Hitting Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for three huge solo acoustic shows, Bugg is well known to audiences down under for his boundless energy and shopworn tenderness, with his visits always attracting fevered excitement from both locals and ex-pats alike.

Recorded in Nashville with Black Keys frontman (and super producer) Dan Auerbach, Hearts That Strain shows a side of Jake Bugg rarely revealed on his previous three studio albums. It could be the secrets of the road or maybe just one too many drives through the American South, but there is a distinctive country feel running throughout songs like How Soon The Dawn and Waiting. The latter even features a duet with Noah Cyrus – of that Cyrus family.

Yep, Billie Ray’s other daughter does her Daddy proud on a heartbreaking piano ballad that shows just how far Bugg has come from his early days hurtling through breakneck numbers like Lightning Bolt and Trouble Town, not that he doesn’t enjoy leveling the odd audience with these early gems. In fact, it’s his ability to mix countrified crooning with raucous romping that makes Bugg such an undeniable presence on stage.

These effortless twists and turns have seen Jake Bugg cultivate an adoring fan base across the world and especially here in Australia. All four of his records have hit the Top 10 in his native UK and he will surely be welcomed to Australia with open arms for this latest run of shows.

Jake Bugg Solo Australian Accoustic Tour
19 APRIL – THE FACTORY, SYDNEY
20 APRIL – THE CROXTON BANDROOM, MELBOURNE
21 APRIL – THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE
www.facebook.com/jakebugguk

The Killers will be heading to Australia to perform in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, before wrapping up the tour at Melbourne’s Hisense Arena on Friday 4 May.

‘They write razor-sharp irresistible synth-rock anthems, with colossal choruses that sting and gleam and they perform them with a slickness and proficiency that may just be in their Las Vegas blood.’ – The Guardian

‘They have a good time on stage – and it’s infectious.’ – Independent

‘Flowers sounds great, the band is on point, and the songs—even the ones the audience doesn’t know—are instantly familiar.’ – Consequence of Sound

The Killers burst onto the scene in 2004, topping Australian charts and going Double Platinum with their debut album Hot Fuss. Featuring hit singles ‘Mr. Brightside’ and ‘Somebody Told Me’, the album received instant popularity and widespread international success.

Their early success continued with two further platinum albums Sam’s Town (2006) and Day & Age (2008), smash singles like ‘When You Were Young’, ‘Human’ and ‘Read My Mind’, and a touring schedule featuring headline arena shows and festival slots around the world including Glastonbury, Coachella and Lollapalooza.

The band’s forthcoming new album Wonderful Wonderful is the band’s first new material since Battle Born (2012). Produced by Jacknife Lee, the album was recorded between Jacknife’s Los Angeles studio and the band’s own Battle Born recording studio in Vegas.

Teased by a series of incredible new songs – ‘The Man’, ‘Run For Cover’ ‘Some Kind Of Love’ and title track ‘Wonderful Wonderful’ – the album is the band’s most sonically forward-thinking record yet, bursting with all of the blazing choruses and arena-pleasing anthems that make them one of the world’s biggest and beloved rock bands.

The Killers are finally returning to New Zealand and Australia! As one of the world’s most popular rock bands, these shows are not to be missed. Fans are encouraged to act now to avoid missing out!
Tour Dates

The Killers Australian Arena Tour!
27 April – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
28 April – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
1 May – Perth Arena, Perth
4-6 May – Hisense Arena, Melbourne
8 May – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
www.facebook.com/Thekillers

On the band’s new record Painted Ruins there’s a deep warmth, a flirtatiousness to the sonic ideas, and a sense of playfulness that’s perhaps the most surprising of all. It’s a direct reflection of the joy the band had experienced while making it. It chimes with collective exhales, and the genuine love that came from reuniting with old friends.

“You forget that you have this great thing going on with us, even though it can be really difficult,” says vocalist, Ed Droste. “When we finally got together it felt like there was a musical chemistry that was as real as it was when we were kids. That was thrilling in a way that was still the case,” adds guitarist, Daniel Rossen. You could almost say that the band’s propensity to chuck lots of ideas at the wall to see which ones stuck was the closest an established act can get to tapping into that energy that exists while recording a debut.

Painted Ruins isn’t a passing pleasure, it’s a body of work intended to be lived in. Its psychedelic grooves, challenging composition and pensive lyrics require repeated listens and develop significance, attachment and deep-rooted appreciation over time. That said it strays from getting too intense or introspective.

Some of the tracks take on a more personal bent. The likes of Wasted Acres and Neighbors, the former of which is about Rossen’s life in upstate New York. “That tune started as a simple and direct lyric about collecting firewood with my dog,” says Rossen. Four Cypresses, on the other hand, with its refrain of “it’s chaos but it works” is more political, though the band would prefer to keep the overtones less explicit.

