January 2023 Noteworthy New Releases
Our favourite tunes of the month.
Words by Will Oakeshott
Stellie – ‘Rocket Ship’
On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at 1:47am, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The massive rocket lofted the Artemis 1 mission on a 25-day flight to the Moon and its take-off was so intense that the rocket lit a ‘false dawn’ in the middle of the night.
A matter of days later, Adelaide’s soulful indie-pop songstress Stellie (Gabriella Pansini) launched her track Rocket Ship and essentially exploded into the limelight. She’s moved into the lounge-electro-pop realm, and the exploration is illuminating, inching away from the Lily Allen influence toward a Snakadaktal meets Owl Eyes fusion.
Ms Pansini serenades the listeners during the composition with “Turn the radio on and it plays you”; it’s only a matter of time before we tune the radio and every station plays Stellie. The countdown is on.
KING JEFF & THE HOW ARE YOUS – ‘SPINNING CACTUS’
“Whistling in the darkness, shining in the night.” (Doc Neeson, Walking In The Rain 2014.)
The luminary of Australian Pub Rock, Bernard Neeson, could not have left this world without a final statement. And whether he knew it or not, his final song would have an impact that bedazzled and inspired musicians for years to come. Bad//Dreems and West Thebarton have carried this torch with a post-punk inheritance glorifying the wonderful wholesomeness; The Smith Street Band took the essence of this spirit to a global level and more have followed. But who else is holding a candle to
Doc’s flame?
Recently and thankfully, locals King Jeff & The How Are Yous lit their wick to the Doc’s instructions and strewth, it’s a pub rock ripsnorter. Midnight Oil does creep in, as does Les Murray to a degree on Spinning Cactus; but it feels like an introduction – the opening, the first pint at the Exeter before dark.
So wet our whistles some more, King Jeff & The How Are Yous. For Doc’s sake – we want to keep spinning out.
TONIX – ‘STARS THAT HOLD US’
“Don’t play the Saxophone. Let it play you.” This quote from Charlie Parker, one of the leading figures of bebop, could well be a mantra that musician Archie McEwen lives by.
Mr McEwen is one-third of Adelaide’s experimental electronic duo, Tonix (Henry Brill Reed and Sammi Keough are the other two) and an accomplished saxophonist. Tonix’s latest single, Stars That Hold Us, could best be described as M83 covering Zero 7. Yet there is so much more to uncover - including aluminous and liberated poem of sorts delivered by Ms Keough which builds immeasurably before the saxophone climaxes the song.
Don’t play Stars That Hold Us. Let it play you.
LOS PALMS – ‘SKELETON RANCH’
A ‘lucid dream’ occurs when a person is asleep but aware that they are dreaming. In this state, a person can take control of their dream’s narrative – a state that many humans experience unawares.
The dream state inspires countless artists, writers and creatives, and Los Palms’ Skeleton Ranch can be interpreted as a soundtrack to the lucid dream.
And it’s entrancing.
In all honesty, the Adelaide band are not re-inventing the wheels of music with their psychedelic surf desert jangle rock: the quintet are fundamentally and fantastically The Growlers’ musical cousin, only more raw and precocious.
The LP being released on UK’s Fuzz Club records is fitting, as “Fuzz” is inherently Los Palms. A soft, dreamy layer of warmth oddly causes the listener to sing-along to certain lyrics (not all of them), when the mood strikes in a near unconscious mindset.
Opener Scared Of Saturday Night might be, unknowingly, what one sings if asked to go out Saturday night. I Don’t Wanna Be Cool feels like Elvis rebelling in Hawaii with
far too many Mai Tais in his system (and it’s marvellous!). Cadillac is Byron Bay Brewery’s next beach commercial soundtrack. And Cruzan Rum Distillery will surely utilise Let’s Go To The Water.
Just A Sin begs for a Quentin Tarantino scene in the best way possible, with Sorrows being utilised in the credits of the aforementioned film. In a peculiar fashion, Dead Man then calls upon Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy doing karaoke. Then Sandy captures the hangover from that party. Need to escape? Sunday Death Drive is the score to driving toward a Hawaiian sunset – possibly to see drunken Elvis again...
Mystified? That’s understandable, because dreams are ethereal. Ever had a dream where you’re left with a pleasant need to relive it?
That feeling is Los Palms’ Skeleton Ranch.
