WORDS: Clarence Knight
PICTURES: Annette Geneva
Last week, Sydney’s Annandale Hotel played host to some of the country’s brightest stars in the indie music scene. Six acts representing Australia at Austin’s annual music showcase, South by Southwest (SXSW) had the chance to wow our home crowd before taking to Texas.
The Aussie BBQ took its name quite literally, providing a BBQ dinner for all in attendance before kicking off the show with a loud banging set from The Gold Hearted.
City Riots, who have ironically just returned from recording an album in the US, continued the momentum, showing just how far they’ve come since being Unearthed back in 2008. Their set was tight, fresh and upbeat, closing with a new tune that will no doubt be another Triple J fave, and one which I couldn’t get out of my head the entire night. With a new album on the way, the future’s looking bright for this Adelaide foursome.
Sherlock’s Daughter brought a sense of sweet psychedelia to the uhh…. BBQ trestle table. Fresh faced front woman and multi instrumentalist Tanya Horo was mesmerising, her schoolgirl-esque vocals perfectly complemented by her folky beatnik compadres, consisting of manager Blake filling in on bass due to an unfortunate limbo accident leaving regular bassist Liam’s thumb temporarily paralysed.
Toby Martin from Youth Group took it solo whilst Goons of Doom implemented their token brand of guttural cries along with an indie-cowboy flair that’s certain to fit in to the Texan scene.
Cassette Kids closed the early show with an energetic set featuring a handful of new, unreleased material. There’s been talk of late that the ‘kids have lost their indie mojo in latest recordings’, but if their live presence is anything to go by, its certain that these guys (and gal) can rock a live stage like nobody’s mama. Effortlessly indie-chic singer Kat Noorbergen’s voice rings out amongst the chaotic splendour of the band’s instrumentals, closing the night with a bang. Well, as banging as you can get on a Tuesday night in the burbs.
Team-Aus is sounding mighty fine, and with SXSW kicking off a year of international music showcases (watch out for Great Escape, CMJ, One Movement), Australia is fast proving to be a serious player in the global music scene.
