Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Sydney alt-rock phantom wendsday (or just W, if you’re cool) shares their love for Chappell Roan’s hit 2023 debut studio album, ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’. It comes as wednesday returns swinging with their second-ever release, ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ – a snarling, hyper-caffeinated takedown of Australia’s class system that lands like a molotov cocktail wrapped in bubblegum.

Out now via We Don’t Exist Records, the track channels the scrappy heart-on-sleeve energy of Sly Withers, Jeff Rosenstock and Weezer, but with a distinctly fried, doomscrolly Sydney twist. Produced by Clint Topic at Newcastle’s Sawtooth Studios, ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ thrashes with grit, charm and that barely-holding-it-together mania that feels uniquely modern – or, as W puts it, “a scream into the ear of every YouTube business guru and Martin Place broker” still peddling the fantasy that capitalism is a fair game. The song pulls no punches as it spirals through stoicism, vape-fuelled existentialism and the sluggish death of the Australian dream.

wednesday – ‘I’m Fine Thanks’

wednesday: Would that it were, that I, wendsday (who has a new single called ‘I’m Fine Thanks’) could see sound in all of its vividness. To be able to touch it, like so many records in their sleeves. Alas, I am relegated to the hollow depths of my ear canals, which run dry and spartan without your
record to fill them up with stellar pop-music. It is there where the lonely spirit of ‘me’ resides
(yes, in my earholes) like the ghastly and most spectacularly sticky gunk that I am–awaiting your
record be played again, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

OH, CHAPPELL ROAN! As I write this my keyboard aches and groans under the weight of how
much thy loved your record ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’. It remains to this day,
a revelation in pop and the merits of individualism. It is an anomaly in the often broken
songwriting spectrometer of today. Yes, it is an anomaly, as are you Roan, in this baron
landscape of AI music and facsimile artistry with its golem singer-songwriters, summoned into
existence by the unbreakable spell of endless label investment capital and a fleet of faceless
hit-makers lining up to do their part.

From the first beat of the opener ‘Femininomenon’ and its knock-you-down chainsaw rip into
‘Play the fucking beat!’, I knew that the arrow of Eros (or ‘Cupid’ if you’re Catholically inclined)
had pierced my unworthy, lazy heart. Betwixt each track I went! Stumbling about in bloody
delirium through the audacious range of genre mastery (and on a debut, no less!), breathless at
the new form of ballads on ‘Casual’. Then, possessed and ravished by glittery pink club demons
on Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’; utterly compelled to dance around my kitchen making
pancakes well past the witching hour (this song did make me rather self-conscious about my
collection of jeans, but no matter).

By ‘HOT TO GO!’ I was completely vanquished. Just…atoms. I only came back to solid form just
now (and only to ink this letter, after which I will disassemble again). Now, I hope it’s OK to even
utter this meagre bastardisation of your exquisite lyricism for the purposes of editorial ballyhoo:
but, oh, baby did I like this beat.

‘Surely the sublime nature of this record couldn’t keep pace!’, I thought as the record played.
And then, for fun it seems, you ran rings around Taylor Swift at her own game with ‘My Kink Is
Karma’. Just because you could. BUT, OH CHAPPELL! There’s ‘Kaleidoscope’, too. Which to
me was a lonely crash-landing of two spacecrafts on two separate and desolate planets, both
named heartache. I was left stranded there, too. Until you portalled me to the ‘Pink Pony Club’,
where I found my giddy-up again.

I could go on (and on and on). But you’ll probably never read this, Chappell. This, my base &
unrequited love letter, a version two, written at the uninhabited hour of 2.00am because I didn’t
like what I’d penned at a more civilised time. But on the total off-chance that you ever do,
Chappell ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ is nothing short of a wonder that has had
me pushing my upcoming release as far as it can go within the paltry means of my talent in the

context of your own. The world didn’t know we desperately needed it, but know that we are
grateful. Keep feeling the world in the way you do. Rise.

Yours in screen-glow and a fugue-state of besottedness,

wendsday

Further Reading:

Love Letter To A Record: Forever Ends Here On The Band CAMINO’s ‘The Dark’

Love Letter To A Record: All Time Low On Blink-182’s ‘Self-Titled’

Love Letter To A Record: GLVES On Björk’s ‘Homogenic’

The post Love Letter To A Record: wednesday On Chappell Roan’s ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Sydney/Gadigal-based emo-pop stalwarts Forever Ends Here share their love for The Band CAMINO‘s 2023 LP ‘The Dark’.

It comes as the local trio officially step back into the spotlight with ‘I’m Still Trying To Find Myself’, their introspective, future-facing new EP dropping this Friday. While the trio’s legacy as one of Australia’s most beloved 2010s pop-punk acts will always be tattooed into their DNA, this record marks a bold new chapter, one that honours their teenage beginnings while fully owning who they are now. As frontman Luke McChesney puts it, it’s “a nostalgic homage” to the kids who started the band 14 years ago, and a declaration of where they’re heading next. Pre-save that EP here, or read Forever Ends Here’s love letter to The Band CAMINO’s ‘The Dark’ down below.

Forever Ends Here – ‘About It’

Forever Ends Here: “The Band CAMINO’s ‘The Dark’ is the perfect record that came at the perfect time in our lives. It blends influences from so many artists, genres and eras that we hold so close.

Forever Ends Here has traditionally been a pop punk band at its core, but throughout our hiatus we explored pop side projects and fell further in love with the art of a great topline – something that the Band CAMINO can’t be faulted on.

When we reformed in 2023 we knew that we wanted our new music to feel nostalgic but with a modern sensibility. Catchy melodies, clean production and an energy that makes you wanna drive along the freeway with the windows down and the volume up. Enter: The Dark. It’s hard to put into words how this record made me feel on first listen. Understood? Inspired? Mesmerised? Nostalgic? The same way I felt hearing All Time Low or Fall Out Boy for the first time at 10 years old? All of the above. It’s like they took 11 brilliant pop songs and gathered a bunch of musicians and producers from punk backgrounds to inject them with steroids. Every song on this record could soundtrack a 2010 coming of age movie and that’s EXACTLY the energy that we want to bring to the new era of FEH.

From the triumphant group vocals on “Save My Life,” to the syllable-packed chorus of “Novicane” that sounds like a response to “See Through” (the song that made us fall in love with the Band CAMINO in the first place) every song fills a different corner of our pop-reformed-emo hearts.

This record has soundtracked so many pivotal moments in our lives. The singles were dropping as we traveled the country on our 2023 reunion tour. The album filled our new home as myself and Maverick moved in together and set up the home studio that kick-started most of the new EP. It lived in my wired headphones as I traveled between studios in LA. It was there throughout my breakup and helped to articulate the process of healing. It soundtracked late nights in London and train rides to Paris. 

The Dark played a special role in reigniting the spark that launched Forever Ends Here to the world once more and we’ll always love The Band CAMINO for that. A nostalgic yet seemingly timeless body of work. The Dark; thank you for all you’ve given us.”

