Community radio music presenters and music directors often have an encyclopaedic knowledge of local music and an insatiable thirst to keep their ears ahead of the curve. So in this Tone Deaf series, the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (Amrap) invites music directors to highlight new Aussie tunes that you might have missed.
In this edition, Amelia Jennner, Music Director at Sydney’s FBi Radio, contributes with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amrap’s music distribution service ‘AirIt’.
Check out Amelia’s selections below and if you’re a musician you can apply here to have your music distributed for free to community radio on Amrap’s AirIt.
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The perfect junction between song and spoken word, ‘Wala is Life’ is an extremely poignant and timely song given the current state of the climate both here in Australia and around the world.
‘Wala is Life’ is a song that stresses the sacredness of water (‘wala’ means water in Yorta Yorta language). It’s a strong critique of government and big corporations’ actions, which often comes across as using nature as a commodity, without giving anything back.
The effect this is having on our climate is painfully obvious and is being felt most intensely by Indigenous communities around the world who are intimately connected to Country. This song reminds us of the importance of water and that it is our responsibility to protect it.
I could listen to this song on repeat for hours. Listening to it, you can help but feel like you’re riding shotgun next to Julia as you hurtle down the highway that is life. She has perfectly captured the feeling of helplessness many of us feel as women in both our professional and personal lives.
The result is in incredibly relatable track whose lyrics read like the page of a diary. A deeply moving and arresting track, ‘Body’ is one of Julia’s finest moments.
Written and produced entirely by Lupa J, ‘Drift’ is finest example of Lupa’s production prowess to date which grows stronger with every track she releases. It’s got that sickly sweet melancholic feeling, the one that simultaneously makes you feel empowered but also makes you feel like crying.
You know what I mean, right? The track is lifted from Lupa’s debut album Swallow Me Whole, due for release next year. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion 2019 is going to be a big year for Lupa J.
This song has been a real hit on FBi over the past few months. ‘If I Give Myself’ is a document that does justice to a hard-hitting live show that’s been pulverising stages across the city for the last year or so.
It’s the band’s first official single from their debut EP released in October this year.
Behind You have by far been my favourite musical discovering of 2018. The Australian answer to Death Grips we never knew we needed. The verses twist and turn like a slimy snake but it’s the breakdown at 2.30, which perfectly unveils the tightly layered production that really wins me over on this one.
I’m keeping both eyes firmly planted on Behind You for 2019.
It’s been a huge year for Australian hip hop and with the release of this single Yibby has cemented his place as one for the most exciting artists to emerge out of the scene. ‘Woah’ captures that feeling of being surprised by things but also talks about feelings of woe and self-doubt that we all experience at some point in our lives.
His debut EP Lost In Translation is due for release early next year. Don’t sleep on this one.
