Each year triple j selects the Next Crop, a list of upcoming Australian artists who are set to define the sound of the year ahead. In past years Next Crop has included the likes of Flume, Chet Faker, Courtney Barnett, Jackie Onassis, Boy and Bear, Washington, The Temper Trap, Ball Park Music, The Rubens, and Angus and Julia Stone, who have all gone on to achieve success in the music industry.
Some of the 2014 crop have already made a mark on the Aussie music landscape in the last 12 months, whilst others are brand new artists set to make waves next year. The acts which the station are tipping to do great things in 2014 are Bad//Dreems, The Bennies, Born Lion, Cosmo’s Midnight, The Creases, D.D Dumbo, Dustin Tebbutt, Eves, Gang of Youths, The Kite String Tangle, The Love Junkies, Mathas, Meg Mac, The Murlocs, Remi, SAFIA, Statues, Tkay Maidza, Wave Racer and Willow Beats.
Below is a bio of some of the bands headed for success in the new year:
Bad//Dreems (SA)
Though the local music scene is littered with artists that have made escapes from their hometown surrounds for the metropolitan capitals, the apparent isolation of living in South Australia seems to work for Adelaide’s Bad//Dreems. The band have toured relentlessly over the last 18 months with the likes of Children Collide, Wolf & Cub, The Preatures and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, as well as releasing their debut EP Badlands. Adelaide festival goers will have the pleasure of commencing their 2014 St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival with a Bad//Dreems set with the band having won the triple j Unearthed competition in their state.
The Bennies (VIC)
On paper you’d think that a band like The Bennies could never quite work. The Melbourne foursome blend in punk, ska, fizzing synthesizers, a wicked sense of humour and more stoner references than even Dune Rats could handle into the melting pot that is their sound. Somehow, some way, The Bennies make it work. And they make it fun. Released through the enviable Poison City Records, the band’s latest offering Rainbows In Space is spewing-forth with fun, high energy tunes such as triple j favourite ‘Highrider’. They’re a band with an unmistakable knack for a hook and some killer playing which has earned the band a live following around the country and in Asia.
Born Lion (NSW)
Wollongong rockers Born Lion are poised for a huge 2014 if their achievements over the last year are anything to go by. The band kick- started 2013 as winners of one of triple j Unearthed’s most coveted competitions – the chance to open the Sydney leg of the Soundwave festival. That win came off the back of one of the band’s first singles, ‘Adolescent Oaths’, that saw Born Lion showcasing an effortlessly hooky take on furious punk rock. “Our guitarist went overseas leaving just three of us to get stuck into the jam room for hours every week just bashing tunes out,” says vocalist John Bowker of the band’s process. “We usually just jam until we find a good idea – something with some cool energy – that we think we can do something with. We go with that and just play for hours on end.”
Cosmo’s Midnight (NSW)
It’s a formula for success as old as time: twin brothers from Sydney, who still sleep in the same bedroom at the age of twenty-one, turn their intimate sleeping arrangement into an intricate electronic outfit, begin to produce their own music, and set their sights on world domination. And dominate Cosmo’s Midnight have – dropping their Surge EP in early 2013 and impressing us with cuts like ‘The Dofflin’, ‘Phantasm’ and ‘Surge’. The brothers darted around the country for their first headlining jaunt back in June and July last year, and have also secured festival billings and a support slot with Florida gun XXYYXX in what has been a blockbuster year for them. One part chillwave, one part rave cave, we’re looking forward to hearing more from Cosmo’s Midnight as 2014 gets underway.
The Creases (QLD)
2013 saw Queensland’s The Creases plucked from relative obscurity with just two songs to their name and zoomed over to the UK, after catching the attention of eagle-ear’d scouts at Rough Trade. It was a wild experience for The Creases’ pair of songwriters Jarrod Mahon and Joe Agius who are still pinching themselves now. The charmed run seems to be continuing with the duo recently supporting the likes of The Jungle Giants and Millions. Better yet, the band fielded an 11th hour call from Alex Kapranos to support Franz Ferdinand at their Brisbane show in November last year and will be touring with Drenge over summer.