Further Reading

The Band CAMINO Announce Aussie Return With 2026 ‘NeverAlways’ Tour

Sydney Scene Favourites Forever Ends Here Return With New Pop-Punk Anthem ‘Unspoken’

5 Seconds of Summer Announce 2026 Aussie Tour Dates

The post Love Letter To A Record: Forever Ends Here On The Band CAMINO’s ‘The Dark’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Alex Gaskarth from Maryland pop-icons All Time Low share their love for Blink-182‘s 2003 Self-Titled LP.

It comes as ATL gear up to make their long-awaited live return to Australia at Good Things festival and a pair of headlining sideshows this December off the back of their freshly-minted tenth full-length studio release, Everyone’s Talking!  “Our music showcases us literally growing up,” Gaskarth explains. “Our band has been this unfiltered piece of ourselves that we’ve put out there into the world. We see ourselves as a current band, a current act that continues to push forward and not one that’s just built on its legacy”.

Read Alex Gaskarth’s love letter to a record down below.

All Time Low – Everyone’s Talking

Alex Garskarth For my Love Letter To A Record, I’m definitely going to go with Blink-182’s self-titled album. And I say that because I think that album was them hitting this stride of perfecting the band. They have so many great records, great records that came before it and great records that came after. But I think that album was the perfect blend of Blink being Blink, while also bringing a bunch of experimentation to the table that changed the way people looked at Blink-182 forever. And to me that was maybe the most exciting moment as a Blink fan, it was just so different but so great. And it’s rare that bands nail that.

Jack [Barakat] was with me when I got it, we got out of school, we went to Best Buy and we bought the album immediately and threw it on in the car. And I remember being kind of mad at first because of how different it was, I was like: I don’t like this, this isn’t the Blink I know. And then I listened again and listened again, and then I went: this is the best thing I’ve ever heard! It’s them experimenting and
growing and I just remember feeling so excited. We went and saw them live a few weeks later too, I
think it was the DollaBill Tour, at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was amazing.

I love the song ‘Asthenia’ on that record, and I love ‘Stockholm Syndrome ‘ as well. I put that record on quite a bit to be honest. I haven’t listened to it recently, but it’s one of those records when I’m not sure what to listen to, I’ll put it on and I’m never not satisfied. It covers literally everything I need.

All Time Low 2025 Australian Tour Dates

• Friday, December 5th – Good Things | Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, December 6th – Good Things | Sydney Showground, Sydney NSW
• Sunday, December 7th – Good Things | RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane QLD
• Tuesday, 9th December – The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
• Thursday, 11th December – Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide SA

Further Reading

Good Things 2025 Sideshows: All Time Low, Dayseeker + More

Good Things 2025 Lineup: TOOL, Weezer, Garbage + MORE

All Time Low Announce 10th Studio Album ‘Everyone’s Talking’

The post Love Letter To A Record: All Time Low On Blink-182’s ‘Self-Titled’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, First Nations alt-pop artist GLVES pens a heartfelt tribute to Björk’s third studio album, 1997’s ‘Homogenic’. It comes as GLVES shares her long-awaited debut EP ‘Belonging’, a four-track journey through post-traumatic growth, transforming pain into possibility and scars into blossoms. 

“For a long time, I rejected flowers, I rejected softness,” GLVES explains of the record. “I thought it was weakness, that I had to lean into masculinity to be taken seriously. But flowers have always been part of my lineage… Through this EP, I’ve come to see that softness is its own strength, and that to bloom, even when you’ve known darkness, is a kind of power.” Stream GLVES freshly minted EP, and read her love letter to Björk’s ‘Homogenic’, down below.

GLVES – Belonging

GLVES: Dear Homogenic,

You were the first time I could hear the landscape inside sound. Not just notes, but earth, sky and history. You took me into an inner landscape, one that lit up my imagination, a place I had never seen but somehow could hear in my bones.

Björk is a sonic wizard. With you she cast spells into my mind, and suddenly electronic music felt elemental. Alone in my room, lying on my bed I heard the desolate chill of Tasmania/lutruwita in my earliest years, the red desert storms of the Northern Territory/Warramungu country, all folded into your world. These landscapes have always lived inside me, and you gave me a way to hear them, and even hear ones I have never physically been to before.

Your songs comforted the emptiness and darkness I carried. ‘Jóga’ mirrored my hunger, for meaning, for beauty, for life itself. It still squeezes my heart, it’s a huge epic song. ‘Hunter’ felt intimate and searching, a reminder of how desire and survival intertwine. ‘Bachelorette’ was pure drama, determination, thunder and fragility at once, its final vocal hauntingly beautiful. The strings throughout are orchestral and stunning, and as someone who has always loved history and period dramas, my head and heart were instantly at home in these sounds.

You taught me that cinematic energy can live in electronic music. Old and new, ancient and futuristic, it is a paradox I love. It is how I feel as a human, tied to my history, but reaching toward the future and imagining new worlds.

Björk’s wildness is freedom. As a woman, her creative energy feels like a map, wild and gentle, vulnerable and strong. She reminds me to experiment, to trust my strangeness, to create and express.

The whole album washed over me like waves, reminding me of my place. You did not just soundtrack a moment, you cracked something open in me. You showed me that music could hold the whole world, and that the vastness, desires, deserts, storms, cold Tasmanian skies, could live inside a song, and inside me too.

Love always,

GLVES

GLVES’ debut EP ‘Belonging’ will be released on vinyl and is available to pre-order here.

Björk – Homogenic

Further Reading

PREMIERE: Kaurareg Artist GLVES Celebrates “Quiet Courage” In New Video For ‘Time’

Love Letter To A Record: Venice Qin On BIGBANG’s ‘MADE’

Love Letter To A Record: Joan & The Giants On Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Stranger In The Alps’

The post Love Letter To A Record: GLVES On Björk’s ‘Homogenic’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Auckland/Aotearoa-born, Sydney/Eora-based pop rising star Venice Qin pens a loving tribute to BIGBANG’s 2016 album ‘MADE’.

It comes as Qin celebrates the release of her own debut album ‘奔月 MOONLANDING’, a record built from contradictions – East meets West, Erhu meets hyper-pop, heartbreak meets turbo BPM. “I’ve always struggled with identity and questioned where I sit among cultures, social groups and especially in music,” Venice says of the freshly minted LP. “However, in ‘奔月 MOONLANDING’, I’ve found my footing. This album has such a wild mixture of energy, sonics and topics, but all of it is deeply me. Ultimately, it is the journey of me wrestling between multiple parts of myself, and finally accepting that it is the combination of all of these things that makes me who I am.”

Venice Qin – 奔月 MOONLANDING

From Venice Qin: Dear MADE by BIGBANG,

When I first came across you, I wasn’t sure if you knew your demographic included 13-year-old Chinese girls from New Zealand — or if I was even supposed to be part of it. Ten years later, I now know I wasn’t in the target audience (I mean, have you seen the ‘BAE BAE’ MV…), and I still don’t speak Korean. But I don’t care.

Because you completely changed my world.

Confession time: at thirteen and fourteen, I felt deeply uncool. But when I heard the effortless swag and confidence of ‘FXXK IT’ and ‘ZUTTER’, I suddenly felt rad as hell, by association. There was so much personality baked into every track, every vocal, every beat, and it gave me permission to imagine becoming someone bold, creative, and proudly different.

