As the Australian music scene begins to re-emerge from COVID-related lockdowns, community radio Music Directors and presenters from around the country have shone a light on the finest local talent doing the rounds today.
While many of us are adjusting to a new sense of normality after 2020, Australian musicians are still facing enormous limitations in working opportunities to support and sustain their careers. Exposure is more important than ever and ironically harder to come by in today’s media landscape.
The Australian Music Radio Airplay Project – best known as Amrap – offers Australian musicians a pathway to airplay to the many community stations who have long championed Australian music of all stripes. Providing exposure often before anyone else, community radio is a strong and unique network immune to passing trends.
In this Tone Deaf series, we’ve turned to the Music Directors and presenters at some of the amazing community stations from around the country to get their latest favourite Australian music discoveries from Amrap.
“As the year comes to an end and many artists still find themselves hoping their voices are heard, it’s time to look back on the best and brightest that have come our way in recent times.”
This week, a number of these Music Directors wrap up this series for the year by picking their favourite examples of Australian music available on Amrap to help compile a playlist of the best homegrown tunes that have done the rounds on community radio this year. As we explain:
“As 2021 comes to a close, many of us feel as though we’ve been caught in something of a stasis across not just the last 12 months, but ever since the start of 2020. While the live music scene slowly finds itself returning to its former glory (though there’s still a long way to go), it proves that not only is Australia home to one of the most resilient creative sectors in the world, but that we’re a country who will always do our best to support our artists.
“And one of these ways that we’ve supported these artists throughout the last two years is by actively listening to their work, engaging with their efforts, and ensuring that we’re putting local music above international acts.
“Thus, as the year comes to an end and many artists still find themselves hoping their voices are heard, it’s time to look back on the best and brightest that have come our way in recent times. To do this, a number of community radio Music Directors – including 3RRR’s Simon Winkler, 8CCC’s Benjamin Ervin, Edge Radio’s Aeron Clark, 6RTR’s Matthew Perrett, and 3PBS’ Firas Massouh – have contributed to this end-of-year list by sharing their favourites from the past 12 months.
“You might have heard some of these songs, or you might have heard none of them, but together, they all prove there’s a wealth of great Aussie talent out there, and that the future is bright when it comes to local creatives.”
Check out HTRK’s ‘Kiss Kiss And Rhinestones’:
Simon Winkler – 3RRR
HTRK – ‘Kiss Kiss And Rhinestones’
This was the opening song from the sublime album from Melbourne duo HTRK, Rhinestones, released only a few months back. Inspired by a recent infatuation with ‘eerie and gothic country music’, the entire album was released for airplay solely on community radio in the lead-up to its September release. It was a wonderful way for the band to celebrate the work of radio stations around the country.
Mindy Meng Wang and Tim Shiel – ‘Hidden Qi 隐.气’
This was a great meeting of the minds between two prolific and prodigiously talented artists, Mindy Meng Wang and Tim Shiel. Their collaborative Nervous Energy 一触即发 EP was released earlier in the year via Music In Exile. The compelling set spans traditional and modern musical genres, and even manages to fit in a small musical nod to the production genius of Timbaland.
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks – ‘Out The Door’
2020 saw the anticipated return of Emma Donovan and The Putbacks and their award-winning Crossover album. They returned quickly with another album, Under These Streets, led by the joyful single ‘Out The Door’. It captured the energy and magic of their work together. Donovan said: “This single shows our strength as a musical unit, our relationship and trust with one another, and marks my return to the Melbourne community.”
Check out Emma Donovan & The Putbacks’ ‘Out The Door’:
Benjamin Ervin – 8CCC
Katanga Junior – ‘Mapenzi Business’
‘Mapenzi Business’ was the first single of dub-infused beats and laidback funk flavours from Katanga Junior’s debut EP Moto – which means ‘fire’ in Swahili. Junior’s home turf is Tanzania, East Africa: “Growing up with Musicians in my family meant music naturally became part of my life – influences ranged from African rumba to reggae and later hip hop. Then I moved onto guitar and rapping in ragga’ Swahili style”.
Junior performs regularly in Alice Springs, with King Marong’s West African-Inspired ten-piece band Tamala Express and as an MC and soloist, performing his original music in Swahili.
Bambadino’s music is honest, exploring themes of marginalisation, depression and relationships through love songs to the mundane that are full of cutting wit and playful insight.
In her own words “Bambadino is a Filipino-born lesbian maths teacher singer-songwriter who writes songs about life, love and bellies. She’s lived in Alice Springs for seven years and plans to live there forever. In her spare time she likes to cuddle her dogs and make roo ragu.”.
‘Rise’ is my favourite track from First Light, Bambadino’s fourth album on Alice Springs label Sing Hum.
Xavia is an Alice Springs based indie-folk artist who draws on electronic and acoustic production to create richly layered music. Her track ‘Horizons’, recorded in Mparntwe, has been streamed over 3.5 million times with listeners around the world.
With her track Saulė (pronounced Soul-lay), Xavia collaborated with NT electronic producers Dave Crowe (aka Resin Moon) and Ben Allen (Broadwing) with her autoharp and shimmering vocals driving the song.
Check out Xavia’s ‘Saulė’:
Aeron Clark – Edge Radio
A bittersweet art pop epic, ‘Home’ is taken from June Jones’ second solo album, Leafcutter. The album was created entirely “on a tiny refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad that I bought off a guy at McDonalds”, and is filled with the confessional, poetic intimacy Jones has become known for.
