The Underground Stage

🎧 Thirty new tracks from the best Australian artists out there right now in one @spotifyau playlist. New songs added all the time. 👇 open.spotify.com/user/showburne…

Since @Twitter’s going full stomach-burster, I say we nuke the site from orbit - it’s the only way to be sure.

Joey Legit opens up tonight and tees up hard lines wrapped up in glassy smooth beats and backing. Fizzy energy on the mic supported by throbbing and loping tracks, an easy walk through a difficult world. #livemusic

pinkiscool may bring the ignition key to the party, the lit tinder to kick off a crowd with some easy-going but huge tunes, but the engine here is the piano skill. It shines through in every song, from the early-on instrospection through to the late-set bangers. #livemusic

@sparrowstunes’ set starts off with the sort of head-nodding, easy-going rhythms you need to ease you into the evening. By the end though, the shoulders are going, and the ankles are twitching - these precise-but-loveable beats are the order of the night. #livemusic

Raising Ravens’ fearsome swagger is enough to demolish houses. Carrying the confidence of having been everywhere and done everything, these songs may be arranged in a smile but the only teeth on display here are sharpened fangs. Take the blows, laugh like a maniac. #livemusic

I *think* Large Mirage have the occasional song buried in there among the wildly widdly soloing, but these are less songs than vehicles for moods. This isn’t a set where you get what you want, it’s a set where you - and they - get carried away. #livemusic

The Dead Set chisel out their set tonight, using freshly-hewn chunks of flinty rock, notes of QOTSA, Metallica, and Ginger Wildheart. Big bits of it come flying off the Metro’s expansive stage, enough to cause headwounds but worth taking the risk for. #livemusic

@AmendsMusic claim tonight, out loud, that they only do this for fun but there are precious few bands who actually mean it and who have this level of talent. Jaw, dropped. #livemusic

@snapegaze have put some thought into this. Flirting with late 80s Cure, welcoming the less noodly bits of shoegaze, and constructing great big slabs of shadowy song, this is literate and muscular all at the same time. This is how the air in a room gets thicker through sound.

Every note Raised As Wolves play is the key in the ignition of your night out, songs with such pulsating joy in it them that it spills off the stage and collects in our boots. It’s a set that puts you on your marks, tells you to get ready, then just bloody GOES. #livemusic

Melaleuca delve into Australia’s history of loud and fuzzy guitar song, hitting the best notes of Smudge and delivering a sun-drenched set of bright, but thoughtful gems. Literate, well-built, and enormous fun. #livemusic

Wicked Things - the four brothers of the hairpocalypse - drag us all up to their galaxy-brain level of rock tonight, and it’s impossible not to feel it. Right down in your bones, you just know that this is right and correct. Reach out and feel it. #livemusic

Grander Things have an inordinate amount of fun for a band that acts like everything they’re dropping ain’t no thing. Rich, chewy, and shuddering, this is full of OG rock swagger. Class, earned the hard way - you know it when you hear it. #livemusic

Boycott bring the grrl to Frankie’s, a long history of political punk behind them and in the music. The Slits’ hobnail boots smashes you in the kidneys, and Bikini Kill’s tsunami of rage washes you away - but it’s the big, danceable songs full of furious joy that elevate it up.

FLTRS bring the class, and I’m not just saying that because the singer’s wearing a hat and a tie. If this set was a body, you’d look it up and down; if it was a cake you’d have another slice. So polished you can see your face in it, this is a fabulous piece of work. #livemusic

Hacky Sack’s music is like the perfect house guest: impeccably tailored, just the right side of emotional, and madly interesting. Feelings are stirred and synapses are fired - what else do you want, really? #livemusic

Hatchling’s confident, swaggering sound is both a joy & a lesson. Many artists overdo it out enthusiasm but this set never once loses its balance. We could all learn a lesson from that, as well as taking the time to just enjoy the richness of the songs. #livemusic

Papa Pilko & The Binrats add an extra layer of scuzz to Frankie’s Freakflag event tonight, the filthiest of pelvic blues and swamp boogie. These songs may be as blue as they come, but by the batty Muddy Waters finale, every damn thing is just A-OK. #livemusic

Hey, who’s missing Royal Headache? Bursting off the stage from note one, this is one long riot of song and twitching energy - there’s vicious musical trickery in here, but the effect is primal. Fizzing, electrical joy.

Jet City Sports Club are a band for the end of the day, when the light is golden, you’re surrounded by friends, & the air is thick with laughter. They are that sunset photo of you & your pals with your arms around each other. There is not one damn thing wrong with with this band.