, an empty calorie relationship that’s so delicious you don’t care. You’re willing to deal with the crash. It continues to beat you down yet you keep coming back for more pain…almost like you’ve learned to love it. Why this obsession? We’re only skin and bone. Humans. Just blood and sugar, really. I think everyone has an infatuation with something bad for them. Cigarettes. Sports gambling. Porn. Internet validation. Pills that change the way you feel. Buying too many shoes. I know I spend a lot of time trying to fill the empty hole where drugs used to be. I spend most of the time trying to fill that hole with “perfection.” But in the end…nobody’s perfect. Hey. we’re only blood and sugar, right?”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard present Dragon their new single/video from their new double LP album, PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, out June 16th on KGLW. “Bet you can’t say that three times fast” (Variety). Following lead single Gila Monster, Dragon sees King Gizzard reach for and extend past the thrash greatness of 2019’s Infest The Rat’s Nest, and is presented alongside an acid-soaked video directed by Jason Galea. “Over the last two months I dusted off my music video computer to slay the 10-minute ‘Dragon,’” Galea says.
“I wanted to explore a harsh distorted visual palette using my live visual setup mixed with PS1 cutscene-inspired animation and studio footage I filmed of the band. The animation was created using Cinema 4D and processed through After Effects and a Tachyons circuit bent video unit.”
Alternative three piece THE XCERTS announce their new album track BLAME, taken from their upcoming album LEARNING HOW TO LIVE AND LET GO out August 18 via UNFD
Blame, the newest cut from the forthcoming full length, recalls the pop earworms, poetic lyrical turns and ‘band in a room’ passion that has made The XCERTS so universally loved. A fizzing slap of anxiety and confessional self-loathing set to a soundtrack of driving guitars and urgent melody, Blame was born out of the band’s self-described “3 piece chemistry” in their rehearsal room, and stands out as the only non-studio penned song on the album.
Fellow Brightonian Laura-Mary Carter from Blood Red Shoes also lends her vocal talents to the track, adding real weight to the shoegaze influence scattered across the songs of Learning How To Live and Let Go.
Speaking on the track, frontman Murray explained; “Blame is the most quintessential XCERTS song on the new record. It was important for us to look back but push the boundaries of what, in essence, is quite a simple pop song. The majority of the new record was written in the studio, but we crafted this one in the rehearsal room and I feel like you can hear the ‘3 piece’ chemistry and urgency within the recording. It’s a song about accountability and no longer looking for a scapegoat when things go wrong, and realising I’ve really hurt people in the past with my thoughtlessness. I was once told ‘if you can’t spot the dickhead in the room, it’s probably you’. I guess it’s our first (hyper) self-aware song lyrically.”
Reflecting on the album itself, Murray shares: “We knew we wanted to approach this album differently in regards to the recording process. Each album we’ve made in the past has been extremely traditional but this time round we wanted to engulf ourselves in the studio environment and work without limitations. It was definitely time for us to shake things up and feel a certain level of discomfort in order to achieve our vision. We didn’t want to rest on our laurels. We spent a year working closely with our friend Steven Graham Ansell in his studio, which became our sanctuary. Each day was so inspiring as we had no idea where these ideas would take us. Working without fear for the first time proved to be so rewarding.”
An effervescent delight, the brand new single Museum Day officially out today from NY-based English singer-songwriter Coyle Girelli blends a lush tale of carefree sentimentality and transient points in time, while also offering a peek into a new upcoming album for the charming English troubadour. Upbeat and overflowing with good vibes, Museum Day also comes armed today with a vivid new music video pulsing with abstract passion and pure Coyle Girelli allure.
Written and produced by Coyle himself, Museum Day draws on sonic sprinklings from the likes of The Smiths, The Drums, Big Thief, Alvvays and Harry Styles, with Coyle’s trademark warmth amplified alongside a potent indie twist. Amid splashy percussion, shimmering guitar tones and driving basslines, Museum Day enamours as Coyle effortlessly lolls across smooth melodics like a cool breeze on a warm summer’s eve; and it’s this very sensation alongside thematics of fleeting perfect moments that ultimately inspired Museum Day, as Coyle explains, “Museum Day is a more upbeat indie vibe than I’ve done for a while. It sounds like a hot summer’s night on the town in New York City, without the hangover in the morning. It’s about a moment. A memory. A happy one. A perfect one. Something you crave and miss and want.”
