Steering By Stars

Oh Steering By Stars, where have you been all my life? This Adelaidean four-piece make the kind of music I love - dense, atmospheric, melodic dark pop/rock. Lovely ambience offset by driving rhythms and such.

Their influences are a curious mix of Doves, Deerhunter, Sigur Ros and Vangelis - the latter can definitely be heard in their song 'Blush Response', which is a surprisingly beautiful post-rock tune. Its kind of offset by their other work, notably their song 'Closer' which has this wonderful shoegazy element.

This is definitely a band to look out for. Apparently they have an album out, which I have been trying to hunt down with no success so far. A little help?

Seriously, check out a few tracks of their's. They have a MySpace AND a profile page on Triple J Unearthed.

The Vignettes

I saw this band a couple of years ago supporting a band I was reviewing and have seen their name floating around the place so I thought I'd give them a proper listen.

The Vignettes are a great two-piece from Sydney. This music is pretty raw, loud and rhythm/riff-heavy. Its all very lo-fi, yet for a duo they make a lot of noise that reminds me a little bit of older Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and kinda harks back to music from the late 90s/early 00s when I was a lot more active in seeing live local music. In a good way.

These guys are really fun live - I highly recommend checking them out.

MySpace highlights include: Hey Little Girl and the tres cool Could've Been

Yves Klein Blue

I have to admit, I do love a good art reference in a band name (there was this great post-rock band called Ukiyo-E who existed maybe a decade or so back, loved that name too).

On my search for something original and refreshing, Yves Klein Blue managed to tick both boxes. A little pop, a little folk and a little rock too - their song 'Digital Love' is a surprisingly dense, raw number quite unlike their other music on their MySpace - these guys seem like the real deal.

I really like their song 'Make Up Your Mind' - it has this lovely summery, happy vibe. This seems to be a trend with young local music these days. A reflection of the warm climate in Brisbane (where these young upstarts hail from), or just a general positivity? Either way its all quite fun.