JP Klipspringer took inspiration from the cult TV show True Detective and his own journeys backpacking around America’s south for his latest single “Can’t Be.” At its core it’s a pop song, but there’s a sinister edge to it that makes it a little more challenging than most mainstream fodder.
Personally I love the mix of sweetness and melancholy here. There’s that extra layer that many people won’t hear, but it makes the listening experience so much more compelling when it gels.
“Can’t Be” comes from JP’s first full-length album, which is expected to drop in September. JP promises to tour around the country on his album’s release.
If you’re having problems getting moving this Monday, crank up “A Fistful O’ Roses” by Sydney powerhouse The Rumjacks. Unless you’re at work, or you have sensitive ears, because there’s a little adult language involved!
Cursing aside, this is one of the most exciting, high energy songs I’ve heard in some time. It never takes its foot off the pedal as it takes aim at Sydney’s lock-out laws. I also love the way The Rumjacks intertwine their punk sensibilities with their Irish and Scottish roots.
The song comes from The Rumjacks’ upcoming album Sleepin’ Rough, which hits stores on August 5. The band is currently touring around Europe and the United Kingdom, but they’ll be back to promote the album later this year. If you’re abroad, here are the places you can catch them.
25 July 2016 – Le Local, Cambrai
26 July 2016 – Mondo Bizarro, Rennes
27 July 2016 – Le Molotov, Marseille
28 July 2016 –La Taniere, Saint-Etienne
29 July 2016 – L’Usine, Geneva
30 July 2016 – Le Blogg, Lyon
1 August 2016 – Le Gibus Club, Paris
2 August 2016 – El Diablo, Lille
3 August 2016 – Le Tigre, Selestat
4 August 2016 – Guinness Festival 2016, Sion
6 August 2016 – Los Almiros Festival 2016, Volos
9 August 2016 – The Shelter Club, Cluj-Napoca
11 August 2016 – PunkRock Holiday 2016, Tolmin
13 August 2016 – Open Flair Festival 2016, Eschwege
14 August 2016 – Taubertal Festival 2016, Rothenburg ob der Tauber
16 August 2016 – Wild at Heart, Berlin
17 August 2016 –Hafenklang, Hamburg
19 August 2016 – Umsonst und Draussen Festival 2016, Minden
19 & 20 August 2016 – Stemweder Open Air Festival 2016, Rahden
20 August 2016 – Crossnight 2016, Gutersloh
21 August 2016 – Lowlands Festival 2016, Biddinghuizen
23 August 2016 – Scruffy’s, Karlsruhe
24 August 2016 – Schwarzer Adler, Egelsee
26 August 2016 – Brintaal Festival 2016, Vicenza
27 August 2016 – Musigburg, Aarburg
30 August 2016 – Firlej, Wroclaw
31 August 2016 –Klub U Bazyla, Poznan
1 September 2016 – Ucho, Gdynia
2 September 2016 – Hydrozagadka, Warsaw
3 September 2016 – Rotunda, Krakow
4 September 2016 – Rudeboy, Bielsko-Biala
6 September 2016 – Vienna Arena, Vienna
7 September 2016 – Rock Café, Prague
8 September 2016 – Underground, Cologne
9 September 2016 – Melkweg, Amsterdam
10 September 2016 – Wild at Heart, Berlin
11 September 2016 – Abruzzo Irish Festival 2016, Notaresco
Good honest pop-rock is something we just don’t hear enough of at the moment, so I’m pretty excited to hear “Time,” a new single from the Yarra Valley’s Shaun Black.
There’s more than a hint of blues in this track, which is Shaun’s first single. He sings with a whole lot of soul and plays the guitar like nobody’s business. The song’s lyrics are also so relatable for many of us in this fast-paced modern world.
“This song is about something we all seem to not have enough of,” Shaun explained in a press release. “In today’s world full of smartphones and deadlines I think we all feel at some point in time that we need to get back in touch with ourselves and our own lives.”
When the Veronicas topped the singles charts last week with “In My Blood,” I was too swamped with paying gigs to cover it. Now they’ve repeated the feat, I thought I’d better make time to note their achievements. Will the sisters equal their longest reign at number one, achieved with “You Ruin Me” in September 2014, and stay at the top spot for another week?
Last week’s number one album, Wings of the Wild by Delta Goodrem has slipped to number two to make way for another homegrown Aussie act, The Avalanches. Sixteen years after the release of their celebrated debut album Since I Left You, the Melbourne electronic act has snared their first number one with the follow-up, Wildflower.
Another former one, Ripcord by Keith Urban, has shown it has real staying power. It has remained at number seven this week, 10 weeks after its debut. The always popular Hillsong United has risen to number eight with their latest release, Of Dirt And Grace – Live From The Land.
Here’s a closer look at this week’s top ten singles and albums.
