Yeasayer, Bat For Lashes, The Rubens For Laneway Festival

26 September 2012 | 7:20 am | Scott Fitzsimons

A mix of acts from around the world make up the eclectic bill.

The St Jerome's Laneway Festival has this morning announced its line-up for the 2013 event, with a typically trailblazing and eclectic line-up of artists from here and around the world.

As well as local favourites like Alpine, Chet Faker, The Rubens, Flume, Pond, Henry Wagons and Twerps, the international component is full of just-as-loved artists and hotly-tipped newcomers such as Yeasayer, Japandroids, Of Monsters & Men, Real Estate and Alt-J.

Scroll down for more info, but in alphabetical order, here's the line-up at a glance:

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Alpine
Alt-J
(no sideshows, Laneway exclusive)
Bat For Lashes
Chet Faker
Cloud Nothings
Divine Fits
El-P
Flume
Henry Wagons & The Unwelcome Company
High Highs
(east coast only)
Holy Other
Japandroids
(no sideshows, Laneway exclusive)
Jessie Ware
Julia Holter
Kings Of Convenience
The Men
Ms Mr
The Neighbourhood
Nicolas Jaar
(no Melbourne sideshow)
Nite Jewel
(east coast only)
Of Monsters And Men
(east coast only)
Perfume Genius
Polica
Pond
Real Estate
(no sideshows, Laneway exclusive)
The Rubens
Shlohmo
Snakadaktal
Twerps
Yeasayer

More information on the acts:

YEASAYER:

Laneway ex-pats Yeasayer last played the festival in 2011. With a new album under their belt, Fragrant World, they are back with new material for Australian punters. The Brooklyn-based trio are at the top of their game with their brand of electronic-pop and have garnered a loyal following since their debut release, All Hour Cymbals (2007).

BAT FOR LASHES:

 

Bat For Lashes, aka Natasha Khan will be dropping her newest record, The Haunted Man, in October. She's already given us a taste with two singles including the stunning and bewitching Laura. She'll be back in Aus for Laneway next year.

ALPINE:

 

It's been a fantastic year for wonder-pop outfit Alpine, who released their debut record, A Is For Alpine. Their delicate pop melodies and well-crafted tunes will see them heading to Laneway in 2013.

THE RUBENS:

 

Off the back of releasing their debut self-titled record (to great sucess, might I add), the four-piece will be bringing their raw, blues-esque tunes to the Laneway stage next year! The Rubens are youthful, fun and are definitely going in the right direction.

CHET FAKER:

Soul, electro-R&B connoisseur Chet Faker, aka Nick Murphy, has been buzzing with success since he dropped his cover of Blackstreet's No Diggity. A year later, he dropped his EP Thinking In Textures - and bam! - everybody fell in love with him. And his live band is simply extraordinary.

CLOUD NOTHINGS:

While they shot to notoriety with a pretty damn good eponymous record in 2011, it was this year's Attack On Memory that really made people stand up and take notice of Cloud Nothings. The record is such an appealing cut of jagged, rough but tuneful indie rock that possesses equal amount of guts and beauty throughout. We finally get to see what they're like on the live stage when they are here for Laneway and we've got pretty high hopes.

DIVINE FITS:

Indie rock supergroups are rare and, as a concept, a bit iffy, generally speaking. But Divine Fits quickly and unpretentiously proved to be the exception to the rule with their self-titled debut this year and the fact that they are coming to Australia so soon after its release is very exciting indeed. But seeing as they're made up of Spoon frontman Britt Daniel, Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner and Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks, we should never have doubted them.

EL-P:

Chaos is what you can expect from an El-P record and chaos is what we're gonna get from the El-P live show when he makes his way back to Australia on the back of his Cancer4Cure LP of this year. The latest record has a fair dose of vitriol pumping through it but not so much that you can't appreciate the seriously freakish MC skills this guys posseses.

JAPANDROIDS:

Forget everything you think you know about two-piece rock bands when Japandroids set up and destroy your mind as a part of the Laneway Festival in 2012. These Canadian dudes became super popular with their Post-Nothing debut back in 2009, but the important thing is that they have well and truly backed it up with the incredible Celebration Rock record which is bound to trouble plenty of 'best of' lists come the end of the year. It's very exciting to have them in our country this summer.

JESSIE WARE:

If you've not heard of Jessie Ware yet then don't sweat it, you'll be hearing plenty more about her in the not too distant future. She can loosely be described as an R&B singer, but the versatility that she shows on her recently released Devotion album is quite stunning. Elements of dubstep and soul permeate the songs and her voice carries them with pure emotion.

KINGS OF CONVENIENCE:

For the very first time, Australian audiences are finally able to witness a show from incredible Norwegian minimalist pop duo Kings Of Convenience as they come out to open the Laneway Festival around the country. After a swag of critically acclaimed records over the past decade or so it's a wonder that the band haven't given in to their fervent Aussie fan base as yet, but we're hoping it will be well and truly worth the wait.

THE MEN:

Brooklyn quartet The Men might have been the kind of band you'd consider a “surprise success story” if you had only heard their fucking awesome Leave Home record of last year. It was amazing, but hardly the kind of record to teeter on the side of the hipster. But then, with Open Your Heart, the band blew everyone out of the water, constructing a beautiful pop record with a hell of a lot of grit but a friendlier sound than we had ever expected to hear from them. No idea what they'll be like live, very much looking forward to it.

PERFUME GENIUS:


Put Your Back N 2 It, the latest record from Perfume Genius, is a powerful piece of work that is enjoyable, but incredibly intense. The record was written after Mike Hadreas got sober, and you can tell there are some demons he has been fighting – let's hope he can exorcise them all over again for us at Laneway next year.

REAL ESTATE:

The preppy pop that Real Estate gave us on Days was just so goddamn alluring that we were very pleased to see them come to Australia soon after its release and treat us to it in the live arena. They must have had fun because they're coming back again for Laneway where their tunes and the hot summer sun are going to be a gorgeous match.

TWERPS:

It's so heartening that one of the best indie-rock records of 2011 came straight outta Melbourne. Twerps have an appeal that's somewhat hard to put your finger on; there's carelessness, honesty, beauty, ugliness and the all important indescribable pop nuance that makes their self-titled record so good. They've started making waves in the States, so we reckon things are just beginning for this band.

 

The full Laneway tour dates:

Laneway member's pre-sale starts 9am Wednesday 3 October, with general public tickets on sale 9am Friday 5 October from here.