Obviously, I’d never been to a club at that age, but ‘BANG BANG BANG’ took me there anyway. Before you, I barely noticed synths — but how could I ignore those synths? Harsh, blazing, in-your-face. You lit something in me. The kick, the 808, the drop… it was electricity in my chest. And yes, I absolutely recreated all the iconic choreo in the bathroom mirror.

And then there’s ‘IF YOU’ and ‘LAST DANCE’. Oh. My. GOD. Taeyang and Daesung’s vocals ripped into my soul, and I am not exaggerating. The toplines? Exquisite. I still don’t fully know what the lyrics mean — but it didn’t matter. I felt everything you were feeling, through the performances alone. And T.O.P’s gentle rap at the end of ‘LAST DANCE’? Still one of the most genius choices I’ve ever heard.
I know this is a lot to say at once, but here’s the truth: because of you, I’m now an artist too. And what blows my mind the most is how you built an entire world with this album. Visual, surreal, colourful, cinematic — you gave us a music video for almost every track, and every single one was chef’s kiss perfection. They made me feel free.

I’m still so inspired by you every day. I hope my work makes you proud, and that I can pass on even a fraction of that feeling to someone else.

With love and forever admiration,
Venice

Further Reading

South Korea’s BIBI Announces Debut Australian Tour For October 2025

BTS’ V Hints At New Photo Book — ‘Type 1’

Love Letter to a Record: Meghna on BTS’ ‘Love Yourself 轉 Tear’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Venice Qin On BIGBANG’s ‘MADE’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Loki Liddle – a Jabirr Jabirr man who fronts Gold Coast rock band Selve – has written a deeply personal ode to My Boy, the third studio album by beloved New Zealand singer and songwriter Marlon Williams.

The letter arrives on release day for Selve’s debut album, Breaking Into Heaven. The album was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London – making Liddle and co. the first Indigenous artists to record a full album there. In a statement, Liddle described the process of making the album as “a big, profound, emotional journey that has taken myself and the band to places and into spaces we never imagined we’d get to tread”. I am really really proud of the album we’ve created, the music, the stories, the messages, the whole wild dream of it,” he said. “We poured all of ourselves into every song and I hope that people listening can find something they connect with among the embers.”

Breaking Into Heaven can be streamed below, with Liddle’s letter following after that and the band’s upcoming tour dates – most of which are free to attend – listed at the bottom.

Selve – Breaking Into Heaven

There are so many records that I could write a love letter to. Libraries and halls and winding mazes of records, spilling out all over time that deserve a heartfelt thankyou and nod. This record I’ve chosen is a surprising one even to me, as there are maybe more classic records that have played a formative role in my teenage years, sparking my desire to be a musician in the first place. 

But few artists have played such a significant role in my actual life as Marlon Williams – and this record in particular, My Boy, happened to come into my life at a time when I really needed it, and became somewhat of a spiritual companion during one of the trickier chapters in my life. And that really is what a great record does, right? There are star-crossed lovers, and there are star-crossed records that are destined to play a significant role in a person’s story.

I fell in love with Marlon’s first album back when I was 19 – and, in fact, met my partner of nine years at a Marlon Williams concert, in the very small Soundlounge of the Currumbin RSL on the Gold Coast back when he was still kicking off. Thanks for teeing that one up, Marlon. He kind of has had a cupid role, even in my love life, that has embedded his music as cannon in anniversaries and part of the lore of my relationship with my partner.

While his second album Make Way For Love carved a deep crevice in my heart, My Boy was the one that filled it up with balm. There is a friendly joviality that oozes through this record. The sense of the full-blown becoming and individuation of a deep-feeling man, who has given up any pretense or expectation and has decided to just be his authentic self in its full bloom and maturation. At the time this record came out, that was something that was really healing for me to hear and absorb.

The album is playful and curious, but also extremely insightful. I think it showcases that you can be silly and profound at the same time. Whipping out fun, high-spirited bangers like ‘My Boy’ and ‘Don’t Go Back’, the soothing tropical waves of ‘Easy Does it’, the surprisingly 80s drum machine romances ‘River Rival’ and ‘Thinking of Nina’ and profound soul-punchers like ‘Soft Boys Make The Grade’ and ‘My Heart The Wormhole’, then mixing it all up into one cohesive album, was something that hit home for me. Not to mention daring to brave a sombre Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb cover!

I used to drive from the Gold Coast to Brisbane for work everyday, and there must have been a six month period where I put it on every morning to soothe my nerves and exhaustion, and feel a bit of earnest love from another First Nations musician from across the seas. The language of music is unexplainable – and without going too much into the details of my own life, this album was medicinal to me. It was a friendly shoulder when I needed it, not to mention an inspiration creatively. Marlon’s integration of his traditional language into his music was certainly something I aspired to achieve, too. I’m not exactly sure why, but these are some of my favourite lyrics ever, from ‘Easy Does It’:

Ngã mihi to your friends when they stop calling
Musta missed you one too many times
But it’s on them to get what they need from you
It’s not on you to hold the line
That’s how easy does it
And she does it every time
Easy does it
Yeah, she does it every time
You are an expert in the field of distance
But I bet that I know where you are
You’re on some lonely undiscovered island
My seldom South Pacific star

They just fit right, and I know exactly what he means. It’s a warm hand, connecting you back to the centre. It goes without saying that I loved his following album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka, where he stepped into the power of his culture, language and songs completely. In fact, to return to the love story, I surprised my partner for our nine-year anniversary by getting us flights to New Zealand to see Marlon perform this album in his home town of Christchurch – a wild, beautiful full-circle moment.

Thank you, Marlon, for creating this beautiful record. For your dedication to your craft, your taste, your emotion and the spiritual power of song. I am forever grateful for the gift of your music. 

Selve Breaking Into Heaven 2025 Tour

• Friday, September 12th – Strange Days Vintage – Gold Coast QLD^
• Friday, September 26th – Princess Theatre – Meanjin/Brisbane, Turrbal & Jagera Country QLD*
• Sat 27 Sep – Gloucester Country Club – Gloucester, Guringai Watoo & Kabook Country NSW^
• Thursday, October 2nd – The Lass O’Gowrie, Newcastle NSW^
• Saturday, October 4th – Vic On The Park, Sydney NSW^
• Friday, October 10th – Felons Barrel Hall, Brisbane QLD QLD^
• Saturday, October 11th – Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, Gold Coast QLD#
• Friday, November 7th – Lulie Tavern, Melbourne VIC^
• Friday, November 14th – Elsewhere, Gold Coast QLD

* – supporting Winston Surfshirt | ^ – free entry | # – supporting The Delta Riggs

For more information, visit the band’s official website, SelveMusic.com.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Joan & The Giants On Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Stranger In The Alps’

Love Letter To A Record: End Of Fashion’s Justin Burford On Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tango In The Night’

Love Letter To A Record: Merpire On The ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Soundtrack

The post Love Letter To A Record: Selve On Marlon Williams’ ‘My Boy’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Grace Newton-Wordsworth – the lead singer of Perth pop band Joan & The Giants – has reflected on the impact of Stranger In The Alps, the 2017 debut album by American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.

