New Music

Crap dance beats, Aussie remakes of old ‘80s classics, and American pop dominate the Australian radio waves. I’ve been searching for new music by Australian artists that I won’t be able to buy back home, but obviously the radio has been no help. What have they produced here since Olivia Newton-John, Men At Work and Kylie Minogue? Silverchair is big again… still? I’m not sure if they’ve been popular here all along since their ‘95 hit, but that was the last time I heard about them in the U.S.

Friends here recommended I check out the music stores Hum and Fish in Newtown, near University of Sydney. They have tons of listening stations, and they’ll put on anything you’d request to hear-- a sweet reminder of my days at the CD shop that employed me during college. So we took the train to my favorite college neighborhood and perused the Local section, easily highlighted on the wall in both stores, luckily.

The fruits of my labours:

Operator Please, “Yes Yes Vindictive” – Aussie kids from Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) averaging 18 years olds, are apparently touring with Arctic Monkeys for the Aussie leg of their tour. Infectious simple-chorded indie rock with some sweet orchestral layering makes it a guaranteed head-bobber. Don’t be dissuaded by the over-hyped and overly-hyper “Just a Song About Ping Pong” and skip straight to “Leave It Alone” or “Ghost.”

Martin Craft, “Silver and Fire” – This is actually a UK artist, but it got good recommendations and came with an extra bonus disc, Australia-only release (I like a little extra bang for my buck… CDs run about $30AU on average).

Youth Group, “Skeleton Jar” – I saw these guys on tour with Death Cab For Cutie a couple years ago. The sentimental acoustic-guitar laden indie rock comes through best in “Lillian Lies” and “Baby Body.”

“Coastal Chill 08,” a compilation which includes all the most recognizable Aussie artists of the moment. Stand-out songs for me, so far, by: The John Butler Trio (frat-friendly rock a la Ben Harper/Jack Johnson/Dave Matthews), Missy Higgins (folk-rock darling of the moment), Sia (sometimes vocalist for British band Zero 7).