Terrapin: Australia's Golden Age Of Genuinely Incredible Music

"I do think there is a strong sense of community amongst Australian musicians. There are definite cliques or scenes still within the Australian music community, but it's a small construct, so it's not hard to get to know people. And of course a lot of great music is coming out out Australia at the moment" begins singer/songwriter Fraser A Gorman, as we start to discuss Australia's musical output as of late, he's not wrong. The majority of my favourite shows since the turn of the year have come courtesy of Australian bands (Courtney Barnett, Pond, Fraser A Gorman, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tame Impala) and there's a bunch of bands such as The Murlocs, Gum and D.D Dumbo that I've been hugely impressed by on record but have't had the chance to catch live yet. Going back to the idea of community for a moment, and again that's completely noticeable even from the other side of the world: Pond is formed of members/former members of Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett and Stu from King Giz feature in Fraser A Gorman's music videos, Barnett signed Gorman to her Milk Records label, The Murlocs are signed to King Giz' Flightless label... the connections are seemingly endless. As Barnett sings on 'Are You Looking After Yourself' "My friends play in bands, they are better than everything on radio".

So, why is Australia so far ahead of other countries in terms of what it has to offer on the independent music front? Ambrose Kenny-Smith (King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and The Murlocs) also took the time to answer some questions "I guess we all put in a lot of effort cause we're so far away from the rest of the world that we have to push things harder if you want anything to happen.", Gorman echoes his sentiments "I feel that a lot of really great music comes out of Australia because we are so far away from everything, that in order to get heard by the rest of the world we need to create some really great stuff. Music is competitive and a lot of Australian bands are really willing to give it a good crack. It's not handed down to us on a plate, we have to work really hard and I think it shows". Australian bands clearly feel isolated from a lot of the European and American music that seems to influence them, but the most incredible thing about this wave of outstanding Aussie bands is that they're writing their own history, as Gorman picks up "We have no real musical heritage or lineage. I think that naivety shows up in the songs coming out of Australia and the rest of the world thinks it's cool" It really does seem possible that himself as well as tour/best mate Courtney Barnett alongside the likes of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard will be considered Australia's greats in years to come.

It's worth pointing out that of course there have been great Australian bands before now: The Easybeats, The Saints, The Masters Apprentices and The Dandelion are just some of the names Kenny-Smith points out, before telling us to keep out for 'ORB', his tip to be the next Australian breakthrough. Fraser A Gorman adds You Am I to the list, saying "They were pretty big in the 90's, they have a couple classic records called 'Hifi Way' and 'Hourly Daily', they played in London supporting The Replacements at The Roundhouse in June I think. They are amazing." His favourite new Australian band is Crepes.

It really does seem to me that, with Tame Impala and Courtney Barnett spear-heading the movement, Australia is experiencing its strongest wave of bands yet, and that Australia in 2015 may be looked back on as a hugely influential period further down the line.