The letter arrives fresh from the band releasing their second EP, The Five Stages Of Grief. In a press statement, Newtown-Wordsworth described the six-track effort as “an embodiment of grief, love and survival“. “For a long time I felt like a butterfly trapped in a cocoon, not being able to see the light —but that is changing, and I’m starting to spread my wings and find peace, joy and freedom,” she said. This EP is a painful chapter transformed into music and now healing.”

Stream The Five Stages Of Grief below, then Newtown-Wordsworth’s letter after that and all of Joan & The Giants’ upcoming tour dates at the bottom.

Joan & The Giants – The Five Stages Of Grief

I’m going to be honest, I struggled for a while to write this love letter. I found it difficult to find one album that influenced the whole sound of our EP, as there’s many different influences and artists we adore and gravitate toward. But, overall, Stranger In The Alps stands out to me as I reminisce on the last two years creating our EP The Five Stages of Grief. To me, this is a perfect record. It isn’t afraid to just be sad and play on deep emotion. It feels like Phoebe isn’t trying to prove anything; she simply writes songs that mean something to her, and the production goes hand-in-hand with her lyricism – a perfect symmetry.

I was nervous about releasing such a sad and raw EP, because people always say things to me like “when will you write something happy?” For me, music has always felt like therapy. It gets me through the hard times, so I decided this EP has to be honest – and, if I’m being honest, the last two years I really haven’t been OK. It’s been a heartbreaking time coping with this very internal, nuanced breakdown of a nine-year relationship with someone who was also our guitarist and co-writer – even after we parted ways romantically. Throughout writing these heartbreaking, deeply personal songs together, we listened to a lot of Phoebe’s music and she influenced us heavily as songwriters, lyricists and producers.

Phoebe Bridgers – ‘Motion Sickness’

Stranger In The Alps is such a special album, and will always be in my top five of all-time favourites. Songs that really hit hard for me are ‘Motion Sickness’, ‘Funeral’, ‘Scott Street’, ‘Georgia’, Y’ou Missed My Heart’ and ‘Smoke Signals’. Phoebe is such a brilliant writer; I love her ability to use metaphors and be so blatantly honest at the same time. For example, the lyrics on ‘Funeral’ really tell the exact story of exactly what she’s going through, whereas with a song like ‘Motion Sickness’ you have to read into it a little more to find the meaning, which gives space to give it your own as well.

I love the production on this album; it really inspired songs from our EP like ‘When You Were Mine’ and ‘All I Know’ – especially with its guitar sounds and soundscaping. I love that Phoebe allows so much space in her music, which creates this gentle softness but also builds tension and power behind the bigger moments. I also like that you can listen to this album over and over again and always hear something new – there’s a lot of layers and sounds, and it always surprises me on every listen.

If I was to write Phoebe a letter personally , I would simply say: Thank you. Thank you for changing the way I approach music. As a female artist, you’ve helped me to go deeper and fall in love with production and lyricism. You’ve changed my little musical life for the better, and made me unafraid to share all of my big feelings.

Joan & The Giants 2025 Tour Dates

• Saturday, September 18th – Hotel Esplanade, Melbourne VIC
• Thursday, September 25th – Lulies Tavern, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, September 27th – Vic On The Park, Sydney NSW
• Sunday, September 28th – The Triffid Beer Garden, Brisbane QLD
• Wednesday, December 3rd – Metro City, Perth WA*
• Friday, December 5th – Eaton Hills Hotel, Brisbane QLD*
• Saturday, December 6th and Wednesday, December 10th – Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW*
• Sunday, December 7th and Tuesday, December 9th – Forum Theatre, Melbourne VIC*

* – supporting The Fray.

For more information and all ticketing links, visit JoanAndTheGiants.com.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Felivand On Sade’s ‘Love Deluxe’

Love Letter To A Record: Merpire On The ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Soundtrack

Love Letter To A Record: Djanaba On Amaraae’s ‘Fountain Baby’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Joan & The Giants On Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Stranger In The Alps’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Tim McIlrath– the leader of Chigago punk icons Rise Against – has penned an incredible ode Fugazi‘s 1989 compilation album ’13 Songs’ and its lasting impact on him as a musician, songwriter and activist.

It comes as Rise Against return after four years with their new LP ‘Ricochet’ – a massive, unifying rock record that’s as thought-provoking as it is anthemic. Produced by GRAMMY winner Catherine Marks and mixed by Alan Moulder, its 12 tracks tackle the chaos of our hyper-stimulated, outrage-driven world, urging listeners to slow down, think, and recognise how our actions ripple outwards. McIlrath calls it a meditation on our “collective inter-connectedness” — how every decision, from global politics to personal choices, ricochets through other lives. You can stream the record in full right here, or read McIlrath’s love letter to Fugazi’s ’13 Songs’ down below.

Rise Against – ‘Ricochet’

Tim McIlrath, Rise Against: My desert island band is Fugazi, and the album that first introduced Fugazi to me was 13 Songs. It came out in 1989. I was 11 years old, so I wasn’t “there” when it came out. It was probably still Janet Jackson and Vanilla Ice on the radio back then. But I had gotten into Minor Threat, and then started to get into Fugazi all around the same time. And it blew my mind just realising the leap that those artists, and artists like Ian MacKaye, took from a very traditional punk band in Minor Threat into 13 Songs, it almost had a reggae vibe to it!

It was an important record to me because it was political, and it was an important record to me sonically, watching this guy just transform himself as an artist but also be able to still create that same energy that he created in Minor Threat. So, I loved it sonically, lyrically, and I loved the way it was presented as a very affordable record released by the band. They would tour and play $5 shows in really unorthodox venues where they could control the ticketing, and there was no bar. They really did things on their own. The whole band and the whole package was kind of amazing. And what I learned from them was: don’t just re-tread the same territory your favourite bands did. Create your own thing. Make your own thing. What you do, you’ll make it cool because you do it, but you have to be authentic to yourself to do it. And I took that lesson away from Fugazi.

I’m pretty sure that my friend would have borrowed/stolen 13 Songs from his older sister’s collection and brought it to my house, and literally was like: “you have to fucking hear this!”. It was like contraband. All those records back then, it felt like you might be doing something wrong just listening to the stuff, or if you got caught with it. And then after we listened to it we also had to try to get it back to her. I remember his sister was into more gothy The Jesus and Mary Chain-type stuff, so when she would come across this heavier stuff, she would pass it on to her little brother and then we would hear it. And that was our connection because back then, before the internet and just growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, any information about new bands or new music was something that required a lot of effort. I can still picture listening to 13 Songs, and it was definitely my friend’s sister’s record we had borrowed. And we just played the shit out of it, it just absolutely blew our minds.

‘Waiting Room’ is an obvious favourite on that album, but ‘Burning Too’ was that kind of environmental rally. I think I wrote a paper about it in high school too, I remember you had to pick a song, and I remember writing a paper about Environmental Too. “Anytime but now / Anywhere but here / Anyone but me / I’ve got to think about my own life”…these were lyrics from 1989 and these were problems that we’re still having, and a message that is still relevant today.

