Category: 1/2/3/4

Listening to Peaer is like watching someone swiftly solve a complicated math equation with grace. With A Healthy Earth, Peaer created a space where forward-thinking indie-rock, slowcore, and asymmetrical pop can thrive harmoniously. Just one of the new releases featured on this edition of 1/2/3/4.

Death is inevitable, but the passing of David Berman is so incredibly gut wrenching when you consider his immense talent, he left us far too soon. We pay tribute to him in this episode, his recent release Purple Mountains will be high on many end of year lists.

Slumberland are an American record label celebrating thirty years of releasing essential jangly Indie Pop. I’ve collected their vinyl for many years! In 2019 they have created a Singles Subscription series featuring some of their favourite current bands – on this episode we will feature the excellent Wildhoney (pictured), who return after a two year hiatus with a gorgeous chiming sound that is reminiscent of the likes of The Sundays and The Cranberries. Plus a lot more….

With her breathy voice and knack for catchy but artful melodies, Sarah Bethe Nelson is back with an excellent new release, Weird Glow. She joins a cast of dreamy pop creators on this edition of 1/2/3/4.

Our focus on this edition is a brilliant compilation that asks you to imagine you are alone in a hot tub on a warm summer night back in the ’70s. Then a song you never heard before comes on the radio. You feel like it reaches into some place that has already been prepared in your mind. Then you never hear it again. Compiled by Mikey Young (Total Control / Eddy Suppression Ring) and Keith Abrahamsson (Founder / Head of A&R at Anthology Recordings), Sad About the Times is a set of North American 70s jammers. With a hint of (at times) West Coast jangle, these tracks traverse the border between the power pop of the times and a late-night coke jam.

Plenty of cool sounds on this edition including the latest from Cool Sounds, a 7 piece ensemble from Melbourne with their new single, a shimmering dose of guitar pop , ahead of a European tour and a new album comes year’s end. Plenty of other treats too, including Haybaby back after a four year hiatus.

I’ve unlocked the old time machine and we head back to early 2014, when I had more hair and a full time job to explore some excellent releases that you need to hear. Won’t you join me?

Heather Maloney’s “Soil in the Sky” is a collective memory. Stitched together from personal and universal ecstasy, loss both intimate and ancient, Maloney’s fourth full-length release is a collage of tremulous folk, existential ballads, and assertive rock. She’s an excellent storyteller and it’s album I recommend. Plus plenty of new tunes, from funk to psych to R&B.

Over the last few years there has been an explosion of new bands paying homage to the killer sounds that emerged in the late ’70s early ’80s dubbed Post-Punk. With throbbing bass lines, scritchy/scratchy guitars and shouty vocals it was a genre that covered a lot of ground and with loads of energy. On this edition of 1/2/3/4 we pay attention to some of the acts who are making everything old very new and exciting again – albeit with their own twist.