Ears On Spotlight: 5 Brisbane Artists You Need To Hear

AAA has been wanting to take a more bands hands-on approach to getting smaller or lesser known bands into your ears for a while now. Sure, you can go to as many open mic nights as you want, but we assure you we have the best and brightest right here in our new weekly article series “Ears On”.

Kicking it off, we’re looking into our own backyard, Brisvegas! AAA Backstage is Brisbane-based, and every day we’re tearing it up here in our Fortitude Valley office. So it’s no surprise that we know a damn good collection of Brissie outfits. Here are five we want to share with you! Check back next week for another “Ears On” list…

beneb

beneb have been killing it lately, and the music world has responded in kind with slots on the Red Deer Music & Arts Festival and Jungle Love Festival lineups in coming months, alongside artists like Art vs Science, The Jungle Giants and The Jensens. If you’re apprehensive whether to see them live, take it from us, they’re rockers, and if that doesn’t convince you they’ve honed their live skills learning off fellow Brisbanites Hey Geronimo as tour supports.

It’s very easy to see why this crew have been drawing big attention. Fronted and helmed by Ben Mackay, the outfit drop rocking tracks with an undeniable pop-sensibility. Their latest offering Temporary sounds like if Muse got a production lesson from Trent Reznor, with hard hitting guitar work mixed with spacey vocal effects and electronic sounds.

Until Home

If you’ve been searching for some upbeat indie pop that shimmers and shines from the dosage of synthesiser, then echoes with a hearty helping of guitar, then don’t look any further than Until Home! The trio have been dropping uplifting pop tracks for the better part of a year, and they’ve produced some absolute bangers.

Tracks like Optimistic and Every Summer will get you shaking in your seat, however it was their debut single Break My Fall that showcases the band’s whole philosophy. Soaring notation, subtle guitar and piano interludes and smooth vocals from Michael Trapp combine to produce something akin to Coldplay or Birds of Tokyo. You can tell that the band is producing music designed to be played on huge stages, or in mammoth stadiums supported by a cast of thousands in the crowds.

Read our Premiere and review of their EP ‘Optimistic’ HERE

Future Haunts

With the freshest EP in this list with their release ‘Rubicon’, Future Haunts is still getting big time spins around the AAA Office. If you’ve been loving the stuff that I OH YOU outfits like DMA’s or Green Buzzard have been dropping left, right, and centre, then you’ll definitely love to add these guys to your playlists. Think 90s britpop or guitar pop from bands like Oasis and Blur, and mix in a healthy dose of modern indie rock attitude and you arrive at what Future Haunts are playing. Their track In Droves is the stand out if you only have time to get to one.

Read our review of their EP ‘Rubicon’ HERE

Georgia Mae

Georgia Mae makes the kind of music that gives you shivers and warm feelings all through your body at the same time. Mae’s music oozes with the laid back, poppy and chilled vibes that our Sunshine State is known for.

Time With You is laden with smooth electronica matched with her beautiful vocals, and the accompanying music video perfectly visualises what you’re hearing with its intimate vibe. Mae’s latest track Move dropped at the end of last month, and we already can’t get enough of the trippy vocal effects and loops that it packs.

Shag Rock

Another entry, another Jungle Love Festival player. No prizes for picking the bread style of music that Shag Rock play, but their craftsmanship is well ahead of many others in their field. Their latest offering Sunbleached Girl is the first single from their upcoming debut album, but it’s their tracks like Deep Froth and Champagne that best sum up the band. Deep Froth showcases reggae-isn vibes in the Shaggers’ laid back rock sound, and the accompanying music video shows just how much fun the crew have recording, touring and playing live!

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of killer Brisbane bands check out our recent spotlight on WAAX and their amazing frontwoman Marie DeVita HERE!