Community radio music presenters and music directors often have an encyclopaedic knowledge of local music, Australian artists, and possess 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, Aeron Clark, the Music Director of Tasmania’s Edge Radio, contributes with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amrap’s music distribution service ‘AirIt’.
Check out Aeron’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.
Also, if you find yourself at at BIGSOUND next month, be sure to head along to Cloudland where Music Directors from Melbourne’s 3RRR, Brisbane’s 4ZZZ, Sydney’s 2SER, SynMedia, and Hobart’s Edge Radio will hold listening sessions and provide advice on how to get heard on community radio. Places are limited, so be sure to apply now!
This week’s 7 best Australian artists
Angie McMahon – ‘And I Am A Woman’
Look, I’ll be honest – I’m still crushing on previous single ‘Pasta’ (pretty sure she wrote it about me, obviously), but I’m always ready for Angie McMahon to rock up and swing another epic song around the room.
McMahon’s long-awaited debut album Salt (July 26th, AWAL Recordings) is a perfect distillation of what encourages people to connect so strongly with her – authentic and intimate song writing, intensified by utterly naked vocal performances.
‘And I Am A Woman’ features one of the most powerful crescendos I’ve heard in ages, and I’m absolutely hooked on the way McMahon’s voice breaks in this song.
Check out ‘And I Am A Woman’ by Angie McMahon:
I am regularly astonished by the vividness of the imagery Bianca Blackhall’s music creates in my mind. On her debut self-titled EP, she demonstrates her prowess as a teller of stories imbued with the textures of our country’s vast and varied landscapes.
The slow burning ‘Sharks’ simmers and heaves, and the members of Blackhall’s band melt together to form one swelling organism. The clamorous blare of a CFA siren slices through the haze at the song’s peak, before the surging tide turns and ebbs and the waves subside.
Check out ‘Sharks’ by Bianca Blackhall:
Christopher Coleman & The Great Escape – ‘Jesse’
Whenever I watch Christopher Coleman perform solo I get that clenching feeling at the back of my throat. You know the one. It’s usually accompanied by the realisation that there are tears pooling in your lower eyelids and you spend the rest of the set trying desperately not to let them spill over.
‘Jesse’ is the first single from Coleman and his new supergroup The Great Escape, a triumphant, rousing 8-piece whose first album is on its way to us in the not-too-distant future.
When I watch them, I don’t get that feeling in my throat, not because the storytelling is any less poignant, but because they also help me to remember the hope and strength that can be found in the world.
Check out ‘Jesse’ by Christopher Coleman & The Great Escape:
Fresh from a collaborative single with Exhibitionist, appearances at Vivid and Dark Mofo, and her first European tour, Rebel Yell shows no signs of slowing down with new single ‘Night Drive’.
On this anthem of safety and empowerment, Grace Stevenson’s grinding industrial techno is dark and brooding, with synths both stabbing through the crunchy haze and trickling down the walls of the steamy cave she has created.
Check out ‘Night Drive’ by Rebel Yell:
Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic – ‘The Time We Had’
Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic’s album A Brother is a deft and beautiful balance of sadness and hope. Written after the tragic, sudden passing of Lachlan’s brother and Ocean Party bandmate, Zac, the record is a vehicle for catharsis that pairs Lachlan’s knack for clean pop hooks with his tender but direct lyrics.
‘The Time We Had’ gracefully conveys the gratitude felt for moments spent with a loved one, focussing on treasuring the routine and mundane, and deriving strength from these memories.
Check out ‘The Time We Had’ by Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic:
Taken from the forthcoming EP She Comes To Me In A Fever Dream (Healthy Tapes), Sandy Hsu’s second single ‘Angel Energy’ is a reminder that change, while potentially overwhelming, can also be beautiful.
Hsu has realised that she knows nothing, and has accepted this, embracing growth, learning and transformation. Hsu’s lyrics bleed self-awareness, sometimes harshly so, and she threads them delicately through a swirling, ethereal mist.
Check out ‘Angel Energy’ by Sandy Hsu:
Dallas is the first music from Brightness (Alex Knight) since his 2017 debut LP Teething. Written while Knight was living alone in his brother’s garage, and recorded in upstate New York with producer Sam Griffin Owens, the song is one of spiritual hunger.
Lurching guitars and Knight’s plaintive vocals paint a picture of fragility and emptiness, until the tone lifts towards the end, building into a rapturous cloud of obsession.
Check out ‘Dallas’ by Brightness:
