I took a little solo adventure down under last summer and absolutely fell in love with Australia. The surf was flat so I spent most of my time drinking strong coffee, plenty of beer and wandering around taking pictures. The professional surfing world championship tour kicked off a few weeks back at Snapper Rocks in Coolangatta and had me itching to get back to magic of OZ’s east coast. The music scene over there is perfect reflection of the hilariously crazy and casually unique Australian attitude. A couple of my favorites are below:
The Goons are motley bunch of stinkie Ausi hipsters on Volcom’s label. Their debut full length album The Story of Dead Barbie & Ghost (2006) was focused on three things, zombies, motorcycles and waves. Super sick.
The latest offering – I hate My Hair and Want to Die – released in September of 2009 is slightly more organized but no less brash, fun and gutter punk. I love these guys, they make me want to drink beer and behave like a man.
The Goons are invading the US right now with March shows in LA @ The Echo on the 14th, Emo’s, Stubbs and Maggie Mae’s down in Austin, TX on the 17th, 19th & 20th and finishing up at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY on the 25th. Solid surgical strike through the states so catch them if you can.
These guys are pure pants-party dance off. A futuristic disco machine duo made up of Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes. They have been a big part of electro pop since their debut album Sambanova in 1999. The most recent release – the swiftly selt-titled – PNAU – hit the US last fall and has a bunch of fun tracks – the best of which is a serious rumpshaker – Embrace.
PNAU – Embrace (Fredrick Carlsson Epic Remix)
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PNAU – With You Forever (FM Attack Remix)
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One of my favorite bands right now for sure because their sound so perfectly kick-ass. The group got their start down under and made a move the U.K. in an effort to broaden their platform. They’ve only released a few EP’s but a heavy tour schedule has kept them busy and productive. The Very Vampyr single is completely insane high speed rock and roll.
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Hope you enjoy the beats, mates. OZ is a wonderland of amazingness. Go check it all out.
Yeah Aussies! What a weird bunch of folks. Might have to check out those Goons though.
I wonder what the Beautiful Girls are up to these days…
Mat McHugh is pumping out some solo melodies..
Good stuff my man.
On a somewhat related point – I heard some Aussie hip-hop for the first time last week. Hearing someone rap with an Australian accent is….well, it’s something: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwwVn2unNOU
it’s Aussie, Aussie, Aussie….
jsut sayin’
forgot to mention that one half of PNAU is the music behind empire of the sun.
Karl – it’s “just”….just sayin’
Great seeing some Aussie artists make the muffin! Been loving the jams you guys pleasure my ears with, keep up the awesome work