Whenever someone brings up the topic of Australian music, I reckon most people would typically relate it to Sydney or Melbourne, maybe even Adelaide. But if you head North West (as in the direction, not the small child of Kim and Kanye) of Sydney for about 50km to the Blue Mountains, you’ll find they’ve produced some absolute banger acts over the years. With some awesome local and internationally recognised talent, the Blue Mountains are home to a huge range of smashing music. So I’ll stop blabbering now and here six legendary acts that call the Blue Mountains home.
Although many have made their way down the misty mountains to the hustle of Sydney, here are 6 amazing artists that still call the Blue Mountains home.
Hermitude
Electronic duo Luke Dubs and El Gusto, have been involved in the Blue Mountains music scene since 1994, and have been more commonly known since 2002 as Hermitude. Having a bit of a musical advantage with El Gusto’s dad owning Sound Heaven, a recording studio in the mountains, these boys have risen to international fame. Their 2015 album Dark Night Sweet Light brings a crazy collection of fast, deep and heavy electro and hip hop beats, with a few sneaky funk and jazz sounds thrown into the mix, making it pretty obvious why their popularity is on the up and up.
Thundamentals
The Thundamentals are a trio that have had a pretty massive impact on Australian hip hop. With their latest album So We Can Remember being nominated for an ARIA award, their distinct and catchy hip hop sound has seen singles like Smiles Don’t Lie and Got Love (cue lyric take your fist and make a peace sign with it… ring a bell?) fly all over the country.
Urthboy
Sticking to the hip hop theme we’ve got going here, Tim Levinson, aka Urthboy, has also been involved in the Blue Mountains music scene for almost 10 years. Having previously worked with the Hermitude boys, as well as co-founding and managing the Elefant Traks record label, Urthboy is no stranger to the Australian music crowd. It was his single We Get Around that really turned heads, and it still does. His music is infectious, easy to sing along to and has a vibe that will lure just about anyone in. There must be something in that Blue Mountains water that gets those hip hop muscles working.
Cloud Control
High school buddies Cloud Control released their first album Bliss Release in 2011 to huge acclaim and have never looked back. After releasing their amazing sophomore effort Dream Cave in 2o13, the band have played festivals like Splendour In The Grass, Laneway, SXSW and Field day. Their rock n roll/psychedelic pop sound is impossible not to fall in love with. These guys spent the beginning of 2015 touring with Angus and Julia Stone, and are now set to bring their epic live energy to the Yours and Owls Festival in October.
Richard In Your Mind
Richard Cartwright of Richard in Your Mind is the Blue Mountains dweller in this outfit. Formed in 2006, they have developed a quirky, electro, psychedelic pop sound that is quite reminiscent of The Beatles. Their latest album Ponderosa is a super fun listen, and with tracks on it like Hammered literally about getting hammered in the daytime, something we can all relate to I’m sure. We wouldn’t expect anything else from these five top blokes.
Innamech
Innamech is a local Blue Mountains duo that sound like they’re on the right track to merge their way into the greater Australian music scene. Jimmi Carr and Samantha Rich have created a sound that can’t really be explained with words…it’s kind of like electronic, psych rock and experimental trip hop had a baby, and that gives us the sound Innamech have ingeniously created. Tracks like The Line and Meet Your Maker make much more sense of this genre description, and with their debut EP set for release in October, we can expect grittier guitar riffs, hypnotising vocals and all round funkiness.