Further Reading

Rise Against Announce New Album ‘Ricochet’

Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath: “I Don’t Want To Just Sing About The Symptoms, I Want To Sing About The Actual Disease”

Love Letter To A Record: Stefan From The Montreals On Rise Against’s ‘The Sufferer & The Witness’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Rise Against On Fugazi’s ’13 Songs’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Justin Burford – the founding member and leader of Perth pop-rock stalwarts End Of Fashion – has penned an epic ode (one of the longest in the column’s history) to the last hurrah for Fleetwood Mac‘s classic line-up: 1987’s Tango In The Night.

The letter arrives with not only the eerie timing of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham seemingly having mended fences (if Instagram is to be believed), but also ahead of Burford taking a new-look End Of Fashion out on the road for a 20th anniversary tour. The run will see Burford and co. playing the band’s self-titled 2005 debut album in full, as well as selections from the rest of their discography. The album will also receive a vinyl reissue to commemorate both the tour and its 20th anniversary, including an entire second disc of demos, B-sides and previously-unreleased music from the era. Stream End Of Fashion below, with Justin’s love letter to Tango In The Night after that, as well as End Of Fashion’s upcoming 20th anniversary tour dates listed at the bottom.

End Of Fashion – End Of Fashion

My dear Tango,

For the sake of our relationship, I feel obliged to open with honesty: You were not my first. You may not be my last. Indeed, there are albums I’ve known longer. Albums I did (and do) like, albums I’ve loved and still love, albums I admire, albums that were teachers, albums that were affairs, albums that were flings, albums I’m proud to own, albums that will remain secret and guilty pleasures.

I’ve had all sorts of relationships with all sorts of albums over the course of my musically polyamorous lifespan. Only very few, however, transcend mere adjectives and platitudes, summary and concept. Only very few have burrowed in to my soul, and mutated my DNA. These are the albums that have – for want of a better word – become family. To me, my dearest Tango In The Night, you are one such album.

Sure, your more mature sibling Rumours may get all the attention – and not necessarily without good reason – but it is my conviction that you are very much the all-too-often-overlooked metaphorical “middle child” of your authorial parentage. Desperate for approval, you are a hot and perfectly-imperfect mess, shining bright in spite of… nay, because of your fundamental and inspired contradictions.

When I was a Xennial pre-teen middle child myself, you were on high rotation (both literally and figuratively) atop the Sansui component system’s record player – a centrepiece of the suburban Burford household. You became as much a brother, sister, parent, babysitter etc. as any of these corporeal claimants. Unlike those formative figures however, our kinship is as much fluid as it is frozen. Immortal. Ageless. Still, I would have little to no idea how much you, yourself a snapshot, would shape me. How many times I would visit, revisit, and revisit again in the decades to come.

Much like family, wherever and whenever I happen to find myself – be it in state, or state of mind – you, my dear Tango, have turned many a house into a home. You’ve always found and left me with a sense of drifting. But, yours is not a drift without purpose. Yours is a drift of aim, current and course, if not destination. Indeed, you drifted into my life at an age when I was not yet grown, but no longer entirely innocent, either. Your coordinated contradiction has informed my creativity ever since.

You are a touchstone. A catalyst, timekeeper and capsule. Time and again, I’ve lost myself in the pictures you’ve painted across my many ceilings. I see stars and seas and mountains. I see the sun’s rays shine through storm clouds. Through you, I become an eavesdropper on eternal youth and beauty. A voyaging voyeur of heartbreak and joy, excess and emptiness, hope and resignation.

Fleetwood Mac – ‘Seven Wonders’

Before I lose myself beyond rescue to the alluring poetry of nostalgia, allow me to role-play archaeologist, digging deep into the nitty gritty, so I might at least attempt to discover just what makes you so very you. Opening with unbridled confidence, your jungle rhythm establishes the invitation. I graciously accept, and you welcome me to your tribe. Lilting guitar, lamenting vocals… the nocturnal ceremony begins.

Suddenly, all at once, everything is volcanoes and catharsis until you spirit me along with pseudo sexual utterances – the most primal of languages. The biggest of loves. As your next offering swells, even that which is synthetic does its best to appear organic. Is this the primordial swamp, birthing a humanity that will come to love and lose as we naively venture forth into the world? Truly a wonder.

Next, a sonic sparkle shifts our gaze toward the stars. We are made of them and want to be with them, everywhere. As an aside, this may very well be the most underrated bass line in the history of popular music. All too soon, you call me back to the jungle, deep now into the darkest hours of night. I am hypnotised by the groove of your restrained dangers, your lingering potential for violence. To be human is to be animal, to love and to hate, oftentimes in equal measure. This is also true of your titular track, playing counterpart to the previous, with a turn that is more contemplative and tempered. You are growing… and, dare I suggest, evolving.

Shall we take a moment of levity? Shall we slow dance (or better yet, tango) on a long forgotten candle-lit beach, lost somewhere between the edges of wilderness and cosmos? Arm in arm, we reflect upon the majesty of mystery, the yin to the yang, the feminine caress complementing the heavy hand of masculinity. A moment of reflective silence, broken by an invitation to turn the page, honouring our tendency to revel in sweet incongruity. Love me. But, if you can’t do that, lie to me and tell me you do. I’ll take living in delusion over living without. It’s the ultimate romance. A facade of good faith. Along this line, though it pains me to admit, like any family, you are not without your flaws.

Sadly, this brings us to the end of the best you have to offer. All endings have a beginning and this, ironically, is where your boldest claim is made. Perhaps you’re not the family man you think you are, in this, your most disconnected, hollow moment. Then again, on second thought, maybe it was I who was too quick to pass judgement. Perhaps I was just too close to see it? Yes! Perhaps even this is far more poignant than I, up until this very moment, had all but realised! Oh, the irony of misplaced irony! Cast me no blame! After all, I am a child of divorce!

You sing for me a final, sweet lullaby of hushed reassurance. And with this, as the twinkling sky ever so subtly lightens and our long, strange night draws to an end, the tango tires, ready to sleep the day away. A single, flirtatious kiss, backlit by a bittersweet seaside sunrise before we part, for now, quietly anticipating future entanglements.

Wait, this isn’t a review, is it? That’s not the point here! This is simply an indulgence, and indulge indeed I have! As such, certain my word count has long since spilled well past the lip, I’ll leave with this: Like all the most special souls we meet upon this mortal coil, you’ve turned out to be an unlikely companion in mine. As much a surprise to me as I am to you, I’m sure. You taught me that contradictions are inherently wonderful, even if often misunderstood and painfully overlooked. You taught me that the luscious is all the more when it bears an edge. That the edges go down easier with a spoonful of sparkling sugar.

You taught me to embrace my contradictions. To lean in to them. To own them. And I have. Indeed, I turned them into an identity. Like you, dear Tango, I travel a million miles in a million directions and yet, somehow, despite the odds, I always find my way home. You are the aching pillow of distant memories and cautious optimism on which I lay my head and heart. Yes, I know what they say. One can never truly go home again. But thankfully, my dear Tango In The Night, as far away and lost as I may become, time and again, you bring me as close to home as anyone possibly can.

