Dirty Beaches

Overview

Don’t know if it’s meant to be, but his stage name is pretty apropros. Pitchfork points out that it’s partly because Alex Zhang Hungtai spent the majority of his life feeling “unmoored and adrift”, but also his music is like all the other sun-soaked beach-inspired music acts that have been cropping up as of late had a delinquent distant relative who was a bit moodier and sometimes even a little menacing.

Hungtai’s music looks beyond the psychedelic ’60s and back to 1950s rock ‘n’ roll, before cranking up the distortion so it comes out sounding even older again. On top of this add his grungy falsetto vocals and you have something that should come across as dated, but “timeless” is probably a better word. On his debut album Badlands the tracks bounce jerkily between poppy and powerful, sometimes even sad, but the one thing they all have in common is that they don’t sound like anyone else’s songs.

Though the ideal listening situation would involve a rumbling ute, a dusty road and complete isolation, these songs are also quite good when you’re indoors and around other humans. Get to The Tote on February 13 for proof.