News Jagwar Ma

: Jagwar Ma
Based: Sydney
Listen: Soundcloud.com/jagwarma
Similar to: Cut Copy, El Guincho

Year in year out there’s a relentless hunt for bands who might, at some mind numbingly distant stage in their career, get to the very top of a big festival bill. They need to be bands who are both universally likeable and also inherently inventive; someone that reaches beyond the Kings of Leons and Killers and reformations that have become such staples of the Pyramid Stage alumni. Jagwar Ma suggest we stop looking. The answer’s right in front of us.

The Sydney duo’s music isn’t necessarily catered for such a setting. But there’s something delightfully crepuscular about all their songs released to date, a perfect meeting ground for wild excess and glorious sunsets. These songs have muscled their way onto a FIFA 13 soundtrack, and have boundless appeal for advert backing tracks and sports montages. There’s no doubting, then, that a lot of people are going to despise these guys. But when music is this vibrant and careless, it’s difficult to hone in at any substantial criticism. Latest track ‘The Throw’ streamlines the experimental touch of Animal Collective, while thriving in tropical percussion, Friendly Fires-style, and leaving room for its own sense of progression, clocking in at over six minutes. Ambition and immediacy clash heads. And that’s when you know you’ve found a future headliner.