This year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival will no doubt be all about THE MCCLYMONTS as the three sisters host the 2010 Australian Country Music Awards and stand to take out three categories, as MOLLIE MCCLYMONT tells BIRDIE.

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At 29, Jay Reatard’s death on January 13 shocked everyone in the garage-DIY community. Now a tip off from the Shelby County Medical Examiner Karen E. Chancellor (via Memphis news source The Commercial Appeal and Stereogum) states Jay Reatard died last month from “cocaine toxicity, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in his death.” This comes in the week that Lady Gaga (pictured) revealed she took “loads and loads of drugs” like cocaine and LSD early in her career to emulate heroes like Mick Jagger, and yet somehow survived to continue making albums. We’ll let you decide whether the universe has been fair.

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With their chart-topping LP Contra pleasing critics and punters alike, it’s with open arms that Australia welcomes the return of New York Ivy-Leaguers Vampire Weekend (pictured). Combining infectious pop with World Music-borrowing percussion and arrangements, The Tivoli hosts a sure-to-sell out all ages show on Tuesday May 11. Be speedy, and grab a ticket from your favoured local outlet on Monday Feb 22, or hunt out the pre-sale on Thursday Feb 18.

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After bunkering down in the studio following some hectic touring times, pop purveyors Skipping Girl Vinegar (pictured) step out to introduce some new tunes. The East Coast tour celebrates the release of their new single One Long Week, the first taste of their anticipated second album. Check them out at Joe’s Waterhole on Friday Feb 12 or The Troubadour on Saturday Feb 13.

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Never Land Bar - Sun Feb 7

Taking to the stage as an impatient crowd twiddles their thumbs, The Dead Beat Band launch headfirst into their set. With an unabashedly garage edge, the trio’s jams are very listenable, even if they are somewhat derivative. Like a dishevelled fisherman straight from a latter-day Hemmingway novel, Grinspoon front man Phil Jamieson stumbles onto the small Never Land stage. When Grinspoon guitarist Pat Davern joins him, Phil welcomes the small crowd to the first ever performance of “Wooden Spoon”. With just Phil’s acoustic guitar and Pat’s telecaster, the duo strip back and re-interpret Grinspoon tracks old and new, much to the delight of the Coolangatta crowd. Just Ace becomes a saccharine surf pop track, Sweet As Sugar is transformed into a downbeat confession, rich with an emotional depth unexplored on the album version. As Phil reveals the origins to some of the band’s most iconic songs (spoiler: they’re all written on drugs), the duo perform relatively faithful renditions of songs like Chemical Heart and Better Off Alone. The set highlight, however, is when Phil proclaims “this is from one of the greatest debut albums of all time”, and to uproarious cheers supporting his audacious claim, launches into Bad Funk Stripe.

TOM HERSEY

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(4AD/Remote Control)

Excellent third album from the other dazzling Danes

Home to indie royalty Mew and Kashmir, Denmark seems to effortlessly breed its own brand of Scandinavian melancholy that often gives Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic artists a run for their money in the creative stakes. Copenhagen’s Efterklang may have less notoriety than their peers, but nevertheless possess enough leftfield charm to make them stand out. Having first surfaced in 2004 with the strings-heavy Tripper, 2007’s ambitious Parade brought the band a slew of glittering reviews (Rave dubbed it a “gorgeous record that never lulls”) while prodigious US multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick joined as a fulltime live member. Recently signed to 4AD, Efterklang shift gears from complex song structures and dense sonics and edge closer to delicate indie-folk on LP number three Magic Chairs. With Gareth Jones’ (Depeche Mode, Interpol, Mogwai, Grizzly Bear) voodoo all over the mix, the record has a warm, welcoming feel to it – sweet without being sugary and intimate without being awkward. Piano-laden opener Modern Drift, a (comparatively) conventionally-structured I Was Playing Drums and The Beach Boys-like Scandinavian Love are the collective’s most palpably “pop” songs to date, singer Casper Clausen’ hushed-then-longing tenor leading the soaring harmonies. Efterklang’s electronics whiz Mads Brauer is in a lot more restrained mode throughout, which takes away some of the band’s patented experimental flair yet turns tracks like Harmonics and Full Moon into unquestionably lovely, hum-friendly moments. An authentic grower.

****

DENIS SEMCHENKO

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