Born out of a serendipitous meeting on a dating app in 2021, Beth and Blue is the creative partnership of Imogen Grist (Babitha) and Marcus Index (Spookyland).
What started as a bonding over shared influences and an innocent desire to sing duets together, quickly evolved into an expansive three-year project, experimenting with the love song as a form of meditation.
Beth and Blue’s take on the love song is panoramic, addressing themes of desire, euphoria, fragility and despair with equal doses of melodrama and surrealism. The music has echoes of folk rock, alt-country and dream pop, but dominated by the reverberated harmonies of Grist and Index, Beth andBlue’s sound is marked by a hymnal quality that is defiantly ethereal and hard to place.
Loose Content are a three-piece indie/alt-rock band hailing from the hinterland of Byron Bay. Formed during high school by close friends MiLLa (bass and vocals) Sam Sanders (guitars) and Aquila Porter (drums & BV’s).
By the time they were 18 years old, Loose Content had impressed on the stages of esteemed Aussie festivals such as Byron Bay Bluesfest & Woodford Folk Festival and more recently have been more than holding their own being invited on the road to support respected national acts such as Magic Dirt, The Cruel Sea, The Vanns, Rum Jungle and many others.
Relocating from the Northern Rivers to Naarm/Melbourne Loose Content are following the footsteps of bands like The Birthday Party and The Drones who cut their teeth and built their musical output on residency gigs and tales of shared housing. Loose Content’s sound draws inspiration from artists like The Police, Radiohead, Midnight Oil, and Powderfinger. Part pop. Part punk. Art. Indie. Rock.
Loose Content have completed recording of their debut album with US producer Nick DiDia of Brooklet Recording studios, who has produced records for Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine, Bruce Springsteen and Powderfinger and will be performing at SxSW Sydney in 2024.
LIMINAL is an experimental, avant-garde psych-rock band currently based in Lismore.
With a strong DIY approach they released their first full length album PLACE LP on vinyl in 2021, followed by their latest record WHITE DOTS in April 2023 which featured on Rage and Triple J Unearthed. The new album is a post-modern approach to the psych-rock genre, warping typical instrumentations with derbyshire-esque moments of sound experimentation and arrangement.
The opening track Etterath caught the eye of Rage programmers, selected to be put on high-rotation under the “Wild One” category. Sand Dream and I Live For You were also aired, all of which were directed, filmed and edited by drummer Alako Myles.
Liminal curate and book their own live shows, including events like Anemoia Festival and their White Dots album launch local tour. The latest Anemoia Festival event saw over 200 tickets sold, putting together 13 bands from the Northern Rivers and Brisbane on the same lineup. Their opening album launch gig at the Lismore Uni Bar also drew a crowd of 200, followed by Bangalow A&I Hall and Howl and Moan Records. Liminal have also featured live among an extensive range of lineups including Tex Perkins, Magic Machine, Endless Valley, Pop Radio, Masochist and Loose Content.
The band currently consists of River Glass on vocals and guitar, Oscar Myles on guitar and synth, Tom Peter on bass, and Alako Myles on drums.
Babitha (think ‘Tabitha’ with a ‘B’) is the solo project of Imogen Grist – a multidisciplinary artist raised in country NSW to a backing track of Neil Young, ABBA and Fleetwood Mac.
Inspired by the archetypal ‘other woman’, Babitha’s brand of loaded yet languid alt-country ballads see guitar-laden tracks break ground beneath fables of escape and heartbreak. With soaring harmonies and lyrics that cut to the core, Babitha is equal parts vulnerable and evocative, commanding and detached. Her work evokes music’s golden years, yet feels critically of our time.
Since the release of her hit single ‘Get Away’ in 2020, Babitha has amassed close to 3 million streams, landed ‘Album of the Week’ on FBi Radio, 2SER and Edge Radio, rotation on ABC Country and college radio across America, and was listed in Double J and NME’s ‘Best Albums of 2023’. She has been nominated for an FBi SMAC Award, and was a finalist in this year’s APRA Professional Development Awards.
Bolstered by a band of local stars in their own right (Russell Fitzgibbon from Skeleten, Cecil Coleman from Body Type and Jordan Ireland from The Middle East), Babitha’s live performances embody a communal celebration of music and togetherness, uniting diverse audiences that bridge the gap between Contemporary and Country music fans. Babitha has opened for Alex G, King Stingray, Calexico, Julia Jacklin and Andy Shauf, and graced the stage at Vivid, BIGSOUND, SXSW, Phoenix Central Park, the MCA, Sydney Opera Bar, Dashville and more.
This year, Impressed Recordings reissued Babitha’s debut album ‘Brigher Side of Blue’ and Babitha joined José González on his national tour. She continues to work on her sophomore album, scheduled for release in 2025.
Media Puzzle is a mysterious figure in Lismore’s nightlife, named after the Irish horse that claimed victory in the 2002 Melbourne Cup (naturally). The band delivers a blistering mix of scuzzy, down-the-barrel Aussie egg-punk, that thrashes through its 90-second songs without a second wasted. .
In just one year, Media Puzzle has released one EP and three albums, with the latest, Strategic Living, offering a tongue-in-cheek critique of Australia’s current political climate. Praised by Rage, Triple R, FBI Radio, and other national and international outlets, Media Puzzle has now released what may be their best release yet.
Wayne Connolly is an ARIA Award-winning producer, engineer, musician, and composer with over two decades of experience. He began at Paradise Studios working with iconic acts like You Am I, Underground Lovers, and Custard, earning his first ARIA in 1996. Since then, he’s worked with hundreds of artists including Josh Pyke, Youth Group, Paul Dempsey, and The Vines, earning multiple ARIA Awards and nominations. He restored and runs The Music Farm Studios in Byron Bay, and his credits span film, TV, and major brands like Qantas and the ABC. Wayne also performs under Knievel and his solo project, Earls Court.
