Tash Sultana (2023)

One Liner: Australian R&B singer who left behind an interesting voice for something generic

Wikipedia Genre: Psychedelic rock, reggae, soul, RnB, hip hop, blues and roots, neo soul (that is a hell of a list)

Home: Melbourne

Poster Position: 2 (6)
Weekend One Only.  

Sunday at 4:15.

Thoughts:   Weird, they were here in 2017, but it doesn't look like I actually wrote a preview.  My only mention was noting them in the schedule and calling it vaguely reggae-ish.  Which is kind of funny, listening to their offerings right now.  I guess a few of these songs you may be able to say that, but most of this is just straight pop.  Maybe their biggest song is what I was listening to, and the cadence of the guitar licks at the beginning made me think of reggae?  Could just as easily be Columbian music or something.   This is "Jungle," their first single ever and also her biggest song by far, with 224.8 million streams.

Released in 2016 as her first song, and voted into a top countdown in their home of Australia right away.  Vaguely annoying vocal sound to me with those affected whiny sounds pushing their voice into abrasive places.  I know some people like that pop voice sound, but it bugs me.  Their voice in the chorus is a million times better (and in their other songs!).  I like some of these older tunes though, they're kinda weird.

Raised in Melbourne, they apparently started playing guitar at 3 years old.  They started their career busking, played in a short-lived band called Mindpilot, and then self-released their first stuff before getting "discovered."  They also play an absolutely insane list of instruments - "guitar, keyboard, bass, percussion, beatmaking/sampling, trumpet, saxophone, flute, mandolin, oud, harmonica, panpipes" according to Wikipedia.  Also, as you can tell from my writing her, Sultana identifies as gender-fluid and uses they/them pronouns.

Two albums - 2018's Flow State and 2021's Terra Firma - with a few other EPs along the way.  She also did an MTV unplugged album, which is rad because I had no clue those were still going on.  My knee jerk answer to the question of the best MTV unplugged ever is Nirvana, but then I think of the amazing stuff from R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Ten Thousand Maniacs.  I looked up a list because those were the ones in my mind - Tesla!  I didn't know Stevie Ray Vaughan did one?!  Black Crowes!  Oh yeah, Clapton - his was amazing too.  Never knew Midnight Oil did one.  I need to dive into some YouTube videos!  Lenny Kravitz! Bjork! Oasis!  Oh yeah, Lauryn Hill's was badass too.  Sorry, that has nothing to do with Tash.

Their second-most streamed tune is likewise one of their first songs - "Notion," which includes some serious electric guitar licks.  But let's go with her most recent single to give you an idea of the new sound.  "James Dean" has 4.2 million streams.

Huh.  That's too bad.  Just sounds like a million other bedroom pop ladies making generically pleasant lovelorn songs.  I listened to the rest of the new EP as well, and it just make me want to write this post as quickly as possible so that I can move on to other music.  Generic R&B is all I hear here.  Although, she does mention listening to The 1975, so maybe she's topical for the festival.