Grizzly Bear Australian Tour
Adelaide – 6-7 Mar 2018 – Riverbank Palais
Melbourne – 9 Mar 2018 – Melbourne Zoo
Goldconda – 10 Mar 2018 – A Fest Called Panama
Meredith – 11 Mar 2018 – Golden Plains
Sydney – 12 Mar 2018 – Sydney Opera House
Brisbane – 14 Mar 2018 – QPAC
www.facebook.com/grizzlybear

Produced in response to the birth of his first daughter Savannah and reflecting several significant life changes, Fatherland (Okereke’s third solo work after 2010’s The Boxer and 2014’s Trick) has been met with luminous critical acclaim and will set a reverent tone for these unique performances in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Legendary for dissecting the tumult of modern life through his much-loved back catalogue, the Bloc Party frontman has taken a step back from the bright lights and moved into some more hushed and delicate atmospheres this time around.

A work of rare beauty and contrast, Fatherland sees Okereke guiding us through explorations of new responsibilities, established relationships and cultural identity by employing delicate folk, sumptuous soul and even a touch of cabaret for good measure. Cuts like Streets Been Talkin’ and Yemaya recall the work of Joni Mitchell or Elliot Smith in their splendid instrumentation.

While instrumentally a world away from the visceral output of the newly reinvented Bloc Party (their most recent record Hymns was a hit in 2016), the conviction in Okereke’s inimitable voice is strong throughout, and remains the reliable focal point that has held audiences in rapture for more than a decade. It seems like there has always been a sense of vulnerability inherent in his work, but this has never been fully realised until now.

Fatherland is a record that begs to be explored in the kind of intimacy that only the stages chosen for these unique dates can provide.

Kele Okereke Australian Tour
29 MARCH – OLD MUSEUM, BRISBANE
30 MARCH – THE BASEMENT, SYDNEY
31 MARCH – SPOTTED MALLARD, MELBOURNE
www.facebook.com/kele

A Black Mile to the Surface is a bold record of vision and purpose, inspired by and dwelling in a sensory and imaginative experience. It’s a reinvention of sorts, both musically and personally—a sort of cosmic worldview shift.

Catch the bombastic, cinematic and incandescent indie rockers live in February – expect most of the classics we all know and love as well as the new Manchester sound we’ve been searching for.

Manchester Orchestra Touring Australia Early 2018!
Melbourne – Friday 2 Feb ’18
Sydney – Saturday 3 Feb ’18
Wollongong – Sunday 4 Feb ’18
Brisbane – Tuesday 6 Feb ’18
Perth – Wednesday 7 Feb ’18
www.themanchesterorchestra.com

The album also features two brand new songs ‘ Broken Vow’ and ‘Be Who You Are’ as a taste of what’s yet to come.

The Kooks burst onto the scene in 2006 with their now five-times Platinum unstoppable debut Inside In/Inside Out, the Brighton-based four-piece have gone from strength to strength. Now, with three more studio albums, a number of massive world tours, awards, and critical acclaim under their belts, it was clear that the indie rockers’ ten-year anniversary is a significant occasion to celebrate their momentous career so far with a tour and album release of all their greatest hits.

The Kooks Best Of Australian Tour
Lorne – 28-31 Dec ’17 – Falls Festival
Marion Bay – 29 – 31 Dec ’17 – Falls Festival
Byron Bay – 31 – 2nd Jan ’18 – Falls Festival
Melbourne – Wednesday 3 Jan ’18 – Festival Hall
Sydney – Friday 5 Jan ’18 – Hordern Pavilion
Fremantle – 6 – 7 Jan ’18 – Falls Festival
www.facebook.com/thekooksofficial

The tour comes hot on the heels of the band’s acclaimed third album, ‘Near To The Wild Heart Of Life‘ – released January on Pod/Inertia. The run of dates marks Japandroids’ first visit to Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth in four years with performances taking place in Sydney and Melbourne also.

Japandroids are a two-piece band from Vancouver, BC, which began in 2006 and consists of Brian King and David Prowse. Japandroids are one guitar, one set of drums, and two vocalizers. Japandroids are maximal in their delivery; a two-piece band sounding like a five- piece band. With the release of their second album, ‘Celebration Rock‘ in 2012 the band embarked on what seemed like an endless world tour, performing over 200 shows in over 40 countries, and played their final show in support of Celebration Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November 2013.

They would not perform live again for three years. Their third album, ‘Near To The Wild Heart Of Life‘, was written clandestinely throughout 2014 and 2015 in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City. The title comes from a passage in the novel “A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man” by James Joyce: ͞He was alone. He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life.͟

Don’t miss Japandroids’ highly-ancitipated return to Australian shores in July 2017.

