Rolling Stone Australia September 2015

Taming the Beast SO U.S. ROLLING STONE gets reality TV idiot Kim Kardashian’s heaving boobs on the cover and we get Kevin Parker gazing dreamily into the distance? Thanks ROLLING STONE! I’ll take the delightful Kev over that no-talent skank any day! Bronwyn Ellis, Cargo, NSW TAME IMPALA’S NEW RE- cord is a revelation. After getting used to the absence of guitar riffs, I’ve come to love Currents. Listening to it with headphones makes you feel like you’re drifting in an isolation tank, which if you haven’t tried before, you should – it’s a mind-bending experience, much like Kevin Parker’s trip of a record. David Branigan, Melbourne, Vic Sister Act AS A DEDICATED READER with a vagina, the last issue of ROLLING STONE was a step in the right direction.…

WRAP-UP SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS YOUR BACKSTAGE PASS We hit Splendour en masse this year to bring you live reviews of your favourite acts, on-ground interviews (in video, audio and text formats) and behind-the-scenes video and photos from our time backstage. So if you couldn’t be there, or if you want to see what happens behind the hessian screened-off areas, we’ve got you covered! EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW FATHER JOHN MISTY In a web exclusive, we talk to Josh Tillman about his upcoming Aussie tour, and how he learned to stop antagonising his live audience. VIDEO LIVE AT THE RS OFFICE HOLY HOLY Aussie dream-pop/indie duo Holy Holy drop in to our offi ce to play a couple of tracks from their new When the Storms Would Come LP. GALLERY ON TOUR…

Monkey Wrench Hits Foos! Dave Grohl was sprinting across the stage at Sweden’s Ullevi Stadium during “Monkey Wrench” when he took a 12-foot tumble. “I definitely shredded something!” he said. After cancelling European dates the Foos resumed their U.S. tour, with Grohl resplendent on his own Game Of Thrones-inspired throne. Thoughts are also turning to a new LP, which likely will be another concept album. “It’s not enough to just make a fucking record anymore,” said drummer Taylor Hawkins. RUBY TUESDAY Not content with winning over the U.S. in OITNB, Ruby Rose hit the decks at Pacha in New York. ROLE MODEL Cara Delevingne pulled some decidedly un-photogenic facials while appearing in Madrid on El Hormiguero, a Spanish variety TV show, while promoting her new film, Paper Towns. We still…

THERE’S A SIMPLE REA- son why Foals have returned with their fourth album, the seething What Went Down, so soon after the extensive touring for their breakthrough record, 2013’s Holy Fire, had concluded. “We felt charged,” declares the English rock group’s frontman, Yannis Philippakis. “The last few shows for Holy Fire were some of the best we’d ever played and we wanted to capitalise on that energy.” Stepping out of a London rehearsal room where the new compositions are being prepared for a return to the road, Philippakis is quietly enthusiastic about the finished album but still trying to get his head around the dizzying creative burst that birthed What Went Down (out August 28th). “The momentum was there and we basically wrote the entire record in three months,” explains…

AMONGST THE TEXTURAL AND atmospheric pastoral rock of Holy Holy’s debut album, When the Storms Would Come, is a song called “The Crowd”. Though musically it doesn’t stray far from the duo’s lush sonic blueprint, lyrically it takes a few steps into uncharted territory. “It’s about having dreams and feeling horrified by what your own mind can manufacture,” explains vocalist Tim Carroll from Sweden, where he and his wife are visiting her family. “My girlfriend at the time was having dreams of strangling and stabbing people to death, and everybody has dreams about fucking various people they shouldn’t be. I had this vivid dream about a zombie apocalypse, and so I just pushed those different concepts together into the song.” It’s a surprisingly visceral lyric for an album that, elsewhere,…

EARLIER THIS YEAR, DISCLO- sure reunited with an old friend. As the English dance-music duo neared the finish line of their second LP, Caracal (due out September 25th), they invited singer Sam Smith to come by their new studio in London’s St. John’s Wood neighbourhood. “It was really exciting,” says Howard Lawrence, sitting next to his older brother and bandmate Guy. “We had three whole days to hang out with Sam and write, which are two of my favourite things to do.” In the years since Smith sang on “Latch”, Disclosure’s triple-platinum breakthrough smash, both acts have rocketed to stardom. You can hear how that journey has changed both of them on “Omen”, the song they made together for Caracal – a sleek, blissed-out anthem that might be the happiest-sounding…