The Music of Oz

New Faces, New Opportunities

Recently I have moved into a new house in Leeds, with this comes new house mates. This can be a strange start for anyone as you may be living with these people for at least the rest of year. In only having moved in for the last couple of months I have found the experience to be a great one, creating friendships and finding shared interests has only made this a whole lot more refreshing.

As it just so happens one of my fellow house mates Ashley is also a passionate blogger like myself, writing for his blog Timelines and Tantrums. Ashley has recently moved to Leeds from Australia and has told me a lot about the music scene down under. We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to partner up and do a collaborative piece of content on “The Music of Oz”.

Live Music Down Under

Think of Australian music as you will automatically think of such artists as, AC/DC, INXS, The Bee Gees, Kylie Minogue and more recently 5 Seconds of Summer. Some of the greats have come from the land of Oz, with Melbourne being the creative hub of it all not only in the music in the music world but institutions like the National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and the ACMI.

There are a mix of major touring acts and local music artists filling the stages of Australia’s live music capital. Recent surveys have shown on an average weekend in Melbourne that audiences of 100,000 will attend live gigs across almost 500 venues. These include massive venues such as Festival Hall, Palais Theatre and the Forum Theatre. Although there are other live venues that should not be overlooked with places like Corner Hotel, Ding Dong Lounge, The Workers’ Club and the Tote.

As you all know from my earlier post “So Many Festivals So Little Time!” that I am a massive fan of music festivals and Australia is no stranger to hosting some of the best in the world with Parklife, Soundwave Festival and Big Day Out amongst the many.

While we all have the big artists that we all know and love it would be a shame to look past the quality of underground acts that Oz has to offer. A lot of things are happening around the independent side of this amazing music world as many of Australia’s best talents rarely or never leave their shores. It is difficult to accurately pinpoint the sound of the Australian underground but one thing is for sure is that it is incredibly diverse. These underground talents are always willing to experiment and produce a raw energy that would attract any intrigued music fan. With talented acts such as “The Frowning Clouds” creating psychedelic garage to the sounds of eighties infused pop synths of “NUN” there is a lot of music to appreciated in the world of underground.

Whether you like big names, under the radar acts or amazing festivals, Australia has it all just waiting to be discovered by music fans alike.