RECORD COLLECTOR - THANKS TO KAY

 

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Singles that have made this Australian cultural capital proud

Canberra may be the capital of Australia, Sydney its most recognisable city, but Melbourne is its music capital, with a thriving live scene that overshadows its east coast counterpart. Indeed, as iconic as the Sydney Opera House might be, you’re far more likely to check out Amyl & The Sniffers at The Tote or the Cherry Bar or somewhere else down on AC/DC Lane.

Still a relatively young city, founded by free settlers from Van Diemen’s Land around 190 years ago, Melbourne has given rise to the little-known Melbourne Bounce – a modern subgenre of electro house and not a lot else (if you discount the 65,000-year-old Aboriginal music played by the dwindling indigenous population). Uniquely isolated from the rest of the western world, Australia (and New Zealand) are more inclined to reflect back what comes from the Motherland and, even more so, the United States.

In other words, Melbourne rocks, and it shakes its daks sometimes, too. Leading lights from the city are as musically dissimilar as the upstanding John Farnham and the pothead pixie supreme himself, Daevid Allen of Gong. Moreover, Melbourne is the kind of place that likes to throw up surprises, like the song Where The Wild Roses Grow, the duet between natives Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue that caused consternation on its release in 1995, but ultimately really worked.

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