Genre-bending Sydney trio STUMPS have released their stirring new single Life’s Moving Past You via Cooking Vinyl Australia, taking fans deeper down the rabbit hole with their expansive and exciting sound.
Life’s Moving Past You is quintessential STUMPS, marrying an electric beat with heartrending lyrics and melodies. It’s a step up in pace from Brinawa St. – STUMPS’ emotive comeback single, which dropped in April – but rest assured, ‘Life’s Moving Past You’ will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. The prickly, dancefloor-ready beat (courtesy of drummer Jonathan Dolan) stands out with its euphoric brightness, mellowed by the warm guitars and Merrick Powell’s honeyed basslines – and of course, the soulful and searing charm of frontman Kyle Fisher.
Merrick says ‘Life’s Moving Past You’ wasn’t always such a trip, in fact it was at one point another melancholic, more lowkey kind of tune. “This song somewhat started as a longer-form ballad in its infancy,” he says, “but when we brought it to the studio we wanted to give it more drive and some dance-y flavour. By changing the beat in the chorus, the song felt like it came to life in that moment. Now it feels, to us, like it brings together almost all of our sonic elements in a way we really love, which was a big goal of ours.”
Prepare to immerse yourself in the new brain liquifying, sonic onslaught from CLOWNS as they unleash their latest single, FORMALDEHYDE, accompanied by a virtual time traversing music video.
This highly anticipated first CLOWNS song since 2021 embodies the band’s signature style, high-octane energy, catchy melodies, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Powerful screams and dual vocals from singers Stevie Williams and Hanny J add intensity and an exhilarating edge. CLOWNS‘ classic electrifying high-voltage guitar lines are juxtaposed with 80’s thrash metal and vocal modulation, giving the song a newer experimental direction.
FORMALDEHYDE is a rousing anthem about overcoming adversity and emerging defiant. It captures the band’s resilience and showcases their unwavering authenticity as a band, staying true to themselves. Genuine punk, unpredictable and dangerous.
Multi-instrumentalist and perhaps one of the hardest working artists around, GUM (aka Jay Watson) has somehow found the time to write and record a fresh collection of solo tracks for the first time since 2020. The newest release Race to the Air soars into view like a gigantic interplanetary craft, it takes in a sparkling vista of cosmic disco – all robo grooves and quivering strings.
Of the track GUM says; “Race To The Air was originally called Running To The Cure. I have this memory of going to the toilet at Glastonbury and The Cure started their set by playing Plainsong, which is my favourite Cure song, so I was running from the portaloo to the stage. I couldn’t call a song Running To The Cure after COVID though, I didn’t want people to think I was making an album about the pandemic!”
Like a cloud of folk-soaked smoke curling down a hazy highway, the new single Run Away With Me out today from technicolour folk rock collective The Elsewheres welds gritty textures laden with oscillating brassy licks and fluttering guitarwork. An ode to freedom and intoxicating romance, Run Away With Me also arrives today with an accompanying music video, seamlessly complementing the raucous and tongue-in-cheek single that will also be launched on full display on Thursday 10 August at Melbourne’s The Curtin Hotel.
A release years in the making, Run Away With Me simultaneously nods to the songwriting prowess of Paul Simon, John Lennon, David Bowie and Passenger, as well as a distinct nod to the anecdotal stylings of Bob Dylan throughout proceedings. Simultaneously playful and powerful, Run Away With Me is also equally steeped in fantasy and reality as lead singer and songwriter Oliver Northam explains, “Run Away With Me captures a fantasy I’ve always had of an unexpected meeting between two unlikely lovers who, although uncertain, long to abandon their mundane lives. For me, it is a story of freedom and the beauty of a recklessly romantic love. Although fictional, Run Away With Me does draw from real moments and memories. The inspiration for the ‘topless bar’ in which our characters meet in the opening verse comes from my first job out of high school as a pianist at a burlesque bar. It’s within that smoky, sordid world that I see these characters breathing.”
