Plastic Palace Alice

Ah Melbourne. I’ll probably never know if it truly is superior to Sydney, but with all the excellent music I’ve been discovering lately, I wouldn’t be surprised. The latest Melbournians to deserve a mention are Plastic Palace Alice. I’ve known them for a while now (as you may too have), thanks to their song ‘Empire Falls’. To put it simply, it’s brilliant. They’re currently in the process of launching this single and if you haven’t yet heard it, I’d highly recommend it. But with all the attention that gets paid to this one song, you’d be forgiven for wondering whether it was all they had. Well wonder no more because I can safely tell you it’s not true. Plastic Palace Alice deliver a blend of music that combines powerful excitement with delightfully indie sounds. What's more, they do it consistently. It's the perfect fill in this post-Arcade Fide era, where we expect music to be nothing less than emotionally monumental. This strength of theirs especially clear when you go to see them live. The atmosphere is energetic and their songs produce a real sense of movement, taking you along for the ride. I also like the fact that they seem to be made up interesting characters. I won’t go into the details, but they have ‘guitar god’, with his countless pedals and various toys and a ‘crazy bassist’ who goes above and beyond his head-bopping requirements, just to name a few. There’s always plenty going on in a Plastic Palace Alice show. You certainly won’t be disappointed.

The Girl Who Cried Wolf – Just to prove my point that they’re not just a one-song band, here’s something different. It really highlights their vocal abilities, including male/female harmonies and, of course, multi-dimensional medleys. It all comes together into quite a compelling piece of music.

Video: Empire Falls

They just passed through Sydney so you may have just missed them (Brisbane people, you still have a chance). However, they will be back in early December so make sure you check them out. You can get the Empire Falls single (which includes both the above songs) from their myspace.