End Of Fashion 20th Anniversary 2025 Tour

• Friday, August 15th – The Brightside, Brisbane QLD
• Saturday, August 16th – Crowbar, Sydney NSW
• Friday, August 22nd – The Night Cat, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, August 23rd – Jive, Adelaide SA
• Saturday, August 30th – The Rosemount, Perth WA

All remaining tickets are on sale now via End-Of-Fashion.com.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Zenith Moon On Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’

Love Letter To A Record: Jesse Redwing On ‘The Best Of The Original Fleetwood Mac’

Love Letter To A Record: Felivand On Sade’s ‘Love Deluxe’

The post Love Letter To A Record: End Of Fashion’s Justin Burford On Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tango In The Night’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter To A Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, indie/rnb singer-songwriter Felivand has reflected on the impact of Love Deluxe, the multi-platinum fourth studio album from Sade released back in 1992.

The letter arrives following the release of My Body’s My True North, Felivand’s debut studio album, which was released last Friday (July 18th). In a press statement, the Melbourne musician noted that the album centred on “trusting feeling over thought”. “It’s a stepping into – and an acceptance of – the stories, experiences and memories that shape who I am,” she said.

“When I listen to what my body’s telling me, it feels like an unwavering light at the end of the tunnel, an orienting point – something fixed, like a ‘true north’, while everything else around it spins. When I follow thought, I’m in with everything that’s spinning.” Stream My Body’s My True North below, with Felivand’s love letter to Love Deluxe after that, as well as upcoming tour dates listed at the bottom.

Felivand – My Body’s My True North

Love Deluxe was first exposure to the style of music that I now love and cherish. This album was played constantly during my childhood on CD, from when I was just old enough to walk right up until my early teens. When I hear any song off of this record, I’m teleported back to the living room in the small, grey bricked house that my mum raised me in.

It takes me back to the dinner table, to sitting on the blue carpet, to choking on a strawberry bud. It gives me this indescribable feeling in the pit of my stomach; I remember feeling it in my body even as a child, but I still feel it every time now as an adult, too. It’s a beautiful feeling that I can’t describe.

As I have gotten older, I have made my own memories to this album. I find myself listening in a more suave and mature setting, admiring the music for its richness, smoothness and expressive yet not overstated instrumentation. There’s never a time where this putting this album on is a bad idea. 

Sade – ‘Like A Tattoo’

‘Like A Tattoo’ feels like when I wake up from a dream before it finishes and being in that in-between; a confused yet peaceful state. That song, in particular, embodies everything about why I love this album. The album cover is one of the most beautiful album covers in the world, too. It’s everything an album cover should be and evokes such a feeling around the album without saying too much.

Sade is one of those artists that has shaped me, in a way that feels intrinsically deep and effortless. It feels like her music is a part of me, because I was so young when I first heard it. My love for down-tempo music, I think, is owed a lot to this record. For getting to know it so intimately growing up, I feel like it changed my brain chemistry and attunement and love for groove and rhythm especially.

That all might sound a bit dramatic to some people, but I genuinely feel that way about Love Deluxe. It’s sentimental, perfect from top to bottom, and I’m so thankful it has so many memories attached to it for me whilst also being sonically, musically, and creatively so inspiring as an adult. There will be many more memories and phases of my life soundtracked by this album – I just know it.

Felivand My Body’s My True North 2025 Tour

• Saturday, September 27th – The Vanguard, Sydney NSW
• Saturday, October 11th – Bergy Bandroom, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, October 25th – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD

Tickets for all shows are on sale now via Felivand’s official website, Felivand.com.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Merpire On The ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Soundtrack

Love Letter To A Record: Carboard Cutouts On Whitley’s ‘The Submarine’

Love Letter To A Record: Djanaba On Amaraae’s ‘Fountain Baby’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Felivand On Sade’s ‘Love Deluxe’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt – AKA Melbourne indie rock singer-songwriter Merpire – has reverted to her teenage theatre-kid self to revel in Moulin Rouge! Music From Baz Luhrmann’s Film, the 2001 soundtrack to the blockbuster film starring Ewan McGregor and Australia’s very own Nicole Kidman.

The letter arrives on release day for Merpire’s long-awaited second studio album Milk Pool, which arrives four years after her debut album Simulation Ride. The album has been roadtested extensively over the last year, with Merpire opening for the likes of Jebediah, Fanning Dempsey National Park, Bombay Bicycle Club and Ball Park Music. She will take it on the road with an east-coast solo tour in August, as well as a slot at this year’s Town Folk music festival out in Castlemaine, Victoria.

Listen to Milk Pool below, with Rhiannon’s love letter to the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack after that, as well as her upcoming national tour dates listed at the bottom.

Merpire – Milk Pool

I’m imagining the following love letter landing on the writing desk of Christian (Ewan McGregor) in the attic in Moulin Rouge!. It’s among a pile of other love letters. If I had written it by hand the first time I heard the soundtrack, it would be on paper hand-made by myself, in metallic, coloured pens with stickers and kisses bordering the paragraphs, finished off with a subtle hint of cheap perfume rubbed in from a sample in a magazine. I would be 13 years old.

Dear Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann’s Film (2001), 

You do not know me. Nor do you know the depths of the romantic notions, daydreams and beckoning darkness you awoke in me as a teenage girl. At 13, your visual world and the soundtrack to match, slapped me in the face with a glitter bomb and suddenly everything was possible. I felt like Dorothy stepping into the colourful world of Oz.

Bordering on puberty and all the feelings that go with that, songs like ‘Come What May’ and ‘Elephant Love Medley’ had me dropping fat tears all over my Discman, trying to blubber and sniffle along with Ewan and Nicole. These songs were so big and dramatic to me, and I loved feeling hopelessly in love with the idea of love – something I knew nothing about, but something I just knew I needed more than anything in the world. I tormented my aching heart listening to these songs over and over again, loving the pain, the anguish, the despair.

Select friends and I would perform ‘Elephant Love Melody’ in the school quad, much to the older group’s annoyance, taking turns on which part we’d sing. Arms were outstretched in the climax, as we sang “Iiiiiiii will love you/Until my dyyyyyiiiiing daaaaay.” This is how I learned to sing harmonies: Singing along to ‘Children Of The Revolution’, sharing an ear bud each, dancing in our seats on the bus home from school. We felt like we were going to change the world.

Moulin Rouge! – ‘Come What May’

Listening to ‘Nature Boy’ (the David Bowie and Massive Attack version) and Beck’s cover of ‘Diamond Dogs’ scared me a little. I was drawn to this fear, not understanding what exactly I was afraid of. It felt like a safe danger, somehow. I was obsessed with this dark, creepy mood that it evoked. It felt like something only I knew. There was this strength and safety in knowing. I would say these songs are where my obsession for creepy but also clever music production started.

‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ was my ultimate indulgence in escapism. I’d perform this song in the lounge room to myself when no one was home. Using the couch, coffee table and walls as props to dramatically flop down on, dragging a hand gently over surfaces as I slowly sashayed around the room. Riding in the backseat of the car, I’d stare out the window, miming along: “One day I’ll fly away/Leave all this to yesterday”. I was imagining I was on my way to another life. I’d even try to cry out a single tear to drip down my face for effect. This song made me feel like the star of my own coming-of-age story, and was the shining light driving me towards a career in music.

