ICYMI: Confidence Man released one of the most fun LPs of the year
So much music comes out all year, and even with our daily new song roundups; weekly Notable Releases, Indie Basement, and Upcoming Metal Releases columns; and monthly playlist of songs we like, we still miss stuff. Now that we’re in the final month of 2018 and looking back on all the music that came out this year, we’ll be publishing a post every weekday in December that catches up on some music released this year that we feel we didn’t shine enough of a light on, or didn’t discuss at all. The music we’ll be highlighting wasn’t necessarily “overlooked” in any broader sense of the word, just cool stuff worth catching up on in case you missed it.
Do you miss the days of fun, cheeky dancepop? Australia’s Confidence Man boldly keep this flag flying, recalling everything from the mid-’00s days of The Ting Tings, New Young Pony Club, The Teddybears and when Calvin Harris claimed he invented disco, but also stuff like Fannypack, Aqua, Vengaboys, Right Said Fred, with nods to Madchester pop and more. All in a good way. If iPods still existed, they’d be in all the commercials, and their debut, Confident Music for Confident People, is disposable, silly, gloriously cheesy and one of the most fun records of the year.
Born out of Brisbane’s psych rock scene — bandleaders Janet Planet (Grace Stephenson) and Sugar Bones (Aidan Moore) were both in Moses Gun Collective — Confidence Man gained a following as a live band before releasing any music and have become a festival favorite with “stupider the better” choreographed dancing, and songs you don’t need to have heard before to have the hook implanted in your brain and sing along. (See singles “Bubblegum,” “Boyfriend” and “Better Sit Down.”) Their songs are basically hook delivery devices, their album a triple shot of espresso with songs about partying (“C.O.O.L. Party”), aging rock stars (“Don’t You Know I’m in a Band?” with its nods to Yello’s “Oh Yeah”) and infatuation/sex (“Bubblegum,” and most of the record). Where many artists today are staring down the abyss that is our current geopolitical and social climate, Confidence Man offer up a respite from that, saying let the good times roll, at least for tonight.
Confidence Man also tip their hat to late-’80s/early-’90s house and rave on the ecstatic “Sail Boat Vacation” and “Out the Window” (very Primal Scream/George Michael). Tipping even further in that direction, they enlisted Andrew Weatherall, who produced Primal Scream’s Screamadelica and was a regular DJ at Manchester’s legendary Hacienda club, for great remixes of “Out the Window” and Bubblegum” which you can listen to, along with a stream of their album and their unsurprisingly colorful videos, below.
The group have also just released the techno-flavored, double-entendre-filled Christmas single “Santa’s Comin’ Down the Chimney” and you can watch the lyric video for that below as well.
The band have some Australian dates coming up, including playing Sydney on New Years eve. Maybe you caught the at Governors Ball? All upcoming dates are listed below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XNEDfarISU
Confidence Man – 2018/2019 Tour Dates
DEC 08 The Pleasure Garden Saturday, 12:00PM St. Kilda, Australia
DEC 15 BeachClub Saturday, 7:00PM Mooloolaba, Australia
DEC 31 NYE in the Park Monday, 7:00PM Sydney, Australia
JAN 06 Torquay Hotel Sunday, 6:00PM Torquay, Australia
MAR 10 Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre Sunday, 9:00PM Meredith, Australia
Don’t miss a thing! Browse our ICYMI tag, being added to every day in December.