Japandroids National Tour
Melbourne – 11 Jul 2017, Corner Hotel
Sydney – 14 Jul 2017, Factory Theatre
Brisbane – 16 Jul 2017, The Brightside
Adelaide – 18 Jul 2017, Fat Controller
Perth – 19 Jul 2017, Rosemount Hotel
www.japandroids.com

A prototypical songsmith of his generation, Darnielle has been renowned for his immersive lyricism and vivid storytelling for over 20 years. During this time, The Mountain Goats has evolved from the lo-fi solo recordings of the 1990s to compositionally rich, grandly conceptual, full-band offerings in the last decade.

Darnielle’s penchant for observation and narrative has further seen him branch out into writing, releasing his first novel ‘Wolf in White Van’ in 2014 with a follow-up, ‘Universal Harvester’, coming in February 2017 on the eve of his Australian visit.

The tour follows the release of The Mountain Goats ambitious fifteenth studio album ‘Beat the Champ’, which chronicles the American Southwest underworld of the pro wrestlers he idolised as a kid. As always, it is the details that make this album so absorbing as he vividly imagines and paints their lives through lyric and melody.

“I wrote these songs to re-immerse myself in the blood and fire of the visions that spoke to me as a child, and to see what more there might be in them now that I’m grown,” – Darnielle

Come and experience The Mountain Goats’ ‘Beat The Champ’ in the flesh, as well as beloved favourites from Darnielle’s sprawling discography.

“The music is fantastically rangy, with discordant strings and jazz piano nuzzling punk-busker guitar. That WWF road-trip playlist you made with Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” just got way more interesting.” – Rolling Stones

“The Mountain Goats’ new LP is dedicated to John Darnielle’s childhood pro-wrestling heroes, using the particulars of their lives to explore his own personal mythology. There’s a noble simplicity to these songs, reflecting Darnielle’s warm memories of his fandom.” – Pitchfork

“As the razor, held aloft, glistens in the spotlight, Darnielle offers his parting words: “I loved you before I even ever knew what love was like.” It’s an epitaph for innocence — for fire and blood, gods and titans, rhyme and reason, the poetry and perfection of a squared circle.” – Consequence of Sound

The Mountain Goats Australian Tour
Perth – hursday 6th April, Badlands
Adelaide – Friday 7th April, Fowlers Live
Adelaide – Saturday 8th April, The Grace Emily
Sydney – Sunday 9th April, The Factory Theatre
Melbourne – Tuesday 11th April, The Toff In Town
Melbourne – Wednesday 12th April, The Corner Hotel *
Also appearing at  Byron Bay’s Bluesfest
www.mountain-goats.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

For Sydney fans, Band Of Horses are hinting at a special headline performance to be announced soon. Stay tuned for more news in coming weeks. Don’t miss Band Of Horses performing all new songs and beloved classics in Australia this July!
 

 
In the past, Band of Horses founder and leader Ben Bridwell would literally run away from home to write: Holing up in a secluded cabin or other such remote location, emerging months later with new songs for his band to flesh out and fully animate. This time-whether by happenstance or conscious need for a drastic change-Ben stayed home to write. In the estrogen-charged atmosphere of a home shared with his wife and four-yes, four–daughters he allowed his everyday experiences to inform his process. Between dropping off and picking up the girls, changing diapers, and playing dress up, Bridwell spent every precious free minute-often the wee hours on the morning into daybreak–in his garage writing.

While Bridwell and his bandmates – Tyler Ramsey, Ryan Monroe, Creighton Barrett and Bill Reynolds-convened in South Carolina alongside producer Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Bridwell struggled to bring the new material into focus. One day, at a particularly crucial part of the recording process Ben’s phone rang. It was Rick Rubin-who’d randomly heard a Band of Horses song on the radio during a drive, and had been moved to pull over and call. Without going into details, Bridwell can’t stress the value of this phone call enough. It was exactly the final push that his songs needed on their journey from conception to being sent out into the world.

The result is Band of Horses‘ fifth studio album, Why Are You OK, a record informed by experience and at the same time retaining the vulnerability that birthed their greatest songs. Creating capsule worlds populated by the strange but true cast of characters from Bridwell’s hometown Charleston, SC, Why Are You OK’s songs combined universal sentiments with Bridwell’s patented knack for storytelling-all wrapped in the lush melodic textures that have long been the bedrock of Band of Horses’ signature sound.

Why Are You OK is set for release in June via Interscope Records/ Universal Music Australia. The album was produced by Jason Lytle, Executive Produced by Rick Rubin and mixed by Dave Fridmann.

Band Of Horses 2016 Australian Tour
Friday 22 July 2016 – Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay
Sunday 24 July 2016 – The Forum Theatre, Melbourne
www.bandofhorses.com