Such confessions can only be made in a love letter like this. I just thought you should know the profound effect you had on me as a hormonal human being – and, upon reflection, on my songwriting. The way your collection of songs made me feel so much is how I wish listeners to feel even an inkling of when listening to my songs – the daydreams out the window, the sonic description of big crushes… and, of course, those big, secret feelings.

Merpire Milk Pool 2025 Tour

• Sunday, July 6th – Soundmerch, Melbourne VIC
• Friday, August 15th – The Junk Bar, Brisbane QLD
• Saturday, August 16th – Lazy Thinking, Sydney NSW
• Sunday, August 17th – Smith’s Alternative, Canberra ACT
• Thursday, August 21st and Thursday, August 28th – Merri Creek Tavern, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, November 15th – Town Folk Festival, Castlemaine VIC

Tickets are on sale now via Merpire’s KOMI.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Carboard Cutouts On Whitley’s ‘The Submarine’

Love Letter To A Record: Mikayla Pasterfield On Matt Maeson’s ‘Bank On The Funeral’

Love Letter To A Record: Djanaba On Amaraae’s ‘Fountain Baby’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Merpire On The ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Soundtrack appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Eliot Argus – the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Queensland alt-rock upstarts Cardboard Cutouts – has pulled out a relatively-obscure Aussie folk record, writing to Whitley‘s 2007 studio album The Submarine.

Cardboard Cutouts have officially released their debut studio album, Politics & Footy Tips, today (June 27th). In a statement shared to the band’s social media accounts, they were “incredibly excited” to share the album “after about 18 months of blood, sweat and beers”. “It has been the most incredible journey to hear these songs take on a life of their own, and turn into something we’d only dreamed of hearing,” they wrote. We owe that all to [producer] Harry Verity, who was able to see our vision and push us to the edge creatively and make something we never thought was possible. We hope you enjoy this body of work as much as we do.”

Listen to Politics & Footy Tips below, with Argus’ love letter to The Submarine after that and the band’s upcoming national tour dates listed at the bottom.

Cardboard Cutouts – Politics & Footy Tips

Dear The Submarine,

You are everything an album should be. The perfect balance of the expected to unexpected that makes the album a journey more than a collection of songs. It’s almost too easy to hear my own story in you, which is something that I don’t think I have ever felt from any another album. Your production is the definition of perfect. It feels so genuinely raw, and exists without even a gram of corporate sheen that would suggest you’re anything that you aren’t. It’s just you, being you – I need to take a page out of your book there.

You were made when I was five years old, and I think I first heard you shortly after your release in 2007. My first recollection of you was in our family car on a trip out to Nanna and Grandad’s, a short drive from my hometown of Toowoomba. Now, I reach for you every time I take the plane to Charleville for work. You first struck me when I heard the track ‘All Is Whole’, towards the end of the album. I remember, as a kid, hearing the constant build into those massive gang vocals; it made my heart pump. In that moment, I truly felt music for the first time.

As an adult, the context is vastly different. It’s a haunting track. It breeds anxiety, tension and this wishy-washy feeling with its rolling snare and picked guitar throughout the verses. Still, when the chorus hits, everything opens up. It’s almost a reminder that, even throughout periods of stress, confusion and vulnerability, all the noise can disappear and you can carry on, mended.

Whitley – ‘I Remember’

As great as it is, ‘All Is Whole’ is far from the only time where you make me feel this. Throughout every track, you create this beautiful sense of melancholy. You have these sounds that take me to a place that feels strangely safe; it’s comforting and uneasy, all at once. I think this has something to do with your incredible blend of raw acoustic textures with synthesizers and processed drums. It’s this juxtaposition that creates such an enthralling experience every time I listen to you.

You are bold yet humble. You cover ‘Mojo Pin’, a Jeff Buckley classic. It’s not done as some kind of statement, though. It just is what it is. That’s you, The Submarine: You don’t pretend to be anything you are not. You’re nonchalant & honest in nature, laying it all out on the table; not to be judged, but be observed and appreciated for what you are. I find it incredibly inspiring. Thank you for helping me through the most confusing, anxiety-inducing, craziest and the most fun of times, The Submarine.

Much love,
Eliot

Cardboard Cutouts Politics & Footy Tips Tour

• Friday, June 27th – The Brightside, Brisbane QLD
• Friday, July 4th – Vinnie’s Dive, Gold Coast QLD
• Friday, July 11th – The Presynct, Nambour QLD
• Saturday, July 12th – Tinana Hotel, Maryborough QLD
• Saturday, July 19th – Otherwise, Townsville QLD
• Friday, July 25th – The Retreat, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, July 26th – Twisted Lime, Hobart TAS
• Thursday, August 15th – MoshPit Bar, Sydney NSW
• Friday, August 15th – The Baso, Canberra ACT
• Saturday, August 16th – The Servo, Port Kembla NSW
• Sunday, August 17th – Lass O’Gowrie, Newcastle NSW

Tickets for all shows are on sale now via Carboard Cutouts’ Bandsintown.

Further Reading

Artist On Artist: Melanie Mununggurr And Claire Edwardes Talk ‘Music On Tubowgule’

PREMIERE: Abbey Lane Reckons With Her “Quarter-Life Crisis” On New Single ‘Burning Out’

Love Letter To A Record: Djanaba On Amaraae’s ‘Fountain Baby’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Carboard Cutouts On Whitley’s ‘The Submarine’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Bundjalung singer-songwriter Djanaba gets personal talking about Fountain Baby, the 2023 debut from Ghanaian R&B star Amaarae.

Djanaba recently released her debut album, Did I Stutter?, via etcetc. In a press statement, she noted that the album stood “far above what [she] ever thought [she] could create”. “This album could honestly be my own how-to guide on figuring shit out in your early 20s,” she said. “Don’t stop. Don’t question. Don’t change. Just grow. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth every second.”

The album can be streamed below, with Djanaba’s Love Letter to Fountain Baby after it.

Djanaba – Did I Stutter?

The first time I heard Fountain Baby, it was the day it came out. I was 23; freshly moved to Sydney, broke, and trying to make music my full-time thing. I remember hitting play on the first track, and before the first song even finished, I had downloaded the whole album. It was instant. The way Amaarae constructed the project — how every song flows into the next, each one so unique but still part of the same sonic world — was unlike anything I’d heard before.

It was the kind of album that made you want to start over the moment it ended, just to feel it all
again. When I think about that first moment now, Fountain Baby feels like a time capsule of that era in my life — uncertain, full of potential, scary, and strangely beautiful. What Amaarae did on this album felt different. She didn’t box herself in. The production isn’t bound to one genre; it’s fluid, bold, and confident. That was a huge thing for me to witness as someone just stepping into producing my own stuff. When you’re starting out in music, there’s all this pressure to “pick a lane” — be it pop, or R&B, or dance music. Amaarae didn’t follow that. She made it OK for music to sound like a mix of all the soundscapes she loved, as long as it was good. And Fountain Baby is so good.

