Indie Rock | Musicosity

Gordon Holland

Alternative singer-songwriter, Gordon Holland is a fiery force in Melbourne's music scene, igniting audiences with his fusion of alternative country and Britpop.

Holland’s sound, reminiscent of early Elton John and Paul Kelly, fused with the modern-day edge of Oasis, make him a must-see act for any music lover, and his lyrics are equal parts confessional and nostalgic yet woven with a humour and wistfulness. Listening to Gordon Holland is an experience of big choruses and singalong verses that'll leave you singing for days.

Following his relocation from Perth, along with friend and collaborator Nathaniel Parbery, the pair formed The Naysayers in 2010 and soon took their garage rock to live stages around Australia. While still writing and working within The Naysayers, Holland found himself on a solo path which saw him merging his musical creativity into waters that had previously been uncharted. Soon after, he collaborated with fellow singer-songwriter Charlie Lane where the two constructed her successful The Darkest Time which featured on Spotify’s Badass Women playlist and heard around the world.

Producing his debut single, Melbourne Bitter in Los Angeles with Luke Tierney and mastered by Tom Beard in Australia, Holland led the cohort on a guitar owned by Foo Fighters guitarist, Chris Shiflett. Melbourne Bitter went on to become a semi-finalist in the 2019 International Song Writing Competition.

Gordon Holland's EP 'Skipping Stones On A Salt Lake' is a testament to his creative prowess and his ability to explore various themes through catchy hooks and narratives. The EP is set for release on June 9th, 2023

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Indie Rock

alternative-pop

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The bad books

The Bad Books is an American indie rock band formed in early 2010, and is composed of indie folk artist Kevin Devine and members of indie rock band Manchester Orchestra along with drummer Benjamin Homola. The collaboration began when Kevin toured along with Manchester Orchestra in November–December 2008 in support of his EP I Could Be with Anyone, and followed by the release of the split EP entitled I Could Be the Only One in January 2010.[1][2]

A self-titled full-length album by the band was released digitally on October 19, 2010, and on a physical CD on November 9, 2010.[3] A second album, simply entitled II, followed two years later, on October 9, 2012.

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Indie Rock

indie folk

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The Elliotts

The Elliotts are an Indie Rock and busking band based in Melbourne, Australia. Founded by Tasmanian singer/songwriter Robbie Elliott who is aided by multi instrumentalist James “Wally” Howlett on bass/acoustic/vocals. The duo often perform with drummers including Robbie's brother Lewis Elliott, fellow busker Mr Clyde and Firefighter Ash Joy. In 2015 The Elliotts released a self produced EP: “Warriors” which has sold over 5,000 copies. The following year the band released “Aeroplane” which saw them tour in both Europe and the US; playing a successful showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Their indie rock sound features a close harmony style which has been referred to as “a post Millenium Hollies” by Bud Scooper of US Rolling Stone and resonated with a Neil Finn support earlier this year. Their new EP titled “Whatever Gets You There” was recorded at Bernard Fanning's studio in Byron Bay and produced by Nick Didia (Train, Bruce Springsteen). It features 7 songs and is due out in 2018

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Indie Rock

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DARTZ (NZ)

Dartz! (often stylized as DARTZ!) were a Math rock group from Middlesbrough, England, who formed at the beginning of 2005. They are signed to Xtra Mile Recordings in the UK and Deep Elm in the US, and released one full-length album, one mini-album, three singles and a split 7-inch via Xtra Mile, as well as an EP on Sunderland based DIY micro-label Fakedream Records, and a split 10-inch with Scottish band Stapleton on Gravity DIP.

They recorded with the record producer Mark Williams (Biffy Clyro, Bloc Party, Fightstar, Nine Black Alps, Million Dead, Ghymp) at the Battery Studios in London and they toured with Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Hot Club De Paris and The Rumble Strips, as well as also playing with bands including The Futureheads, Melt Banana, The Young Knives, Make Believe and Foals. More recently Dartz added long-time collaborator Nico Taylor, once the logistics man for the band, to the line-up.

In September 2007, the band announced that they were going to take a break from touring to focus on their education, with Maughan studying English Literature at Oxford University and Anderson studying English and Film at Sheffield Hallam.[citation needed] The decision was explained in an article in The Times newspaper entitled "Bands Balancing Uni With Fame", although it was criticised by the NME in the magazine's review of "The Sad History Of The Village Of Alnerique" in September 2008.[citation needed] Dartz have had three videos featured on MTV2, all of which were directed by Teesside University lecturer Marcus T. Diamond. A fourth video, for the track "Cold Holidays", was recorded by Wife Swap cameraman Rob Taylor during the band's tour with I Was A Cub Scout.[citation needed]

They broke up on 2 July 2009 according to their MySpace page. Their final live outing was at The Peel, Kingston. Support came from former touring partner Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

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Black Belt Eagle Scout(USA)

This land runs through Katherine Paul’s blood. And it called to her. In dreams she saw the river, her ancestors, and her home.When the land calls, you listen. And KP found herself far from her ancestral lands during a time of collective trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In 2020 she made the journey from Portland back to the Skagit River, back to the cedar trees that stand tall and shrouded in fog, back to the tide flats and the mountains, back to Swinomish.

It is a powerful thing to return to our ancestral lands and often times the journey is not easy. Like the salmon through the currents, like the tide as it crawls to shore this is a story of return. It is the call and response. It is the outstretched arms of the people who came before, welcoming her home.The Land, The Water, The Sky is a celebration of lineage and strength. Even in its deepest moments of loneliness and grief, of frustration over a world wrought with colonial violence and pain, the songs remind us that if we slow down, if we listen to the waves and the wind through the trees, we will remember to breathe.

