New Music
New Music
Ticketmaster’s Fresh Scoop: the best new music (10/06)
Need help keeping up with the best new music dropping every week? Ticketmaster's Fresh Scoop features our handpicked faves – we do the hard work, so you can sit back and enjoy.
Album of the week
Pixx – Small Mercies
On her second album, London artist Hannah Rodgers – better known as Pixx – is here to chat about love. Not in the sense of romance or heartbreak even, instead she is taking microscope to the emotion and examining it in ways that are refreshing – from self-love to faith-based devotion or her relationship with the Earth, she’s looking inwards and outwards and doing both with a vulnerability and directness that makes Small Mercies a remarkably powerful statement. Here, she’s hard to pin down genre-wise, as she bends and weaves between sounds and textures, anchored by a soundtrack of electro-pop and gritty guitar rock, but it’s her incredible vocal that threads it all together. Pixx is flexing her creative chops, and Small Mercies is a big statement.
Singles of the week
Bastille – Those Nights
In less than 24 hours we’ll be sat here listening to a new album from Bastille, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. How the band manage to lock into their tried and tested sound while still remaining inventive and boundary-pushing continues to astound us, but here they are on their most recent single ‘Those Nights’ doing it again. The album is set to take us through a single night’s crazy adventure, and ‘Those Nights’ finds itself at the end of the journey. With its slinky, electro beat, soulful vocal, and downtempo groove, we aren’t quite ready for the party to end just yet. They’ll bring their new album to Australia in January and February 2020 – tickets through Ticketmaster.com.au.
Bon Iver – U (Man Like)
For his first new material in three years, Bon Iver (or Justin Vernon, we suppose) has gathered an absolute all-star cast. On ‘U (Man Like’ – one of two fresh singles he dropped in the same day – he finds himself alongside Bruce Hornsby, Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes), Moses Sumney, Elsa Jensen, Bryce Dessner of The National and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Vocals blend and clash, soaring and and floating, showcasing a strong gospel music inspiration. Underneath the gorgeous vocal sits a powerful piano-led melody that helps to hold it all together. Its a beautiful collaboration, and showcases the strength and growth of the Bon Iver project. Goosebumps.
Courtship. – Guy Stuff
If you aren’t familair with LA-based duo Courtship, now is the time to get acquainted. From songwriters and producers in their own right, the pair got together to create some of the brightest, sunniest jams you’ll feast your ears on this winter. ‘Guy Stuff’ is quintessential Courtship – it’s groove-filled, and feels like the beach got wrapped in a melody. Lyrically it’s a tongue-in-cheek ode to the human nature engrained in men, attacking masculinity with kindness, ensuring that a powerful message is wrapped in a catchy beat. Makes it harder to get out of your head!
City and Colour – Astronaut
Sometimes we like to sit and think about the embarrassing amount of time it took us to figure out why Dallas Green had chosen the moniker City and Colour – today, however, is not one of those days, because we’re too busy floating on an ‘Astronaut’-shaped cloud. It has been four long years, but dang is it good to have these honey vocals back in our ears. At six minutes long, this sprawling jam is sweet without the short, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. Alexisonfire are releasing new music, City and Colour is releasing new music – we are truly blessed by Dallas Green.
Northlane – Talking Heads
This is huge. Like huge huge. Taken from their fifth album, Alien, the record sees Northlane at their most personal. Turning the lends from the wider issues in the outside world, they’re instead focussing inwards, with vocalist Bridge talking about the traumas in his childhood. The single sees the band dive even further into their djent/nu-metal influences, and we’re certain (just from this four-minute taste) that the whole record is going to hit hard. They’ll hit the road this October, and our mates at Moshtix have your tickets.
Sampa The Great – Final Form
‘Final Form’ is legendary stuff, it is a career-defining moment, this song is next-level. There aren’t any artists who immediately spring to mind that can compare to Sampa The Great in Australia. Her excellence and artistry are unparalleled, and on her latest single she is truly flourishing. Lyrically, it’s an ode to her Zambian heritage, and her swagger and confidence are on display like never before. It’s empoweting and ferocious, bold and triumphant. Silentjay provides an incredible luscious backbone underpinning the track, but it truly is the Sampa show. We’ve bought front row tickets.
Samsaruh – Powerlines
She’s been on a steady rise over the last few years, but on her latest single ‘Powerlines’, Samsaruh is taking things to a whole new level. Produced and co-written by Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson, her penchant for pop-tinged rock’n’roll grit is at a whole new high here. Fiercer and bolder than ever before, ‘Powerlines’ is an absolute statement of intent. Her EP tour goes down this August and our mates at Moshtix have the hookup.
Slum Sociable – Life Is Free
Slum Sociable have constantly and consistently evolved and grown since they first caught the countries attention with their exciting blend of electro, jazz, and pop delights. Their latest single, and first release for 2019, ‘Life Is Free’ is no exception. Combining swelling keys with a groove-filled bassline, it’s another intricately layered and upbeat take on catchy indie-pop that they do so well. Smooth, warm vocals and a dose of funk-groove are exactly what we needed.
Thandi Phoenix – Cleopatra
Over the last year, Thandi Phoenix has really been making a break to take over Australia’s pop realm. Spicing up her R&B-led pop sound with a healthy dose of electro has been a huge game changer and has seen her turning heads all over the place. ‘Cleopatra’ continues that rise, and while that electro spine is still vibrantly present, here Phoenix showcases a more mainstream pop sound. She’s edging her way to the popstar mantel, and with chops like this we’re pretty sure she’s going to get there real soon. She’ll be at Splendour in the Grass – tickets via our pals Moshtix.
Whitney – Giving Up
We are always here for a good easygoing-happy-melody-with-heartbreakingly-sad-lyrics, and Chicago duo Whitney are some of the masters of it. On ‘Giving Up’, its no different. A dainty, sparkling melody carries gorgeously soulful lyrics, and you might just feel like bopping along – until you listen to the lyrics and suddenly you’re filled with a sense of woe. But in the best way, we promise. Hold on until the swirling trumpets and guitar come in, gorgeous stuff.