Brought to life during the songwriting process with Oliver working alongside Ella Hooper (Killing Heidi) and Alex Gow (Oh Mercy), Run Away With Me ultimately reached its final form when Melbourne composer Lee Bradshaw reached out to Oliver during lockdown, with Michael Bradshaw mixing, and mastering by Jeremy Chua. From sleep-deprived nights to its final polished form, Run Away With Me not only presents a mesmerising antidote to mundanity; it also significantly stems deep into The Elsewheres’ creative journey, as Oliver reveals, “As the oldest song in our set, this little sucker has been with us in every crowded bar and every empty room for years. It’s the first song we ever played together as a band and it’s one of our absolute favourites because it can’t be played without smiling. I wrote this tune way back in high school and after such a long journey in my pocket it’s a very proud moment to finally be setting it free.”
They say you can’t keep a good man down, and critically-acclaimed Melbourne alt-country singer/ songwriter Rich Webb is proof positive of that old adage, with new single Brunswick St arriving as his first piece of new music for 2023. Brunswick St arrives just a few months after the release of his latest album, RIGHT!, with the uplifting, driving track presenting itself as an equally powerful ode to the Melbourne street which bears its name.
Armed with lyrics as nostalgic as they are contemporary, and backed by an instrumental that is punchy and exciting, Brunswick St is something of a full circle moment for Rich as he pays tribute to the very same Fitzroy street that crafted and curated unforgettable memories in his early days in Melbourne, and has served as a warm homecoming with every return visit. Approaching his new music with a clearer vision of what he wants to accomplish, Brunswick St sees Rich again working with his talented band, and this time taking a greater hand in the mixing process alongside Oh Mercy’s Rohan Sforcina. The end result is a track which is unapologetically Rich Webb, is close to his heart, and takes influence from the very bands and musicians that soundtracked his early years on Brunswick Street, including Magic Dirt, The Fauves, Kim Salmon, Chris Wilson and The Dead Salesmen.
As Rich explains, “It’s a story song. I was walking down Brunswick Street and randomly bumped into a pretty wild dude I used to run with back then, who I hadn’t seen for years. He was still going hard and it was great to see him. There was some common ground and a lot came flooding back. It’s about the way people and places change for you, but you also carry a bit of them forward with you too. I still get a tingle of excitement walking down there, and I think that’s because I experienced such a great time in my life on that bit of pavement. Always been a fun place for me, and I tried to catch that in the song. It’s still a cracking strip – get yourself over there!”
U.K. singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bruno Major releases his new single Tell Her via Harbour Artists & Music / AWAL Recordings; the third offering from his forthcoming album Columbo, out July 21.
The latest single is a slice of simmering R&B in which Bruno reflects on a relationship gone awry. The raw and retrospective track sees Bruno attempt to turn back time, as he ruminates on all the sentiments he wished he could have expressed before it was too late. The soft-rock guitar licks and muted snare drums are a flawless backdrop for Bruno’s timeless vocals.
Of the track, Bruno reveals, “’Tell Her’ is a letter of sorts, to a friend who saw someone I once loved very much at a party I wasn’t at, asking them to tell her all the things I should have told her myself but didn’t. Written with Danny Cope and Dan McDougall.”
Critically acclaimed Americana singer/songwriter, Gretta Ziller releases her new single Bones, off her third studio album All These Walls. This is a project that Gretta wrote and recorded in Melbourne’s many lockdowns, exploring the emotional walls that are put up whilst being surrounded by physical walls. The album will be released on August 25th via ABC Music.
Bones is yet another ‘Song Club’ offering, a weekly song writing club that Gretta joined in 2020, hosted by Sam Hawksley. Participants were emailed topics to use as jumping-off points and Gretta admits she found writing in this way – as an experiment, prioritising creative expression over the pressure to write a ‘good’ song – liberating. The song is about Gretta’s love of music. It’s a positive song about how performing is something she has to do, all disguised in darker/minor rock sounds, which really is kind of standard for her!
Gretta comments on the song: “Bones’ is about my love of music. Playing instruments, songwriting and singing isn’t something I have chosen to do. It was never one of many options for my life. It is the only thing I have ever planned, dreamed & wished to do in my life. From a kid with a violin, that loved to create. To a teenager who played any instrument she could and sung all the time in all the choirs and musicals and everywhere else. To releasing my first EP to now, where I’m touring and performing my own music all over Australia…. Music is in my bones.”
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