Top 10 Albums
1. Wildflower – The Avalanches
2. Wings of the Wild – Delta Goodrem
3. California – Blink-182
4. 25 – Adele
5. Lemonade – Beyonce
6. The Getaway – Red Hot Chilli Peppers
7. Ripcord – Keith Urban
8. Of Dirt And Grace – Live From The Land – Hillsong United
9. Blank Face LP – ScHoolboy Q
10. Views – Drake
Top 10 Singles
1. “In My Blood” – The Veronicas
2. “One Dance” – Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla
3. “This is What You Came For” – Calvin Harris feat. Rihanna
4. “Treat You Better” – Shawn Mendes
5. “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” – Justin Timberlake
6. “Too Good” – Drake featuring Rihanna
7. “Don’t Let Me Down” – The Chainsmokers feat. Daya
8. “Me Too” – Meghan Trainor
9. “Don’t Be So Shy” – Imany
10. “We Don’t Talk Anymore” – Charlie Puth feat. Selena Gomez
After taking much of 2015 off and almost disbanding, The Bon Scotts are back with a cracking new single “Main Street.”
It’s a politically charged look at the racism that so often masquerades as patriotism these days, and the way society needs conversations, understanding, and empathy rather than anger and ignorance. It asks the poignant question “Can either side be part of the solution when they often seem to be the root cause of the problem?” The video was shot by the band in their hometown of Coburg at a race rally this May.
This is the first song to come from the band’s upcoming new album When I’m Lonely I Still Think Of You, which should drop next March.
With her debut album This Paradise in stores today, it seemed the perfect time to share Lucy Roleff’s new single “Aspen” with you.
This is such a beautiful song, delicate and haunting. I’ve heard it classified as chamber folk, which is a pretty apt descriptor if you ask me. There’s something almost spiritual about it.
If you love this song, and you want to hear more, make sure you get This Paradise, which is available on CD, vinyl, and for digital download from today. Lucy will launch the album at The Gasometer in Collingwood on July 28.
With a loyal fan base and plenty of buzz, Runaway Weekend could well be the next big thing. When they released the video for “Déjà Vu,” the title track from their debut EP, recently it garnered 20,000 views in just a couple of days.
I love the way this band plays with light and shade. The song is so epic and dramatic in places, but delicately restrained in others. I’m doubly impressed that Runaway Weekend have written, produced, and recorded this song and the others on their EP themselves. It’s got such a professional sound that we don’t normally see from acts just starting to play with production.
“We really hope that people can find something of themselves in our music and if they do, hopefully they can also lock themselves away in it to escape from reality for a bit, like we do with our favourite bands,” the guys from Runaway Weekend explained.
“At the end of the day we’re just some teenagers from Adelaide who want to affect people, we want to make people feel something, be that utter happiness or realisation. Through our music we want to touch people, like we’ve been touched by artists and if we can do half as good a job as the artists we admire, we’d be totally complete.”
Runaway Weekend are currently touring their EP. You can catch them at Wrangler in Melbourne on the 16th of July and Producer’s Bar in Adelaide on July 18.
Brisbane band Feuds shows it knows how to craft a big rock song with their new single “River of Wine.” This track builds beautifully, with a composed verse giving way to a great big stadium rocking chorus. It sounds uplifting, but there’s a dark undercurrent to its lyrics.
“The bulk of the track comes from the struggles I was having with drinking a couple years back, suffering these awful bouts of depression for days afterwards, in this never ending cycle,” explained Feuds frontman Jeremy Hunter.
The clip’s also one of the cleverest uses of public domain footage I’ve seen in some time. It might have been put together on the budget, but it’s mesmerising.
“River of Wine” comes from Feuds’ debut EP Stay Lost, which is scheduled to drop in August. We should also see them gigging around the country to coincide with the EP’s release.
Sydney’s Billy Fox infuses soul and electronica beautifully in his latest single “Avalanche.” I just love its easy groove and gentle old-school hip hop vibe.
Billy noted that the song is a bit of a departure from his early singles.
“My first releases largely focused on electronic production, whereas with ‘Avalanche’ I’m revisiting my live roots to meld both forms of production together, which also relates directly to my live show and the way I perform my songs,” he explained. “I wanted people to really feel that, which is exciting moving forward into the next stages of refining my next body of work.”
While he hasn’t announced a tour as yet, I hear it won’t be too long before Billy’s playing shows along the East Coast.
Cast of Yesterday was one of my favourite albums of 2015. I’d forgotten just how much I love it until I revisited one of the tracks today, the current single “78 Benz.” If you still haven’t listened to this album from Aussie expat Tim Wheatley, this song should give you every indication of why you should.
Tim wrote the track about his own vintage Mercedes and about the way you’ve got to follow your passions in life, no matter how difficult that might be.
“I had been in LA nearly a year, playing shows, writing, and turning my hand to other things like modelling and acting,” he explained in the press release. “I was juggling three passions, in which rejection is an integral part, and really struggling with it … ironically, as much as it was taking its toll on me, ‘78 Benz,’ my favourite song on the record, would never have come about with the absence of struggle.”
Tim will play one more local show, at Collingwood’s Grace Darling Hotel on June 10, before heading back to the U.S. If you get the chance, you don’t want to miss it.
