The xx will treat audiences to their unique dreamy sound in stunning outdoor venues in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney next January, joined at all shows by special guests Kelela and Earl Sweatshirt.

The xx are Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass, vocals) and Jamie Smith (beats, MPC, production), also known as Jamie xx. Their latest Mecury prize nominated release ‘I See You’incorporates all three members’ talents into a new version of their sound, one true to their roots but richer and more varied.

“I See You pulls off the feat of managing to sound both exactly like The xx and unlike anything they have done before.”
– The Guardian ★★★★

Supporting The xx at all shows will be Kelela (USA) with her mutable hybrid of house, electro, R&B and hip hop, as well as LA rapper Earl Sweatshirt (USA) following his acclaimed 2015 album, ‘I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside’.

The xx have partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 from every ticket purchased will go towards local LGBT+ programs in each city of the tour. Visit plus1.org for more information on the organisation.

These are The xx’s first Australian headline shows since they embarked on their 2013 tour, which saw them sell out multiple nights in advance at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion and Melbourne’s Festival Hall. Fans are encouraged to act quickly to secure their tickets to witness The xx, one of pop’s brooding perfectionists.

The xx – I See You – Australian 2018 Tour
Melbourne – Saturday 13th January – Sidney Myer Music Bowl
Brisbane – Wednesday 17th January – Riverstage
Sydney – Saturday 20th January – The Domain
www.thexx.info

Formed by New York DJ/musician James Murphy back in 2002, the dancefloor icons will perform two unmissable headline shows this winter: Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on Monday 24 July, followed by Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena on Wednesday 26 July. General public tickets for both performances go on sale Thursday 20 April.

‘Frontman Murphy, preacher-like in a white suit, clutched the mic to his mouth throughout, bellowing out existential lyrics and infectious falsetto whoops over propulsive dance beats and noodling guitar lines…. ★★★★★’ – The Telegraph

‘‘Us Vs Them’, ‘Daft Punk…’ and ‘I Can Change’ come consecutively and the intensity doesn’t waver thereafter. Far from making it feel top-heavy, these three bangers – and it feels unfair to call them anything else – merely set the tone for hit followed by hit followed by hit.’ – NME

‘LCD Soundsystem accomplished more in 10 years than most bands achieve in 40.’ – Rolling Stone

These shows will mark LCD Soundsystem’s first visit since reuniting in 2016, Murphy promising fans a new album is on the way. The band made their comeback last year with headline slots at the world’s biggest festivals, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Bonnaroo and Primavera. (LCD will play the closing night of 2017’s Splendour In The Grass.)

“It was definitely not supposed to be my life,” the singer joked to triple j about LCD’s early days (listen here), when the band released a series of singles via DFA Records, the NYC label co-founded by Murphy. “It always seemed like we were free to really enjoy it because we weren’t expecting it to be our careers.” Buoyed by the attention grabbing, eight-minute ‘Losing My Edge’, LCD’s self-titled debut (2005) went on to earn two Grammy nominations and a Top 20 hit in Australia with ‘Daft Punk Is Playing at My House’.

2006’s one-track ‘45:33’ was brilliant, initially commissioned for Nike as a workout mix. That in turn influenced 2007’s acclaimed Sound Of Silver, Murphy’s hooks and self-effacing lyrics proving a unique combination. The record debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Album chart, and later crowned Album Of The Year by Drowned In Sound, Uncut and The Guardian, thanks to tracks ‘North American Scum’, ‘Us v Them’, ‘Someone Great’, the anti-gentrification ‘New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down’ (remember the Kermit video?), and ‘All My Friends’.

2010’s This Is Happening followed, with singles ‘Drunk Girls’ and ‘I Can Change’. Refusing to overstay their welcome, Murphy called time-out on the band 12 months later, culminating in a legendary four-hour ‘farewell’ show at Madison Square Garden, captured on The Long Goodbye.