Amaarae – ‘Angels In Tibet’

I remember listening to ‘Angels In Tibet’ for the first time and just being floored. It starts off all soft and floaty, with these delicate strings, and then suddenly it drops. The bass hits, the energy shifts and it becomes this completely different experience. It’s cinematic, playful, powerful. I love that kind of dynamic shift in a song — it keeps you on your toes. Then, there’s ‘Water From Wine’. That song is just a straight-up bop. The kind you hear and your body just has to move. But, it’s not just fun — it’s sonically stunning. There’s this lightness to it, even in the rhythm. It’s danceable, sure, but also so delicately constructed. That combination — beauty and movement — is kind of rare.

Still, the music itself was more than enough. It felt like a friend, a mirror, a push forward. It reminded me where I was, and made me think about where I could go. Especially an album like Fountain Baby, which refuses to fit into one shape, one tone, or one mood. It’s a reminder that you don’t have to, either. You can be complex. You can shift. You can be soft and then loud. Chill and then explosive. Just like Fountain Baby. That realisation might just have changed everything for me.

Djanaba will be performing as part of Garrima: The Country Cries for Truth at the State Library of New South Wales on Tuesday, July 8th as part of NAIDOC Week 2025. Tickets are free, but RSVPs are required – which can be accessed via the State Library of New South Wales website.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Mikayla Pasterfield On Matt Maeson’s ‘Bank On The Funeral’

Love Letter To A Record: Hassall On Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’

Love Letter To A Record: Hein Cooper On Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Djanaba On Amaraae’s ‘Fountain Baby’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Camden-born singer-songwriter Mikayla Pasterfield shares her thoughts on Bank On The Funeral, the 2019 debut from American troubadour Matt Maeson.

Pasterfield recently released her debut EP, Heritage Listed, via Camden Press. The four-track effort saw the prodigious artist work with producers such as New-Haven (Allday) and LEN20 (Lil Nas X, Jessica Mauboy) to forge a collection of deeply honest and resolute balladry reflecting on small-town life, queer romance and discovering your true identity in the backdrop of regional Australia.

The EP can be streamed below, with Pasterfield’s Love Letter to Bank On The Funeral after it.

Mikayla Pasterfield – Heritage Listed EP

Bank On The Funeral came out when I was in my last year of high school. This album was a driving force and deep inspiration for my love of writing music. Hearing the honesty of his lyricism really influenced my own writing style, which was only just beginning to take shape at the time.

This album was accompanied by Bank On The Funeral (Stripped), which was a re-recorded version that really highlighted the poetry in every single song. There are no skips on this album, but my personal favourites are ‘Feel Good’ or ‘Easy On Me’. Both just feel so deeply personal, and I’ve found that every time I enter a new phase in my life I relate to these songs in a completely different way.

I’ve always loved Matt’s music. Ever since finding his song ‘Cringe’ on YouTube back in 2017, I knew that I would be listening to his music forever. My first – and, to date, only – tattoo is of the cover art of his EP The Hearse, because I truly resonate with his music so deeply. Bank On The Funeral will always be an album I listen back on and hold so close to my heart, and that lyrical honesty was such an inspiration for my own EP, Heritage Listed.

Matt Maeson – ‘Feel Good’

Though my sound is slightly folkier than this album, I really aspire to get closer and closer to this genre. To me, it really drives home the right feelings, and highlights the stories behind the songs so well. There are also these repeated melodies throughout the album that really blend everything together so masterfully; from the opening song ‘I Just Don’t Care That Much’, which is this massive punchy track, to the closing title track where it really slows everything down and leaves you feeling this deep catharsis. It’s the perfect rollercoaster of emotion that brings you along for the journey.

Everything Matt Maeson releases is incredible, but this album will always be special. There are so many moments and memories attached to these tracks for me and it’s such a nice way to look back on them. I hope that, someday, I’m able to express such honesty and vulnerability in my own music, and have it touch people the way this album has touched me. Until then, I’ll just keep re-listening to Bank On The Funeral over and over again.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Hassall On Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’

Love Letter To A Record: Hein Cooper On Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’

Love Letter To A Record: Jo Davie On Bon Iver’s ’22, A Million’

The post Love Letter To A Record: Mikayla Pasterfield On Matt Maeson’s ‘Bank On The Funeral’ appeared first on Music Feeds.

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Naarm singer-songwriter Hassall shares a heartfelt ode to Simon & Garfunkel’s fourth studio album, 1968’s ‘Bookends’.

It comes as Hassall releases ‘Overpopulator’, the latest cut of her forthcoming album ‘MEANS MORE TO ME THAN IT DOES TO YOU’, which is slated for release on Friday, 3rd July. Hassall describes ‘Overpopulator’ as a song for “anyone who, like me: a) drinks too much coffee and b) can’t decide whether they want kids or not (due to environmental reasons, of course), and c) is head over heels in love with at least one person 24/7”. You can take her new single for a spin – and read her love letter to Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’ – down below.

Hassal – ‘Overpopulator’

Hassall: The first time I heard Simon & Garfunkel, I was in the lounge room at Dad’s house. I got to pick the record that night – Bookends. (Probably for the cool cover art, a black and white picture of a young, close-up Paul and Art in turtlenecks). I laid there, my back on the carpet, first listen. The inner-leaf lyric sheet was clutched in both hands above me, blocking the big light. I followed each song word for word.

It was the first time I understood what songwriting was, I think. Or maybe, what it had the potential to be. This hit me a little during the song ‘America’ and then a LOT during the song ‘Overs’. Man alive, those lyrics are good. Listening to Paul Simon’s songwriting,  I remember thinking it sounded like a poem that someone had designed music around so that every little word and line felt exactly the way the words intended it to. Later on, I learned that it’s called prosody, and I’m forever in the pursuit of it. The way he toys with tempo, and the entire arrangement is so well shaped and placed – it just makes sense.

Side A of Bookends is made up of six songs and one recording of old people talking (Garfunkel’s contribution). It’s a concept half-album that follows the human lifecycle chronologically and it is heartbreaking. The ‘Bookends Theme’, which plays at the start and end of the side (fittingly) is the thickest nostalgia I’ve ever felt in music, and it makes me so weepy in a good way. Side B is a collection of songs that were written for the film The Graduate (including ‘Mrs Robinson’). These songs are so bouncy and lyrically whacked-up, yet relentlessly clever in a way that completely cuts the fat. 

Top tracks if I’m at gunpoint:

1. ‘Bookends Theme – Reprise’

2. ‘Overs’

3. ‘Punky’s Dilemma’

Special shoutout: When I saw Zooey Deschanel’s character gift her brother the Bookends 12″ in the movie Almost Famous I fell in love (with her). It’s probably why I have a fringe now. 

Further Reading

Simon And Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound Of Silence’ Is Climbing The Charts Again, Thanks To ‘Sad Affleck’

triple j Announces ‘Hottest 100 Of Australian Songs’ For 50th Anniversary

Blusher Announce ‘RACER’ EP, Share New Single And Headlining Tour Dates

The post Love Letter To A Record: Hassall On Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’ appeared first on Music Feeds.