Between King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tropical Fuck Storm, and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Australia has the Highly Experimental Psych Rock Made By Bands With Highly Unexpected Names market cornered. This oddly specific scene seems to have cropped up in the wake of Tame Impala’s world domination, allowing progressively weirder offshoots like Pond to thrive in their wake.
Landing in the sweet spot between the heavy rock of KG&TLW and TFS and the stoned-out sounds of Tame Impala, the Porn Crumpets have been navigating their own lane since 2017’s two-part space-prog odyssey High Visceral with their latest, SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound, a more condensed version of their epic sound, albeit one with an equally lengthy and labyrinthine track list.
With the album hitting tomorrow, vocalist Jack McEwan gave us a quick look under the hood, revealing ten artists—Aussie and otherwise—who inspired their eccentric sounds. Running the gamut from classic rock to last decade’s psych revivalists, stream the playlist McEwan threw together for us below.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, “Boy Witch”
The first time I heard UMO I thought I’d been jettisoned into the future. The whole first album is composed with incredible arrangements, really complex and interesting guitar structures. I pretty much fell in love with music again learning all these songs, I’ve been hooked ever since.
Led Zeppelin, “When the Levee Breaks”
I couldn’t make a top-ten influence list without having Led Zep in there somewhere. This track hasn’t aged a day since it’s creation, and still sounds as heavy as ever. What a monster of a tune.
Morgan Delt, “Obstacle Eyes”
We were lucky enough to play a show with Morgan in LA in 2019. His debut record was one of my major influences in how I got into psych rock. There’s some excellent songs on that record and incredible arrangements. The vocals are so drenched, they swirl and form a landscape. I loved how everything sounded haunting yet upbeat at the same time—he created a world, proper genius that man!
Mild High Club, “Windowpane”
This song is a genuine work of art. I could dive into every element of why I love it, but I’d get totally lost. Their first two albums are always my go-to—I can’t fault anything, it glides and allows you to melt into the sound. The production is on another level, the bass walks, synth choices, clarity of voice and melody. I’ve learnt a lot from this band—actually I’m still learning a lot, there’s so much to take in, it’s brilliant.
Black Sabbath, “Hole in the Sky”
It would be blasphemy to not include Sabbath! My old man would play Sabotage when he got home from the pub most nights, and I’d fall asleep on the sofa trying my hardest to stay awake to hear the whole album. I’ve been hooked on riffs ever since.
Loving, “Visions”
This has been a very recent discovery, but it’s that good I’ve got to include it on this list. I’ve been binging them on repeat, literally haven’t listened to another band for a good week now. I’m transfixed with how perfect every instrument is placed, every tone, every melody—it’s beautiful. It’s made me whip out the old acoustic again and really focus on instrumental flavors properly.
Tame’s first EP was shared around our school via a USB stick. I was seventeen when I first heard that EP, and to me it’s still perfect. It was the first time I’d heard real guitars again, not overly produced radio garbage. It felt like it was flowing with personality, I’ve been hooked on recording ever since.
Dungen, “Satt Att Se”
Seeing Dungen live for the first time made me really understand what band dynamics were all about. The way this group writes albums is nothing short of genius. I’ve spent many a day listening to their discography on repeat. That guitar tone, though! Wow.
MGMT, “Alien Days”
This song completely took me by surprise. I’d always felt like MGMT were just having fun, creating festival tracks, happy plodding along writing catchy tunes. But then they released this single and I genuinely fell in love with music again. The journey this track takes you on is unreal, the arrangement is one of the best I’ve come across. I can’t tell you how many chord changes and chord progressions this tune throws at you, but every one makes perfect sense. Such an excellent song.
Foxygen, “In the Darkness”
Foxygen were a band that took me a while to warm up to. I don’t know what it was, but one day I chucked this album on my headphones while driving through Europe on tour and it all clicked. The production, the lo-fi textures, the simplicity of it all is excellent. It’s also huge Stones vibes, but maybe that nostalgia is what I love.
