Art As Catharsis: Stargazing under Southern Skies

Looking for a great compilation that will introduce you to new up and coming Aussie rock bands? Then you got yourself a great deal for stumbling across this awesome compilation.

Stargazing under Southern Skies is a collection of tracks picked by the folks at Art As Catharsis. The Sydney-based underground label gathered together some of the best underground Aussie shoegaze, ambient, post rock groups and placed their music in one massive album.

Featuring 15 tracks, the record boasts of music from groups like Tangled Thoughts of Leaving and Sleepmakeswaves, which have made an appearance here on the blog.
Like most compilation records, it’s often tricky to find the right track that’ll please your musical ears. Luckily, Art As Catharsis made it easy by including great bands in the roster.

For instance, Tangled Thoughts of Leaving provides an excellent, complex and quiet long cut, Throw Us to the Wind. The song provides listeners with 8 minutes worth of distorted, dramatic guitars, great keyboards and a sense of scale.

On the other hand, Sleepmakeswaves, delivers a track that starts off dreamy and quiet before soaring into drums and distortion to create an epic ball of sound . The band has been around since 2006 and has gained some good ground with their releases.

Overall, this is the album to check out if you want to get a good idea how this genre of ambient, shoegaze and post rock is faring in the Aussie scene. It’ll be worth the download too.

Track List:
1. Dumbsaint – Cinematic 07:39
2. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving – Throw Us to the Wind 08:40
3. Squat Club – Corvus 08:55
4. Solkyri – This Can’t Wait! 05:07
5. sleepmakeswaves – now we rise and we are everywhere 06:41
6. Adrift for Days – Gravity Well 08:29
7. Captain Kickarse and the Awesomes – Laughin on the Inside 05:45
8. Nuclear Summer – See You In Hell 04:25
9. Brian Campeau – So Long Angela 03:28
10. Mushroom Giant – The Drake Equation 04:57
11. Lander Configurations – Mariposa 08:04
12. race to your face – the amazon has low self esteem 02:29
13. Pirate – Time Minus Five 05:18
14. The Matador – Kingdom of Glass 08:27
15. We Lost the Sea – Barkhan Charge 06:35