Label Their own, Electric Empire Music

You may remember him from such TV shows as Australian Idol (2008 season). Luke Dickens was the sheep shearer from Young who entered the TV talent show for a bit of a laugh, discovered he was pretty good and came second in the whole thing. Having since decided to make a proper go of this music lark, Dickens released an album of good-time blues-rock last year (Underdog) and has lately found a new audience as winner of the prestigious Star Maker contest at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January. ''I won't be changin' my style up none,'' he says, in typical no-nonsense fashion, ''but the music, we're certainly gonna transpose it slightly so that the city guys and the blues lovers and the country lovers are all gonna have something there for 'em.'' He's particularly serious about his country audience. Not only is he heading to Nashville in June to work with some sizeable names for his second album, due in July, he has already found a great collaborator closer to home. ''I just finished a writin' session yesterday with Bill Chambers and we're really excited about what we came out with,'' Dickens says. ''He was that happy with the song, he kind of mentioned to me that it's one of the greatest things he's been involved with. ''But who knows, mate? There could be 10 better ones on the way, too.'' ALPINE Genre Glacial electronic pop.From Melbourne. Label Ivy League.Coming gigs April 1, 7pm, Metro Theatre, 9550 3666, $28.70 (supporting Sparkadia and Operator Please). They started out under the name Swiss, changed their name to Alpine (to avoid confusion with ace Adelaide troupe the Swiss) and have named their debut EP ''Z252;168;168;rich'' (umlaut and all). It is, at first glance, an odd fixation for a bunch of friends who met each other either through school or university in Melbourne. ''Those names, they Rosetta Stone Software definitely kind of tie in with the feel of the sound we want from our music,'' explains Phoebe Baker, one of the six-piece's two chanteuses. ''Alpine seemed to fit in with that whole kind of - I don't know, you think of going skiing and being up in the Alps. It's so beautiful and fresh and simple.'' From the crisp, driving beats of the EP's lead track, Heartlove, to the atmospheric, dare we say chilled, vibe of Too Safe and Villages, Alpine achieve the desired effect. Also, to Baker's delight, her band have been likened to everyone from Mercury Prize winners the xx to pop ice queen Goldfrapp. In fact, the hardest thing for the band might be their having to evoke the album's wintry vibe in packed, hot Australian venues. ''We've got a whole bunch of cases of fans and fake snow,'' Baker jokes. ELECTRIC EMPIRE Genre Old-school soul/RB.From One lives in Sydney, two in Melbourne. ''The best of both worlds,'' Dennis Dowlut says with a laugh. Label Their own, Electric Empire Music.Coming gigs March 18, 8pm, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst, 1300 438 849, $23. Riding high on the success of their electronic funk project Disco Montego, Dowlut and his younger brother, Darren, had a plan to infiltrate the US market in 2005. ''The Electric Empire band is something that Darren and I wanted to create when we were going to the States,'' Dowlut says. ''We were gonna take our material and then, instead of being an electronic outfit and producers, we were just gonna put together this incredible band with everyone with the ability to sing and play and do harmonies and write and produce.'' In the cruellest twist of fate, just before the brothers were to leave, Darren, at 26, died of cancer, having been diagnosed less than two months before. After taking a break and eventually reuniting with long-time friends and collaborators Aaron Mendoza and Jason Heerah, Dowlut put together the band he and Darren had dreamt of.

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