Here’s a welcome progression from Canada’s Austra, adding the exotic rhythms and funk-infused basslines -a distinct ‘organic house and disco’ element -to their sound. Where their 2011 debut Feel It Break profited from the Zola Jesus-led trend toward gothic dance, ‘Home’, the lead-single to their forthcoming album, Olympia, out on Domino, June 17, is a more melodic affair.
That said, the lyrical theme is equally emotional, if not more explicit, than old tracks like ‘Beat And The Pulse’. But having worked with UK rave maximalist-cum-new-aged-trip-hopper Hervé, vocalist Katie Stelmanis appears to be expanding on her influences as well as her range and tracks like ‘Home’ have turned out all the better for it.**
Austra’s Olympia is out in the UK on Domino June 17.
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Announcing our 2012-2022 anthology & end-of-life for AQNB.com’s publishing with a book launch & club night send-off at London’s ICA
One plus three tracks per week makes twelve for PHILTH HAUS’s ongoing musical epic of sexual taxonomy that continues with “PNSXL”
Kelora burrows into an expansive lullaby with the ghostly folk & spectral digital artefacts of ‘To Nowhere’
Jonnine of HTRK’s intoxicating ghost story “Tea For Two (Boo)” languishes at the border between the ordinary & the uncanny
Olga Productions announces new compilation RUINES with the unrelenting donk euphoria of Antony No Limit’s ‘Laisse-Toi Dériver’
Willem Feltzer & Rik Laging, ‘Lyves II’ (2023). Courtesy the artists + PLAZA.
REIF shares video from Eventide at Julia Stoschek Foundation by artists Fa’ Pawaka & LABOUR
PHILTH HAUS & Chelsea’s “PROSXL (Radio Edit)” probes taxonomies of queer identity in a brutal collision of consumptive joy
Dread, mourning & alienation in Hannah Rose Stewart & Blackhaine’s ‘MIASMA’ neo-noir A/V performance
SEBA debuts EP with the tenacious electro-clash & up-tempo pop of ‘TRACE’
Complex structures & cosmic phenomena in the light sculptures & video mapping of Kévin Bray at Trauma Bar und Kino
A walk through time: reflecting on ecology & action during Sonic Acts biennial exhibition, one sun after another
Moro La Flor updates alias & debuts surf rock-reggaeton record via NAAFI following hiatus with the video for ‘Golpe De Ola’
Extractive Commodities: Maryam Monalisa Gharavi & Sam Lavigne discuss Oil News 1989-2020 & OBIT for Sonic Acts 2022 Biennial exhibition
Ecology & temporality: a look ahead at Sonic Acts’ 2022 Biennial exhibition, one sun after another