Then, in January 2016, fans were elated when the band announced they were headlining California’s Coachella. While the world eagerly awaits new music, there’s no mistaking the band’s legendary live power:

‘LCD turned the massive Coachella stage into a glowing New York nightclub, perhaps the most grandiose moment of the reunion tour … Out front is Murphy, their digital maestro.’– SPIN Magazine

 ‘Toward the end of a nearly two-hour set, in “Dance Yrself Clean” and “All My Friends” repetition locked into ecstasy and all of LCD Soundsystem’s thought and craftsmanship were transformed into motion.’ – The New York Times

Make no mistake, this is going to be THE party of 2017, so don’t delay in grabbing your tickets. Help welcome back LCD Soundsystem to Australia this July!

LCD Soundsystem 2017 Aussie Tour
Monday 24 July – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Wednesday 26 July – Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne
www.lcdsoundsystem.com

The up-tempo single is simultaneously glamorous and minimalist in its approach, revolving around a basic formula of clapping drums, a strutting bassline, bright guitar notes and cooing layers of falsetto vocals that all stand out on their own while perfectly combining in a mix that straddles the line between tender indie rock and a neo-disco jam.

LISTEN TO ‘BACK FOR ME’ HERE:

‘Back For Me’ is a side-step to ‘Dear To Me’, the duo’s synth-driven first single from Plural. Released late last year, the no less infectious single feautured a cameo from Haim on backing vocals, and was Electric Guest’s first official release since their 2012 breakout debut album, Mondo. Premiering on Stereogum, it announced their return with soulful style and a terminally chill flow that seamlessly suited the rise of Australian summer.

Recorded in their hometown of LA and, Plural is a record that finds Electric Guest’s Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton at the absolute top of their game, infusing their version of electronic r’n’b with an even more confident, adventurous spirit than even Mondo displayed. Co-produced by the duo, along with the likes of John Hill (Rihanna, Santigold, M.I.A.), Cole MGN (Nite Jewel, Ariel Punk’s Haunted Graffiti) and Lars Stalfors (HEALTH, Coldwar Kids), the album is much more than the sum of its parts – using spare instrumentation and recording techniques to produce vibrant and joyful pop music that focuses purely on the power of the band’s songwriting and performing abilites.

When it came to record Plural, Taccone admits that he forced himself to simplify and look for that joy in writing and recording that had originally inspired the band’s debut album and won them so much success.

“I just realized that working quickly and intuitively is part of the magic of making music,” says Taccone. “I think a lot of music suffers when people get into a studio and feel like the process has to be this heady thing. When you go in with expectations, it wears down the levity and the fluidity that the natural process should have. And that’s not to say there weren’t songs on this record that were puzzles we had to figure out, but making music is supposed to be fun, and it was important for us to get back to that.”

That freewheeling sense of looseness Taccone rediscovered also opened the doors to several off-the-cuff collaborations, including an impromptu collaboration with baroque pop star Joanna Newsom and the aforementioned Haim sisters. It also led to a new level of comfort both at the mixing board and behind the microphone. That relaxed, go with the flow approach permeates Plural, encouraging the listener to shed all their preoccupations, and sing or dance along with its 12 glorious tracks.

‘Back For Me’ is just a tantalising taste of what we can expect once Plural finally drops February 17.
www.facebook.com/electricguest

In the way that watching an effective non-fiction film makes you want to follow the viewing with a liberal amount of internet investigation, Wilson’s ode to the life and times of Joyce Carol Vincent has the same effect. It’s an emotional album about a story that underlines the fact that even with all the social media and Internet connections in today’s society, people fall between the cracks, intentional or otherwise.

Vincent was by all accounts, a vibrant and popular young lady who turned off the world and died alone. Her body was not discovered for almost three years and due to the condition of the corpse, no real cause of death is known. This only adds to the mystery. Wilson takes this story as a template and has fashioned a modern masterpiece.

The music can be dense in the way that only virtuosos can accomplish with Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats) on guitar being particularly effective. Those moments however are sharply contrasted by the starkly emotional tracks like Perfect Life and the early moments of Routine before the afore mentioned Govan and guest vocalist Ninet Tayeb (winner of the Israeli version of Pop Idol) deliver one of the album’s most sublime musical moment.

If ever there was and is a musician capable of transcending the somewhat limited straight jacket (commercially) of progressive rock and becoming a crossover star, it’s Wilson. Having said that he might just be too good to make that leap.

Rob Hudson
www.stevenwilsonhq.com