In The Pines is a huge music festival held in the University of Western Australia’s Somerville Auditorium. This year marks its 21st birthday and has in the past hosted big local names like Tame Impala, San Cisco, Jebediah, The Sleepy Jackson, Eskimo Joe, The Panics, Abbe May and Little Birdy, and pushing many more into the the national spotlight.
Keep one eye on some of these names – if history repeats itself, at least a few of these bands will start getting some high rotation on the J’s sometime soon.
Not quite a guide, more of a reference list for what’s hot in Perth right now. Here’s a quick spiel on everything going down at the 21st annual In The Pines this Sunday.
Because there are so many bands on the lineup, I’ve chosen to do a (very) quick blurb about each of them, rather than an in depth highlight on a few, many of which we will have already covered on Happy. Their Facebook pages are linked in the names, so check this lineup out – you might just find your new favourite band here!
Tickets are $20 presale and will take place from midday at UWA’s Somerville Auditorium.
12.00pm – Golden String
Beautiful, haunting pianist. Brushy drums and light, fleeting vocals force me to draw similarities to chix like Julia Holter and Fiona Apple.
12.30pm – Moana
More female vocals, this time more prosaic than poetic, with a healthy dose of bewitched backing vocals and loving electric guitar.
01.00pm – Pat Chow
Pixies. Straight up Pixies. Rip ya jeans and buy a flanno two sizes to big for ya ($7 investment at Kmart.)
01.30pm – Mudlark
Semi acoustic, semi electronic freak out math-jazz for fans of Battles.
02.00pm – LEECHES!
AHHHHHHH JESUS GET THEM OFF ME!
02.30pm – Mt. Mountain
We introduced these guys very recently – give it a read!
03.00pm – Bill Darby
The Rider style folk-jazz-rock storytelling. Great music to get lost in over a lazy weekend.
03.30pm – Antelope
Straight up no nonsense indie with pounding tom-heavy drums and psych-ish breakdowns for fans of Jinja Safari and Jungle Giants.
04.00pm – The Community Chest
Like WA’s RIYM, The Community Chest are an indie-rock band with a heavy lean on analog synths, spacious arrangements and obscure samples.
04.30pm – Flower Drums
Gentle, spacey pop music. Really beautifully atmospheric music for fans of cinematography
05.00pm – Runner
The Perth sound – spacious, clean, outstanding percussion and toeing a fine line between sparse and cosy. For fans of indie-folk.
05.30pm – Dianas
Making a bit of a name for themselves, Dianas have been supporting basically everyone awesome from the East Coast that find themselves all the way over in WA. These are some chix who know their way around guitar tone settings.
06.00pm – Rabbit Island
Fresh and minimal. Lo-Fi production and a very Waxahatchee vocal style.
06.30pm – The High Learys
Garage, First British Invasion Kinks, fun times. Listen to Here Come The High Learys and your mind will be boggled at the fact that this record was actually released last year.
07.00pm – Scalphunter
Not a super huge surprise, but Scalphunter are a punk band. Fast, loud and taking equal influence from hardcore and rock and roll alike, I wouldn’t imagine putting these guys on while the sun was still up.
07.30pm – The Morning Night
Oh now this is more like it! More akin to the psychedelia you hear over on this side of the country, The Morning Night make Velvet Underground, Brian Jonestown style jams. I think I’ve just found my new favourite Perth band…
08.00pm – The Floors
Dirty, bluesy and driving like a steam train through your chest. Probably, I dunno, I’m still listening to The Morning Night.
08.30pm – Gunns
Pop-punk-stoner-rock-indie-surf at it’s finest. Toeing the line between slacker and JJJcore, these guys are set to make a huge splash next time they make their way eastbound.
09.00pm – DM3
Formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1992 around the songwriting talents of Dom Mariani a musical stylist who’s career has been a resplendent one in the creative stakes – a songwriting road that has never wavered from excellence.
That’s just the artist bio from their website, but hey, they’re from the 90’s! They must be cool!
09.30pm – The Kill Devil Hills
These guys have been around forever. An alt-country band formed at the height of Wilco’s reign of terror over white Americans who were sick of Radiohead (2003), The Kill Devil Hills make bluesy, rock and roll.
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