5 Acts to Know From Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne is known as the cultural epicentre of Australia and for good reason. Boasting iconic music venues, state of the art performance centres and a colourful array of annual events showered across the city, Melbourne is bursting with cultural pride.
As the city recovers from a heavy Covid induced lockdown period which saw the usual bustling streets turn to deserted hallways and the melting pot of culture simmer to steam, there have been artists who have been tucked away reinventing and reinvigorating themselves.
Here is a look at 5 artists who have shaped the Melbourne music scene and who have been killing the Covid blues!
Courtney Barnett
Courtney Barnett has become one of Australia’s greatest musical exports over the last decade. Her unique deadpan singing style and quirky, witty and often local-centred songwriting has seen the indie folk artist receive a number of accolades, including a Best New Artist Grammy nomination in 2016, and Best International Female at the 2016 Brit Awards.
Her impressive catalogue, consisting of two solo albums, the 2015 Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, and the 2018 Tell Me How You Really Feel, a double EP titled A Sea of Split Peas and a collaborative album with the renowned Kurt Vile, Lotta Sea Lice, soundtracks the streets of Melbourne in its most raw form.
Since festival and venue stages are yet to be an option for their well-acquainted friend Barnett at this point of pandemic life, she will be performing a special livestream performance from the glorious Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building on Thursday 17 December.
Follow Barnett: https://www.facebook.com/courtneybarnettmusic
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Another mega music export hailing from the humble Melbourne mainland, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are not only giants in the psychedelic rock space, they are also a certified metal outfit, and dabble in everything in between. One of the most hard-working and exciting bands in the world, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are known to churn out multiple full length albums per year, delving into, and perfecting, a range of genres, for having a mega line-up of seven members who devour every stage they set foot on, and also for forming their own label and music festival.
With a huge 16 albums and 18 industry awards to their name, these gents are anything but mediocre. Following the release of their latest body of work K.G, The Gizz lads announced they are postponing their previously planned US shows, undertaking a gruelling three hour performance at Greek Theatre California and Red Rocks Amphitheatre Colorado.
Keep up to date with their happenings: https://www.facebook.com/kinggizzardandthelizardwizard
Slowly Slowly
‘Jellyfish’ became a huge anthem last year for rocker Slowly Slowly, landing itself at number 57 in the inaugural Triple J Hottest 100 of 2019 and receiving a nomination at the APRA awards under the category ‘Most Performed Rock Work of the Year’. Whilst Slowly Slowly have been an ctive band since 2015, ‘Jellyfish’ along with the full body of work, album Race Car Blues.
For the remainder of 2019 and moving into the start of 2020, the band became a household name, selling out headline tours and gracing our biggest festival stages.
During the lockdown period, singer Ben Stewart was challenged by the Triple J station crew to create an isolation tune in 24 hours. The result, an acoustic piece titled ‘Melbourne’ broke the hearts of Melbournians far and wide, paying homage to our favourite restaurants, venues, events and lifestyle.
Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/slowlyslowlymusic
Camp Cope
The self-proclaimed power emo trio, Camp Cope are fearlessly holding the flag for feminism in the music industry whilst making killer anthems. Georgia ‘Georgia Maq’ McDonald, Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich and Sarah ‘Thomo’ Thompson have been rocking Australian stages since 2015 and dominating the airwaves with their self-titled debut album and 2018 follow on How to Socialise & Make Friends.
‘Lost (Season One)’, ‘Jet Fuel Can’t Make Steel Beams’, ‘Keep Growing’, ‘Split’, ‘The Opener’ and ‘The Face of God’ have seen Camp Cope recognised for their raw and honest songwriting as well as their powerful social and political driven messages.