Australian music enjoyed a big 2013, featuring the emergence of a number of exciting new artists and quality releases from old favourites. Here are our top albums of the past year.
Jagwar Ma– Howlin’
Poised to become one of Australia’s biggest exports, the Sydney trio gaining a lot of recognition at home and in the UK for tracks like ‘Man I Need’ ‘The Throw’, ‘Four’, ‘Let Her Go’ and ‘Backwards Berlin’.
Violent Soho– Hungry Ghost
Hungry Ghost marked the return of one of the country’s best grunge products after a three-year hiatus.
“Throughout the record I play with the idea of escaping a masked reality, ” frontman Luke Boerdom said. “I like to explore this concept that we live in a form of hyper-consumer reality and we lack an authentic human experience. In a few songs I try and focus on outsider suburban characters that are usually hidden and outcast by society, reenacting tapping into their reality and what they view as normal”
Birds Of Tokyo– March Fires
With help from the hit single ‘Lanterns’, March Fires experienced huge success, jumping to No.1 on the ARIA Album Chart and led to an appearance at Splendour In The Grass and a supporting role on the recent Muse national tour.
Boy & Bear– Harlequin Dream
The Sydney five-piece finally earned a No.1 ARIA spot after falling just short with their 2011 debut Moonfire.
The boys have secured an illustrious spot at next year’s SXSW and recently announced a massive Aussie tour scheduled for mid-2014.
Vance Joy– God Loves You When You’re Dancing
25-year-old James Keogh dumped a VFL career, coming out of nowhere to release successful singles ‘From Afar’ and ‘Riptide’, which peaked at No.7 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
So impressive was his debut release that it led to a five-album deal with music giant Atlantic Records.
“It’s a weird thing to say you want people to be sick of your song, but I guess that’s what happens if your song goes really well,” Joy said of Riptide’s success.
“I did have a good feeling about the song, an intuition. I knew it was special. It’s got a certain spark to it, it connects with people.
Empire Of The Sun– Ice On The Dune
The Luke Steele, Nick Littlemore duo went to huge lengths to promote their follow-up to Walking On A Dream, including the release of a cinematic styled trailer.
Ice On The Dune reached No.3 in Australia, also enjoying success in the UK, France and Germany.
“This album is a lot more scoped out than the last one,” said Luke Steele of Ice On The Dune. “We had to go further out to get what we were looking for. We’ve been like big wave surfers, chasing the songs”
Big Scary– Not Art
Melbourne duo Tom Iansek and Jo Syme dropped their second album, Not Art, after experiencing some success with their 2011 debut Vacation, releasing a the diverse, hip-hop and percussion influenced record.
Cloud Control– Dream Cave
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