Sugar Mountain Add Dirty Projectors, Hunx & His Punx And More

The second line up announcement for Melbourne's Sugar Mountain has come through this morning and it has seen the festival reach a whole new level as far as quality goes, though that's not to say it wasn't already shaping up to be pretty amazing following their first announcement.

The following bands have been added to the bill:

Dirty Projectors, Hunx & His Punx, Boomgates, Forces X Anthony Hamilton, Jonti, Brothers Hand Mirror, Lower Plenty, Collarbones, Naysayer & Gilsun

They join the already announced ESG, Action Bronson, HTRK, Kirin J Callinan X Kim Moyes, Laurel Halo, Peanut Butter Wolf and Woods. Have a listen to the full bill below!

DIRTY PROJECTORS:

It was never going to be an easy task following up their stunning 2009 record Bitte Orca, but we need not have ever worried about how Dirty Projectors would handle that task; they have absolutely killed it with this year's amazing Swing Lo Magellan. The band make their welcome return to Australia early next year and will no doubt blow minds once more with their stunning take on experiemental yet accessible indie music.

HUNX & HIS PUNX:

There have been an enormous number of fantastic garage rock bands emerge from the United States in recent years, but few are as well respected as Hunx & His Punx. While they might be somewhat polarising, anyone with an appreciation for modern takes on classic 50s and 60s pop surely can't help but have a soft spot for Hunx and the homoerotic live show is said to be something very special. We can't wait to find out.

BOOMGATES:

If you're anything like us, you can't go out for a quiet beer and a think about life without someone bounding up to you and raving on about just how good the debut record from Boomgates is. Thankfully, they're absolutely correct.Double Naturalfollows on from the more than promising 7" singles the band released shortly after forming and shows the sensibilities of all of its members at once, which is exciting considering those members are also in bands such as Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Twerps and Dick Diver. They'll get a huge hometown response at Sugar Mountain, and so they fucking should.

FORCES X ANTONY HAMILTON:

We have no idea what this will be like, but the prospect of Melbourne synth lovers Forces teaming up with acclaimed choreographer Antony Hamilton is a very alluring one and one that makes us proud that festivals liek Sugar Mountain exist. The minimal EBM and techno style of music the band play will no doubt see Hamilton putting together some confrontational dances, and given he's worked with everyone from Chunky Move to The Lyon Opera Ballet we are pretty confident we won't forget this performance.

JONTI:

Being the first Australian artist to sign to Stones Throw is no mean feat, but Jonti's inspired groovy, dreamy electronica makes him well deserving of that honour. He's recorded with Mark Ronson, Santigold, The Dap Kings, Sean Lennon and Hoddgy Beats from OFWGKTA, but his debut album Twirlgig, which is great, sees him proving he can do some of his best work when he is all by himself.

COLLARBONES:

Plenty of magical things happen on the internet and the formation of Collarbones is as solid proof as you need. With two records under their colelctive belt already, as well as a knack for smashing together a pretty tidy mixtape, the duo will show you, among other things, that R&B doesn't have to be a dirty word and that, when matched up with experimental electronica with overriding pop nous, it can be pretty fucking excellent.

LOWER PLENTY:

As if we needed another Melbourne indie-rock supergroup to make us feel bad about our lack of musical productivity, Lower Plenty came out of the blocks with their debut record Hard Rubbish earlier in the year, a record that has been described as "an outer suburban Go Betweens, or a Paul Kelly song where he doesn't name-check Melbourne landmarks all the time." We usually hate quoting press releases, but we're not gonna do any better than that. Even if you don't know the band, you'll know some of their faces from Dick Diver, Deaf Wish, The UV Race and The Focus.

NAYSAYER & GILSUN:

You may have been lucky enough to catch Naysayer & Gilsun at any number of sweet parties over the past few years and it's likely that they are the very reason the party was so sweet. A respect and love of pop music from throughout the ages and enough excited energy to make you nervous come together to make this duo one of the most exciting audio-visual acts around. Hell, even Diplo loves them.

BROTHERS HAND MIRROR:

Utilising tape loops and serious rapping finesse, Brothers Hand Mirror have developed a reputation as one of the more interesting acts in the world on Australian indie hip hop. A project made up of Grant Jonathon Gronewold (HTML Flowers, Cougar Flashy) and Oscar Vincente Slorach-Thorn (Oscar Key Sung, Oscar & Martin), they aren't your average hip hop group, but then again this isn't your average festival.

The festival takes place in the Melbourne CBD through January, but the main Sugar Mountain event will take place at The Forum Theatre on Saturday 19 January.