There is a throughline of story in every song, a remembrance of knowledge and teachings, a gratitude of wisdom passed down and carried. There is a reimagining of Sedna who was offered to the sea, and a beautiful rumination on sacrifice and humanity, and what it means to hold the stories that work to teach us something.

Chord progressions born out of moments of sadness and solitude transform into the islands that sit blue along the horizon. The Salish Sea curves along her homelands, and when the singer is close to this water she is reminded of her grandmother, how she looked out at these same islands, and she’s held by spirit and memory.

The Land, The Water, The Sky rises and falls, in darkness and in light, but even in its most melancholy moments it is never despairing. That is the beauty of returning home. When you stand on ancestral lands it is impossible to be alone. You feel the arms and hands that hold you up, unwilling to let you fall into sorrow or abandonment. In her songs Katherine Paul has channeled that feeling of being held. In every note she has written a love letter to indigenous strength and healing.

There is a joy present here, a fierce blissfulness that comes with walking the trails along the river, feeling the sand and the stones beneath her feet. It is the pride and the certainty that comes with knowing her ancestors walked along the same land, dipped their hands into the water, and ran their fingertips along the same bark of cedar trees.

This is a story of hope, as it details the joy of returning. Katherine Paul’s journey home wasn’tmade alone, and the songs are crowded with loved ones and relatives, like a really good party.And as the songs walk us through the land it is important we hover over the images and thebeauty, the moments that mark this album as site specific. The power of this land is woventhroughout, telling the story of narrow waterways, brushstrokes, salmon stinta, and above allhealing.Let it take you. Move through the story and see the land through her eyes, because it is a gift, awelcomedsʔabadəb.

**The word “gift” in Lushootseed, the language of the Coast Salish people“

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Indie Rock

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Things Of Stone & Wood

Things of Stone and Wood or ToSaW are an Australian folk rock band which formed in 1989. The original line-up was Michael Bruce Allen on bass guitar and backing vocals; Greg Arnold on lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Justin Brady on violin, mandolin and harmonica; and Tony Floyd on drums and percussion. Two of their albums, The Yearning (February 1993) and Junk Theatre (March 1995) peaked at No. 8 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Their 1992 single, "Happy Birthday Helen" reached No. 9 on the ARIA Singles Chart, which was written by Arnold for his then-girlfriend, whom he later married. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1993 the group won ARIA Award for Best New Talent for "Share This Wine". Arnold won 'Songwriter of the Year' at the 1993 APRA Awards.

"Happy Birthday Helen" was listed at No. 91 on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 1993. The group disbanded in 1998, reformed in 2001 and broke up again in 2006. In 2013 the original lineup reunited and in 2014 they embarked on a 25th Anniversary tour.

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Vauus

Vauus' sound is Neon Nostalgia born from Suburban Sadness.
Raised in Brisbane but residing in Melbourne, Vauus draws inspiration from the late 2000s indie rock Brisbane scene to the pounding deep house/techno clubs of Melbourne.

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Indie Rock

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Tam Vantage

Tam Vantage and full band will be playing their first show since 2017, to celebrate the release of ‘Laughing Gas & Apple Pie’.

Tam spent his formative years playing with the bands Pop Singles and The Stevens. He released his debut solo album in 2015 and a sophomore album in 2017. Since then he has released a collection of 80+ home demos, played in the bands Permits, Girlatones, Leah Senior, Carpet Burn, and Chook Race, and contributed to the music and debut album of his late father Neil Richards.

His new album is an offering of high energy, fuzzed-out, alternative rock n’ roll.

The live band will consist of Kayley Langdon (Blonde Revolver, Future Suck, Carpet Burn) on drums; Rob Remedios (Chook Race, Permits, Small Intestines) on bass guitar, and Chris Korczynski (The Tropes, Battlestations, Brick) on second guitar.

‘Laughing Gas & Apple Pie’ is available as a pressing of 100 vinyl LP’s via Still Traveller Records, and can be heard on all digital platforms.

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Alternative Rock

Indie Rock

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THE HARD QUARTET

The Hard Quartet is an indie rock supergroup formed in May 2023. Its members are Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White, and Emmett Kelly. Malkmus, Sweeney, and Kelly all share vocal, guitar, and bass duties in the Hard Quartet, while White is the group's drummer.

Malkmus is primarily known for being the frontman and primary singer-songwriter of Pavement during the 1990s, while Sweeney was the frontman and guitarist of the band Chavez during the same decade. White is one of the founding members of the Australian instrumental rock band Dirty Three. Kelly, in addition to being the leader of the Cairo Gang, previously collaborated with White on numerous projects, beginning with Will Oldham's 2006 album The Letting Go. Malkmus and Sweeney knew each other for many years before Sweeney first proposed the idea for the Hard Quartet, which he did while he and Malkmus were collaborating on the latter's 2019 solo album Traditional Techniques.

The Hard Quartet was first announced in July 2024, and they released their first single, "Earth Hater", that same month. The following month, they released their second single, "Rio's Song", accompanied by a music video based on the video for the Rolling Stones' 1981 song "Waiting on a Friend". The Hard Quartet's debut studio album, also called The Hard Quartet, was released on Matador Records on October 4, 2024. According to Metacritic, it has received generally favorable reviews from music critics.

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Indie Rock

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