We've rounded up Adelaide's best new music for April, including Cult Nonsense, Twine, INFINITIES and Moon Sign Gemini.
May 4, 2022
Culture
Adelaide’s best new music
Cult Nonsense — ‘How Long’
I heard this song a grand total of one time on a Friday afternoon and as a result it was stuck in my head all weekend. What is it that makes this two-minute-50-second single so magical? Is it the long-haired musician, Colby Robertson’s, effervescent singing? Is it his sparing, monosyllabic, laconic lyrics that seem to travel a tiny distance but also a thousand kilometres all at once? ‘How Long’ is a gooey, gutful alt-pop ballad that proves less is more. (AS)
Remarks
Listen to this playlist in full on Apple Music or Spotify.
If you’re a South Australian band or musician with a new release, let us know about it.
Twine — ‘Same Old Problems’
‘Same Old Problems’ is like if The Velvet Underground went mid-west. Twine released the avant-garde single at the beginning of the month, and it’s a smorgasbord of juxtaposing genres and noises, spanning country, punk and grunge – and noticeably distortion followed by a sharp drop-off into silence. The five-piece ramps up the dynamics (reminiscent of ‘90s bands like Pixies and Nirvana) and then brings them down into almost oblivion, leaving the strangled singing of Thomas Katsaras – brother of Dead Roo’s Jason Katsaras – just as exposed and raw as the track’s title suggests. (AS)
Junk Harmony – ‘34%’
If the time of day, when the sun just slips over the Adelaide Hills and the day’s last rays farewell the worn-out citizens of the postcode 5000, sounded like anything, it would be this song, the ethereal ‘34%’ by Junk Harmony. Swirl Records reliably releases top-tier indie and underground music from Adelaide with Tom Matheson at the helm, but the industry supporter recently released his own superb body of work under the moniker Junk Harmony. Although it’s hard to pin down the best single from the self-titled record, this sparkling, stunning single stands out like a daffodil in a green field. (AS)
Horror My Friend — ‘Devotion’
The first piece of new music from Horror My Friend since 2019 is fuzzy and driving, with thrashing drums and vocalist Tom Gordon in blistering form. It’s everything you’ve missed from the trio, with the addition of some rhythmic robot-rock production. (JVE)
Jongo Bones and the Barefoot Bandits — ‘She Said’
Speaking of driving rhythms, Jongo Bones and the Barefoot Bandits, who have been described as a “not-for-profit band who blend punk, indie and funk, and whose proceeds go toward animal activism”, channel late-‘70s punk and elements of psych rock in ‘She Said’. It’s been difficult to find much more information on the band (do they really exist?), but we’ll be keeping an ear out for future releases. (JVE)
Marcello Cole — ‘Three Fingers of Gin’
Formerly Adelaide-based musician Marcello Cole recently flew the coop to live in Melbourne, but before he departed released an alternative five-track vinyl record called Japanese Steel, recorded and mixed in South Australia. Much like country music icon Hank Williams, whose mug is (kind of) on the record sleeve, the fourth-song ‘Three Fingers of Gin’ reads like poetry. Punctuated by a meandering pedal steel, punk sensibilities and a smattering of messy, jazz piano keys, it’s an appropriate, if depressing, swansong for the musician’s last Adelaide moment. (AS)
Macey — ‘Three Stripes’
Self-described as “alternative/anti-pop”, in ‘Three Stripes’, Macey offers a solemn piece of sad boi hip hop (we say affectionately) musing on friendship. It’s hard to watch the people you love struggle – be it in a relationship, with family, or with illicit (or prescription) substances – and, in Macey’s lyrics, there is a portrait of the feeling of wanting to be enough. (JVE)
Mono Kiosko — ‘Sunpak’
New group Mono Kiosko, a collaboration between Ezroh and Dental Jams, released their debut self-titled long-player this month, first teasing the record with ‘Sunpak’. It’s a fun two-and-a-half-minute jam of layered samples begging for a verse. The full album is available on Bandcamp. (JVE)
SO.Crates — ‘S.F. Holiday’
Something about getting older means when you manage to get away on holiday, you spend a lot of your time contemplating your place – in life, society, or in relation to the people around. It’s an escape from the day-to-day, yes, but just as much a trip into your inescapable consciousness. In S.F. Holiday, Cazeaux O.S.L.O. reflects on the effects of dementia (“Seen my Grandmama drifting toward that sea / She forgot her dramas, traumas, ills-honours and her family) and how, through witnessing its ravages, life’s inevitabilities become clear, almost mundane: “The Spirit body gonna rise / But the ego must die / It’s no surprise”. ‘S.F. Holiday’ comes from the recent SO.Crates release Malcolm After Mecca, which CityMag’s Angela Skujins spoke with Cazeaux about back in March. It’s worth a read. (JVE)
Marcus Jr — ‘Come with me’
Adelaide rapper Marcus Jr offers some slow-burning mumble rap in ‘Come With Me’. The quiet trap-influenced production lays the scene for Marcus’ calmly nihilistic lyrics, suggesting to his heartbroken interlocutor that though “I know he did you raw”, there’s a simple fix: “take some shots, baby girl”. (JVE)
INFINITIES — ‘LOSTMYWAY’
“A bag of rice might fix your damaged phone, but it’s never gonna fix your broken heart babe.” This may be the most millennial phrase we’ve ever heard – and CityMag is here for it. Powerhouse labelhead Bianca Nilsson, aka INFINITIES, released an absolute emo-pop barnstormer this month, accompanied with a video clip complete with all the melancholic tropes you’d expect: a smashed guitar and singing in the shower. ‘LOSTMYWAY’ is maybe our favourite INFINITIES song so far. (AS)
Moon Sign Gemini — ‘First Time’
Something different from Raccoon City guitarist Dylan Cooper, who’s exploring an experimental side through Moon Sign Gemini. ‘First Time’ harkens back to underground dance music of the ‘90s, with a little of the pensiveness of solo Thom Yorke in the lyrics and vocal delivery. Moon Sign Gemini has been releasing music since 2021, with their most recent EP, i’m sorry everyone, i’m sorry me, written mostly in 2020. The full release is available on Bandcamp. (JVE)
Strict Face — ‘Whirlpool’
What is Jon Santos – aka Strict Face – doing? How is he able to continuously pump out consistently excellent EPs in such a short span of time? ‘Whirlpool’ is off SF’s new five-track release Rapidó Process and is slippery, sumptuous and swimming in staunch beats. This is the kind of song that will knock you off your feet if you let it. (AS)
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