In Jones’ words, ‘Home’ is, “a song about being a trans woman in love, both with another person, and (eventually, hopefully) with herself. It’s a reflection on the idea of the body as a place that we are always arriving at, a home that is both constant and constantly changing.” The song was accompanied by her most ambitious video to date, directed by Geoffrey O’Connor.
Maple Glider’s debut album, To Enjoy Is The Only Thing, is a record full of brittle intimacies and effortlessly balanced instrumentation. Over plucked acoustic guitar or deftly weighted piano chords, Tori Zietsch shares deeply personal vignettes of her life, brought vividly into existence by her artistry and wry sense of dark humour.
In ‘Baby Tiger’, Zietsch dwells in a mist of apathy, taking a faceless lover. In her listless state, she is protectively watched over by Coriander, the sharehouse cat. “Coriander hates closed doors. She’ll always want to know what you’re doing on the other side. It kind of became comforting to hear her scratch at my door.”
In what was the first taste of MOD CON’s anticipated second studio album, Modern Condition, ‘Ammo’ was a bold synthesis of futuristic rock and post-punk textures. Propelled by the tight interplay between bassist Sara Retallick and drummer Raquel Solier, and embellished with Erica Dunn’s enthralling guitar and vocals, ‘Ammo’ burst with quickfire assaults and prowling syncopated elements, underpinned by a staunch political and musical vision.
Check out MOD CON’s ‘Ammo’:
Matthew Perrett – 6RTR
King Stingray are probably the breakout Australian act of the year for good reason – the energy, grooves and authenticity the Yolgnu surf rock quintet bring to their music is magnetic. Skillful, irresistible and, most of all, utterly joyful, their anthemic single ‘Milkumana’ was a homegrown gem.
Here’s a Eora/Sydney based trio that have been kicking around since 2017, delivering a truly singular brand of hybrid alt-hardcore club leaning hip-hop. Trying to cram the lead single from their CLUBSMOKE EP into any one genre is near impossible – it’s short, it’s loud, it’s heavy and will please everyone from metal heads to chin-stroking techno heads.
One of Boorloo’s/Perth’s brightest, ‘Co Star’ captured Your Girl Pho at her very best, blending groove driven neo-soul sounds with weighty contemporary R&B production. The result is a captivating and buttery smooth ode to courtship and love delivered with buckets of confidence.
Check out Your Girl Pho’s ‘Co Star’:
Firas Massouh – 3PBS
Zoe Fox and the Rocket Clocks – ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’
This stunning rendition of the Simple Minds classic by Zoe Fox and The Rocket Clocks, came from a riveting compilation titled Cover Is Blown, curated by Zak Brown, the mastermind behind Melbourne garage four-piece Easy Browns. The compilation featured contributions from 20 local acts, including Bitch Diesel, Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice, and the Codeine Cowboys.
Zoe Fox and The Rocket Clocks perform such an outstanding job in re-imagining the classic Simple Minds song that this release is proof of how a cover can be just as powerful as the original. The sultry new wave hooks from the original are transformed by the Zoe Fox into meditative ambience, invoking imagery that goes way past the adolescent romanticism of John Hughes’ 1985 coming-of-age film The Breakfast Club that featured the song on its hit soundtrack.
Not that there’s anything wrong with adolescent romanticism or the 1980s. It’s more that I think that Zoe Fox adds a certain maturity that makes the song more urgent, contemporary and relevant.
I grew up in the Middle East and have vivid memories of watching a lot of modern music from Sudan on TV. A culturally rich and varied nation, Sudan has a musical culture that has roots in traditional and modern styles, rural and urban forms, with Arabic, Western and pan-African influences thanks to the hundreds of different ethnic groups that make up the country.
I remember thinking that all of these factors contribute greatly to the specificity of Sudanese music and why it is able to set itself apart from other musical traditions in the Middle East and North and Northeast Africa.
This is why when I first came across Melbourne-based South Sudanese musician Gordon Koang, I felt a strong nostalgia to his music. I’m taken back to my childhood when I hear his voice. But it’s not as simple as feeling like I’m going back in time. When I listen to this year’s ‘Coronavirus’, for example, it’s as if I am my younger self again, but in the here and now.
Herein lies the power of Gordon’s contemporaneity as a migrant who brings along a rich musical legacy to an equally rich musical city like Melbourne in times of global crisis. Gordon sings in good faith, and with both humour and utmost compassion. You feel that he genuinely wishes you well, and this is why although there are many songs out there that responded to the global pandemic, there’s something about the immediacy, empathy and playfulness with which Gordon Koang sings that sets ‘Coronavirus’ apart from all others.
Sometime in-between lockdowns last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Lauren Squire and Matthew Wilson, the prolific music producers who make up the celebrated Melbourne electronic duo OK EG. They had just released their ANTHR EP at the time and were already working towards another release, titled Prismatic Spring, which came out in early 2021.
In our conversation, they briefly alluded to a collaborative work that they were working on with percussionist and producer Phil Stroud amongst other acclaimed local musicians. They didn’t divulge much past that and I found myself very intrigued. It would take another couple of lockdowns before their riveting new EP, titled Intertidal Zone, finally saw the light of day. But it was well worth the wait.
Fresh from the brand new label from Melbourne party collective Wax’o Paradiso, OK EG’s new offering is a mature and sophisticated exploration of endurance in composition and patience in production.
Check out OK EG’s ‘Golden Hour’:
