New music round-up -

Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 25 October 2019.

Leif Vollebekk’s New Ways is now available via Secret City Records (stream or download HERE). A sonic documentation of everything that Leif felt; tenderness and violence, sex and rebirth. “Anything that I wouldn’t ever want to tell anyone – I just put it on the record,” he says.

He’s also released a live video for the track ‘Transatlantic Flight’, filmed at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto with a 10-piece string section. Vollebekk performed on the famous Glenn Gould Yamaha piano.

“I kept picturing playing this {transatlantic flight} live and being surrounded by string instruments. Cellos, violins, violas, double basses… and a grand piano being like a mast in the middle of this big wooden ship of musicians. I asked my manager if she thought something like that could ever happen. The next day she told me Massey Hall would love to do exactly that. And further, I would get to play their Glenn Gould piano. For all this – and more – I am eternally grateful to them.” – Leif Vollebekk

Heavenly Recordings and Sid Gentle Films will release the original soundtracks for Killing Eve Seasons 1 and 2 on 13 December 2019.

As post-episode surges towards song-seeking app Shazam testify, composer David Holmes and music supervisor Catherine Grieves left no box unmarked with their BAFTA-winning music for Seasons 1 and 2 of BBC America’s Killing Eve. Adapted from Luke Jennings’ Codename Villanelle novellas by lead-writers Phoebe Waller-Bridge (S1) and Emerald Fennell (S2), the Emmy-winning spy series has established itself as a swaggering, slippery, playful and punchy thriller of cat/mouse obsession like no other. And it comes with killer soundtracks to match, modern classics of pick’n’mix curation cut from the cloth of cinematic style but tailored with a moody, mischievous vivacity of their own.

Grieves and Holmes went crate-digging for deep cuts, with Villanelle’s character and her cine-styled global movements in mind. Selections include ‘Roller Girl’, from the 1967 film Anna, where Anna Karina exults in a Killing Eve-style love of “Le danger immédiat et l’amour fiction!” Villanelle might similarly approve of Brigitte Bardot’s supremely unruffled ‘Contact’; likewise, the insouciant cool of ‘Killer Shangri-Lah’ – by Madrid’s Twin Peaks-fixated Pshycotic Beats – could have been made for Eve’s resident psychopath. Selections matching Villanelle’s taste for luxury include Cigarettes after Sex’s micro-detailed ‘K.’ and Cat’s Eyes’ plush ‘Girl in the Room’, while the sense that it pays to expect the unexpected from Villanelle is reflected by garage- and psych-rock eruptions from The Troggs and Etienne Daho.

Further off-beat notes are struck by unusual covers of classic songs, including electro-experimentalists Fireflies’ spooked twist on cult rockabilly cat Kip Tyler’s ‘She’s My Witch’ and Dutch singer Willeke Alberti’s ‘Vlinder van een Zomer’ (‘Angel of the Morning’). Retro-archivist girl-pop crate-diggers The Delmonas keep listeners frosty with the garage-rock workout of ‘Dangerous Charms’, while Holmes and Grieves’ trust in instinct over exactitude ushers in Bertrand Belin’s ‘Comment ça se Danse’.

Newcastle punks Introvert have lifted the lid with their new single ‘Somewhere Else’ and announced upcoming headline shows in Melbourne and Sydney. Tinged with punk flair, pained vocals and a sing-a-long quality, ‘Somewhere Else’ reflects on self esteem, snatching attention with crying lyrics like: “I’m slowly learning how to trust myself, ’til then just give me some room to breathe”. Introvert drummer Stephen Hopkins explains that the line “If I was someone different now, would it be too late?” cuts to the core of the track, and captures the essence of the last couple of years for the band.

With ‘Somewhere Else’ now out, Introvert are poised to make big moves across the punk space before too long. They’ll play headline shows in Melbourne on November 22 and Sydney on November 29, with tickets available HERE.

The Lemonheads return to Australia this December with special guests The Restless Age; plus local supports in each city (see below).

Since Evan Dando formed The Lemonheads in Boston in 1986, their family tree has grown many tangential branches. Anyone could be a Lemonhead but for how long who knows? Leastways they’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with Evan throwing discordant chords against alt-country-tinged melodies, playing that light and dark card. Through their ranks passed Descendents, Blake Babies, Dinosaur Jr. and members of Fuzzy. In 2019, The Lemonheads returned with Varshons 2, their tenth studio album. Evan is at the helm with producer Matthew Cullen also on guitar and siren, Come and Codeine’s Chris Brakow supplying guitar and Willy Mason and Nina Violet sitting in. It’s another mixtape in a different kitchen placing the oddball and the unsung next to The Eagles and Nick Cave. Where else could you hear the music of Tom Morgan’s short-lived Givegoods, English curmudgeons The Bevis Frond and Lucinda Williams so seamlessly joined at the hip?

The Lemonheads Australian Tour 2019:

4th December 2019
Freo Social, Fremantle WA
with guests The Restless Age and The Money War

5th December 2019
Lions Arts Factory, Adelaide SA
with guests The Restless Age and Paradise Club

7th December 2019
Fairgrounds Festival, Berry NSW

8th December 2019
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney NSW
with guests The Restless Age and 100

11th December 2019
The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
with guests The Restless Age and PLTS

12th December 2019
Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
with guests The Restless Age and Murmurmur

Following the success of Que Reste T’il and Dancing on the Volcano, Robyn Archer returns to City Recital Hall in November with The (Other) Great American Songbook, an alternative portrait of America over time through song. Accompanied by longtime colleagues Michael Morley (piano) and George Butrumlis (accordion), Robyn (vocals and guitar) delights with an epic range of song, covering everything from the Civil War and The Great Depression to many of its citizens’ favourite vices. Featuring music by Stephen Foster, Rodgers and Hart, Bob Dylan, P!nk, and the odd Broadway hit.

It’s on Thursday 21 November at 7.30pm in the City Recital Hall, Angel Place.

Electro-pop collective Haiku Hands have impressed audiences and critics worldwide, becoming one of Australia’s most hyped bands after bursting onto the scene in 2018. They’ve recently shared their fun and fiery new single “Onset” ft. Mad Zach. Haiku Hands’ hotly anticipated debut album will arrive in 2020 via Diplo’s label Mad Decent for the US & Spinning Top for Australia.