STACK #243 January 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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Whether it’s a voyage of musical discovery or a sonic reacquaintance with a favourite band or artist, check out these fresh releases heading to JB this month. WHAT’S OUT

DAVID GRAY Dear Life ROCKET

FKA TWIGS Eusexua INERTIA

EDITOR’S PICK DEAR SEATTLE Toy ROCKET Dear Seattle, I hope you are well. It sounds like you had a great time making your third album. I mean, who doesn’t love a new Toy ? We certainly do. We loved your killer cover of Missy Higgins’ The Special Two and we dig the fact that you give Courtney Love a shout-out. Say what you want, this record sounds awesome when you turn it up loud . The guitars crunch, and the vocals just make you want to scream along. The title of the opening track is apt: Nothing’s Stopping Me Now . Can’t wait to catch you at a gig in 2025. Keep on rockin’!

KIM WILDE Closer ROCKET

Kim Wilde’s Australian tour was a live highlight of 2024. Way back in

More than 25 years after his breakthrough blockbuster White Ladder , England’s David Gray releases his

England’s Tahliah Barnett, who records under the name FKA Twigs, created a new word for the title of her

1988, the English singer released an album called Close . It was a smash hit in Europe but stalled at number 82 in Australia. Thirty-seven years later, her 15th studio album – her first in seven years – is called Closer . It features duets with Midge Ure and Wilde’s niece Scarlett. LAMBRINI GIRLS Who Let the Dogs Out INERTIA

13th album, Dear Life , which he says is “very lyric-driven, it was like I’d stored a lot of stuff up and suddenly it all came flooding out”. Each song is like a short story or a mini movie. Fabulous folktronica. DAX RIGGS 7 Songs for Spiders ROCKET

“techno-inspired” third studio album. “It’s like when you’ve been kissing a lover for hours and turn into an amoeba with that person,” she explains. “You’re not human anymore, you’re just a feeling.” IGGY POP Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2023 ROCKET Iggy Pop at a Jazz and he rides. And he loved this 2023 show. “Stravinsky Hall is special,” he says, “like Carnegie or the Garden or Sydney Opera. I’ve dived in them all.” And everything looks good tonight. KANE BROWN The High Road SONY Festival? Why not? The shirtless superstar is 77 but he’s never afraid to try new things. He rides

No, the Baha Men are not back. Who Let the Dogs Out is the debut album for English punk duo Lambrini Girls, who

This is the third solo outing for American rocker Dax Riggs, his first in 15 years. “I want to get undead,”

have a warped description of the band: “Imagine your nan is in the boot of your car with a croissant in her mouth and hears Bikini Kill for the first time. That could be you. It will never be us as we are not Bikini Kill and we are not your nan. We are Lambrini Girls.” Much fun.

he sings, “change into what I’m meant to be.” It’s a weird mix of roots, rock, doom and southern gothic. But it’s strangely compelling. The bio says: “Put on your face and laugh. Take off your mask and sing.” ELA MINUS Dia DOMINO/UNIVERSAL Ela Minus – real name Gabriela Jimeno Caldas – is a Colombian artist, the first Latin American act to sign with Domino Records. Inspired by Daft Punk and Kraftwerk, her second album is a pulsating electronic trip. Check out the standout cut, Broken .

LILLY HIATT Forever MGM

Lilly Hiatt is the daughter of the great John Hiatt and she inherited his songwriting smarts. Her sixth album is about love

American country star Kane Brown is yet to have a Top 10 album in Australia, but that should soon change

in life’s small moments. She explains: “When I was a kid, I used to say to my mum and dad, ‘I love you forever and always’, then neurotically changed it to ‘I love you forever and always and it’s true and I mean it’, because I wanted to make sure they knew how much I wasn’t messing around.”

with his fourth album, The High Road . As he sang on the first single, “I can feel it in the air.” It’s classic country storytelling that’s heartfelt and true. And the album features his collaboration with American electronic producer Marshmello.

38 JANUARY 2025

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