World Tour

l-r: Royal Headache; Scott & Charlene's Wedding; Die! Die! Die

Week 6: Down Under

Flying south, leaving Asia, we arrive in good old Australia, where we have long been familiar with all sorts of great bands over the years. Now we all know about Jagwar Ma who seem to be capturing the spirit of early 90s Madchester. And then, of course, there's Courtney Barnett who it has now become compulsory to love - and rightly so. As tempted as I am to post something by her, my mission is to seek out things we may not already be familiar with. So instead, here's a couple of up-and-coming acts that have grabbed me. It just so happens they're both from New South Wales. Now that's not me being biased, it's just turned out that way. Interestingly both Jagwar Ma and Courtney Barnett are also from NSW, so perhaps that's where things are happening right now.

Royal Headache hail from Sydney and have a kind of garage rock R&B feel to them, not unlike The Strypes only not as glossy. To date, they've released two albums, both available on their Bandcamp page. Their latest - last year's 'High' - has some cracking tunes on it, including the title track and the single Carolina.

• High - Royal Headache (from 'High')

Then there's the brilliantly-monikered Scott & Charlene's Wedding from Melbourne. They sound kind of like The Velvet Underground if Jonathan Richman had been a member, and have three albums to their name, their latest having just been released this summer. I suppose that makes them relative veterans. Anyway, here's the video for a track from 2013's 'Any Port In A Storm', plus the title track from last year's 'Delivered' EP.

• Delivered - Scott & Charlene's Wedding (from 'Delivered' EP)

We're boarding a flight from Melbourne, headed for New Zealand's southern island. Landing in Queenstown, we can take a bus to our destination of Dunedin where we'll find the really rather good Die! Die! Die!, a noisy post-punk trio who have been around for quite a while now, but are still not terribly well-known outside their homeland. One of my favourite discoveries on my journey so far, this lot. Really liking their sound.

The video features a track from last year's 'What Did You Expect?' EP, while the MP3 is the superb title track from the band's fourth album.

• Harmony - Die! Die! Die! (from 'Harmony')

Leaving NZ eastbound for the Americas. Note to self: pack Spanish phrasebook...