Kirin J Callinan

Kirin J Callinan sounds like a glitch in the matrix of 1980s stadium rock. His music is a dizzying blend of hyper-masculine bravado and fragile, avant-garde experimentation. You'll hear soaring, cinematic choruses that feel like they belong in a Michael Bay film, only to have them interrupted by jagged shards of industrial noise or absurdist lyrical detours. It is music that constantly dares you to figure out if he is joking, while simultaneously hitting you with genuine emotional gravity.

What makes Kirin truly distinctive is his commitment to the bit. Whether he is utilizing a screaming Jimmy Barnes as a celestial cowboy or layering thick, distorted guitar textures over a danceable beat, there is a sense of total abandon. He occupies a strange middle ground between the confrontational noise of Xiu Xiu and the polished, eccentric pop of Alex Cameron. It is high-concept performance art that you can actually dance to, provided you don't mind getting a little bruised in the process.

Start with the album Bravado. It is the purest distillation of his 'more is more' philosophy, featuring the viral hit Big Enough. From there, dive into the darker, more industrial sounds of Embracism to see the jagged edges that define his earlier work. It is a journey through the ego, the absurd, and the truly spectacular.