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SOUTHBOUND 2011The inaugural Southbound festival continues to bring sizzling talent from overseas along with the most talented home-grown Australian artists to you in the form of one superb and sustainable festival. Southbound features leisure in the form of music and comedy acts, food and market stalls as well as various activities to keep you entertained over the weekend. |
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Arctic MonkeysIt’s hard to believe that Arctic Monkeys first came to us nearly six years ago. Back then their thick accents, Sheffield swagger and tongue twisting pop gems gave them the fastest selling debut record in British chart history in Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. The Monkeys then proceeded to rip out albums at a gathering pace, culminating with their latest effort Suck It And See. An altogether more muscular and melodic record – it builds on their previous experiments in the Californian desert with Queens of the Stone Age head honcho Josh Homme. |
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Crystal CastlesBack in Australia this summer are festival favourites Crystal Castles. This Canadian duo consisting of producer Ethan Kath and lyricist and vocalist Alice Glass are known for their frenzied live shows and lo-fi home productions. Their most recent self titled second album includes “Not In Love”, the mega hit featuring guest vocals from Robert Smith of The Cure. If you’ve been anywhere near a dance floor or a radio recently, you will have heard this banger of a tune, along with “Baptism” and “Celestica” to name a few. |
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Fleet FoxesTapping into a vein of lyrical and harmonic whimsy first established in the late 1970′s, Fleet Foxes will forever go down as the band that made it okay to like folk music again. This Seattle based collective’s debut self titled record was the surprise hit of 2008. The band became gloriously inescapable – gathering universal acclaim everywhere they travelled. Their newest masterpiece is Helplessness Blues, a gorgeous record to be unleashed on Australian audiences for the first time at Southbound in 2012. |
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Unknown Mortal OrchestraOne of the more interesting propositions to come floating through the blogosphere lately has been Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Conceived as a home recording project for Ruban Nielson (best known for his role with legendary New Zealand punk band Mint Chicks), the band was formed in Portland with the singular vision of creating “junkshop record collector pop”. After posting some anonymous tracks on Bandcamp – UMO quickly signed to notorious US label Fat Possum and have somehow, very quickly become the type of band you’d be scoffed at for not name-checking. |
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The JezabelsYou’d have to be living under a pretty sizable piece of granite to have avoided the recent rise of The Jezabels. Virtually unknown 18 months ago, this Sydney 4 piece has seen their brooding tunes “Hurt Me”, “Easy To Love” and “Mace Spray” sear themselves into the hearts and minds of punters across Australia and the world. Not to rest on their laurels, The Jezabels have been spending a significant amount of time in Europe lately, proving to the world what we in Australia already know – they’re a very, very special band. |
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Arj BarkerInternationally renowned as “the first man to spin around in a chair” on Adam Hills’ talk show In Gordon Street Tonight, Arj Barker has been sneaking up on us for a few years now. He’s been stealthily moving from talk show to talk show, venue to venue and even had the stones to cross the Tasman to star in the hit show Flight Of The Conchords. In fact, these days the words “household name” wouldn’t go astray when referring to the comedy institution that is Arj Barker. |
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