The official home of Australian Independent Music, a place for music industry professionals alike, featuring the cream of the crop of Australia’s diverse and thriving independent music sector.

We reckon it's impossible not to love this song.

The Harpoons - Walk Away by twobrightlakes

The new EP from The Harpoons is rad. Simple, infectious R&B occasionally twisted by experimentation. It's wide-eyed modern soul (all unsophisticated pop hooks, innocence and great vocal harmonies) that unsurprisingly shares aesthetic similarities with label mates Oscar and Martin.Simple, infectious R&B occasionally twisted by experimentation. The full EP is always compelling but never more enjoyable or beguiling than when they play it straight with the two lead tracks Walk Away and Keep You Around

Featuring songwriting siblings Henry and Jack Madin, gorgeous soul vocals from Bec Rigby, Martin King (Oscar and Martin) and production from Nick Huggins the line-up is a Two Bright Lakes "A-Team

The full EP is always compelling but never more enjoyable or beguiling than when they play it straight with the two lead tracks Walk Away and Keep You Around

Seriously great music. We love it! the EP can be streamed now at Bandcamp.

At AIR,  “Record Labels” are rather loosely defined as a business that owns or licenses recordings and then sells or gives them away in a transaction.

Of course, that definition lends itself to businesses of all shapes and sizes.We deal with labels that have huge catalogues and large budgets, self released artists who can barely pay rent, small labels with one or two shining stars, non-profit organisations, government organisations, labels built around national living treasures, labels started by international stars and also conglomerates of artists that call themselves “collectives”...

There’s a few great collectives in this country. They’re often based around a local scene or a niche genre. They usually come in the form of a bunch of artists sharing knowledge and skills for the combined good of their careers. They pool their time, energy, money and reputations in order to further the artistic careers of all involved. On the surface, its a quaintly socialist way of doing business in the music industry, not without its merits but often without the direction, A&R focus or business nous that is needed to create a great indie label.

Two Bright Lakes are the exception. An artist run label with a roster that most larger indies would salivate over. What impresses so much about Two Bright Lakes is the singular sense of purpose that runs through every one of their releases. Kid Sam, Otouto, Seagull, Nick Huggins and Psuche are similar only in their shared ability to innovate within the confines of a indie-pop song. The artwork, the website and each artist's career trajectory share a subtle continuity. Two Bright Lakes is one of the few Australian labels that fans can look forward to surprising and challenging with every release.

It's for this reason that today we feature Collarbones, the next release from Two Bright lakes. Experimental pop that I can only place somewhere amidst Antony Heggarty, instrumental hip hop and the loop layered, dubsteppy, delay enhanced “it”  man of worldwide pop, James Blake. Collarbones are unsettling, intriguing and beautiful.