Tone Deaf and Amrap are continuing in 2024 to ask music directors or presenters at some of the finest community stations around Australia to share their best Australian music finds discovered on amrap.org.au.
If you haven’t got your music on Amrap, what are you waiting for? Community radio uses Amrap to source Australian music for airplay.
Anyone can discover all the great Australian music championed by community radio on the Community Radio Plus App, featuring the diverse range of community radio stations nationwide in one handy spot.
This week, 3MDR’s The Dotted Line team contributes with a list of Australian music from community radio you should be listening to right now.
The Dotted Line‘s Community Picks
Naarm/Melbournian violinist, artist, and intrepid songwriter Xani Kolac has boldly navigated the Australian music scene, genre-hopping seamlessly since her breakout with indie band The Twoks over a decade ago. By no accident Xani has carved out and refined her own unique corner of the industry along the way.
Of “A Cups” Xani says: “When I was in my first few years of gigging at pubs and clubs, I was invited to join a bill featuring some of my favourite artists. When it was time for my set, one of the well known artists got on the mic and introduced me as: ‘just like Andrew Bird, but with boobs.’
Love Live Music?
Get the latest Live Music news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“What? I felt awkward as hell, embarrassed and humiliated. This is just one of many stories I have collected over the years about what it’s like to not be a man musician in our music scene. So I’m taking this in my stride!”
In the outer suburbs of Naarm/Melbourne, Bec Sykes has been quietly crafting something beautiful – her dryly-delivered yet deeply affecting new single “Joshua”, the third offering from her earthy, self-assured forthcoming debut studio album Pepperpot Magic. The new music follows showcases at BIGSOUND that saw her tipped as “one to catch” (Rolling Stone) and had crowds “in complete awe” (Reverie).
Sung with a conversational, downbeat but immediately arresting tone that echoes the intimacy of life’s more heartbreaking moments over minimalist piano, “Joshua” may have been written in one sitting out of “pure frustration” but is contrastingly gentle, warm, and full of a kind of yearning that feels downright sardonic at times.
Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri-based band Blue Windows move seamlessly between folk, country, and Americana through thoughtful lyrics, heartfelt melodies, and a touch of whimsy. Renowned for their quirky themes and insightful perspectives on human behaviour, they are here to tickle your funny bone and tug at your heartstrings. Blue Windows songs are intimate and warm and gently nudge influences from artists such as The Waifs, Joan Armatrading, James Taylor, and American 70’s Folk.
“Northern Sky” tells of the fear and excitement of leaving family and home to head to another part of the world, and was written by Dutch frontwoman Wendy Kenbeek as an ode to her dad and the close relationship they share.
Boorloo/Perth folk-pop trio The Stamps present mesmerising folk harmonies and thoughtful lyricism similar to that of BoyGenius or The Staves. Forming in 2020, The Stamp’s Scarlett, Rubina & Sofia came together whilst bonding over similar music tastes at Fremantle College. After their first public performance at Nannup 2020 while on school tour, the girls fell in love with performing live, and thus, The Stamps were born.
“Idea of Us” is about realising we can sometimes love the idea of someone more than the reality. The disappointment of realising that a person you thought you were meant to be with isn’t actually the right one for now. It’s a very bittersweet goodbye to the expectations you had.
Saint Ergo – “Falling So Hard”
Naarm/Melbourne based Saint Ergo is a cinematic, contemporary music experience with soundscapes that will shake your hips and break your soul. Joanna is the force behind the project that forges a unique fusion of R&B and baroque pop. You can feel the lived experience that we share as human beings within every song. Saint Ergo won the Arts Access Victoria Amplify Award at the 2024 Music Victoria Awards.
“Falling So Hard” is a song that wanders cheekily into the question of “what if I actually pursued these relationships in spite of the taboo?” Folks are often isolated and starved of affection, romance, and erotic satisfaction when there is no opportunity to express themselves sexually, and this is very evident in the disability community.
There are many consensual relationship styles and configurations that society that declares as inappropriate, some rightly so, but allowing so-called conventional, compulsorily heterosexual (comp-het) relationships, that can still result in damage and abuse. What is rarely discussed is the real problem of power imbalances, consent frameworks, real relationship agreements, and the personal responsibility for emotional growth that allows for healthy expression.
