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Another massive year of listening to new albums in this 15th year of Doubtful Sounds. As always, it’s been a pretty amazing 12 months for new albums. A deluge of sorts, from a myriad of genres and a noticeable proclivity for many artists to expand their sound and explore other genres, often within a song. Read on to check out our favourite indie, alt-country, psych, … Continue reading FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2023
Dumb Things first made a marker on the wider Australian indie-pop scene with their 2019 album Time Again and now the Brisbane/Meanjin group are back with the first single and title-track from their forthcoming 2024 LP Self Help (Coolin’ By Sound). The song’s wonderful laidback shuffle and strum harks back to the heyday of Flying Nun guitar pop and their trans-Tasman contemporaries such as The … Continue reading Brisbane’s Dumb Things release new single ‘Self Help’
Mystery bands are always a fascinating proposition. Who are they, where are they from, is this new, is this old???? The Hallrunners will keep you guessing with this debut release, ‘Clumsy Boys’, recorded at Rockbottom Studios in Croydon and released on Australian label Half A Cow. Ita slice of jangly, anthemic power pop par excellence that bursts out of the speakers and embeds itself in … Continue reading PREMIERE: The Hallrunners – Clumsy Boys
Our final video premiere for 2022 and it’s a damn fine one to go out on. The glistening, synth slow-burn of Ben deHoedt‘s new single ‘Divided Souls‘. Seemingly with one foot in the 80s and one in the future, De Hoedt pays tribute to the iconic TV series Miami Vice, transforming it into a gritty, stylised noir that, as deHoedt explains, is “a re-imagining of … Continue reading VIDEO PREMIERE: Ben deHoedt – Divided Souls
The Fragments are an indie rock band from Sydney, originally active from 2001 to 2006, and reformed in 2022. While active, The Fragments only put out two singles! So, in 2019, they released ‘Transporter Volume I’ and ‘Transporter Volume II’, a double album compilation of music recorded in the 2000s. The two volumes are available on Bandcamp and streaming services. In 2022, the band set up a mobile recording studio in a … Continue reading SYDNEY BAND THE FRAGMENTS RETURN WITH FIRST NEW SINGLE IN NEARLY 20 YEARS
Dave Graney / Clare Moore will release their new album In A Mistly next Friday (Nov 11th) and the first single from it is the intoxicating pulse and seductive fuzz and croon of ‘Tang’. Like a wonky version of Stereolab in a psych-pop and krautrock altered dream-state, the single beautifully blends an insistent rhythmic undercurrent with Graney’s sartorial and poetic eloquence in free flow, urging … Continue reading DAVE GRANEY AND CLARE MOORE SEDUCE AND HYPNOTISE ON NEW SINGLE ‘TANG’
A great sound on this brand new single from Wellington, NZ band Hans Pucket. ‘No Drama‘ is the title track from their forthcoming new LP due out on on USA label Carpark Records on November 4th. The single brilliantly blends crunchy guitar rock with soft art-pop shapes and a widescreen indie retro-futurist aesthetic. There are strings, horns and one can pick out a faint hint … Continue reading Aotearoa’s Hans Pucket Release New Single ‘No Drama’
On the new single and across the new album Like That, the Melbourne group Cool Sounds‘ usual jangle-pop sparkle has been supercharged by a disco-glam stomp, making for their most immediate record yet. Like That finds a bright pop-funk sweet spot between Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Hot Chip and 80s Francois K mixes. On this track you can also hear the enigmatic twitch and jerk of … Continue reading COOL SOUNDS RELEASE THE BREEZY FUNK OF ‘6 OR 7 MORE’
So much to love about this new single from Grimson, the project of Berlin-based Swedish/American songwriter Aiden Berglund. You can hear the rich pop art psych explosion of Beach Boys, Harry Nilsson and more contemporary progenitors of the genre such as High Llamas and Field Music in ‘Household‘, the latest in a string of singles. Heavy, rhythmic and supremely melodic piano bounces through the track, … Continue reading GRIMSON RELEASES GLORIOUS PSYCHEDELIC ART POP SINGLE ‘HOUSEHOLD’
Taken from the forthcoming new Soft Cell album, *Happiness Not Included (May 6th), ‘Purple Zone’ was originally pitched to Pet Shop Boys for a remix before wheels were set in motion and a true collaboration took place. The track is pretty much exactly as you’d expect both acts to sound together, in this case a great thing. Continue reading SOFT CELL AND PET SHOP BOYS JOIN FORCES FOR NEW SINGLE
‘Wild Night’ comes from the debut Lewis Goldmark LP, set for release in May. As Lewis Goldmark, Liam Judson (Belles Will Ring front person) takes on a new outlook and direction musically that still pays homage to the core influences that has informed his music over the years such as Velvet Underground, Beach Boys and David Bowie. Now, however it all comes together with a syringe injection … Continue reading LEWIS GOLDMARK RELEASES THE VIDEO FOR HIS SINGLE ‘WILD NIGHT’
Melbourne artist Alex Watts has a brand new single called ‘Moving Borders’ set for release next week and we’re very pleased to be able to premiere the track here on DS. It follows Watts’ previous 2021 singles ‘Overnormal‘ and ‘Damage‘ and finds him diving headlong into kaleidoscopic art pop where strings collide with glorious synths and crisp beats under a glittering mirror ball. Duran Duran … Continue reading SINGLE PREMIERE: Alex Watts – Moving Borders
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