Tone Deaf and Amrap are back in 2025, bringing you the best Australian music finds from community radio music directors and presenters.
Got music? Get it on Amrap – it’s how community stations find and play local artists. You can also hear the freshest tracks championed by community radio on the Community Radio Plus App, bringing stations from across the country into one place.
Amrap’s airplay tracking just got an upgrade. Airplay (formerly Airplay Search) is now in your Amrap artist account, giving artists who’ve uploaded music since November 1st, 2024, real-time airplay data powered by Music Recognition Technology (MRT) across the entire community radio network.
This week, 3RRR’s Simon Wrinkler selects their must-listen local tunes playing on community radio right now.
3RRR’s Simon Wrinkler Amrap Picks
Proud Noongar woman and Triple R broadcaster Bumpy, who presents Pebbles with Emmy every Sunday, continues building towards her debut album Kanana with “Maambakoort”. The Naarm/Melbourne soul artist layers her voice through contemporary R&B production.
Bumpy shares: “’Maambakoort’ means ocean. This song narrates the way I felt when I entered the saltwater on my country. It felt powerful. It felt dramatic. The wind swirled around me and the light broke through the clouds. It felt like it recognised me. The water connects me to my Ancestors who also swam in those oceans, connecting me to my past, present and future generations.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
“I wanted it to be grand like that encounter and the instrumentation to sound like the rumbling and crashing ocean. This track features the choir and specifically my siblings Emmy, Ben and Dan singing language in the climax of the song. It really highlighted the impact of language learning and that with every new word I learn and pass on, affects all the people around me.”
Harvey Sutherland (ft. Vicky Farewell) – “Remember”
Local producer Harvey Sutherland teams up with Californian artist Vicky Farewell for “Remember”, a hypnotic slice of 2-step that drifts on weightless production and Lovers Rock-inspired rhythms. The track’s lifted from his upcoming second album Debt. Sutherland sent the beat to Farewell, who’s signed to Mac DeMarco’s imprint, and she responded with vocals that feel both airy and decisive — perfectly suited to the Dubwise textures and minimal approach.
Crown and Country – “Karnawuru (First Light)”
“Karnawuru (First Light)” emerges from the extraordinary collaboration between Warlpiri philosopher Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu, his father Jerry Jangala Patrick OAM, and producer Marc ‘Monkey’ Peckham. From their 15-year creative relationship working on Lajamanu’s innovative Milpirri Festival comes this track — part of an album that translates deep intergenerational knowledge into an immersive sonic experience. Jerry Jangala’s traditional Jukurrpa (Dreaming) songs anchor the work in ceremony, while his son’s philosophical teachings weave through Monkey’s hypnotic dub-infused grooves.
Inspired by early 2000s Berlin electronica meets minimal dub techno, the production creates a brooding, meditative soundscape that mirrors the vastness of the Tanami Desert. The track captures years of recorded conversations between Wanta and Monkey, offering listeners an intimate perspective on cultural exchange and the shared heritage of Country.
Melbourne/New Zealand artist Georgia Knight ventures into darker, grainier terrain with “Desire”, the first glimpse of her forthcoming debut album Beanpole. Composed primarily on autoharp, the track marks a striking departure from her folk foundations, embracing trip-hop pulses and synth-washed layers. The production toys with dark pop and avant-garde elements, creating a sonic landscape that feels intimate and cinematic.
“Tourist” is the latest from Owelu Dreamhouse, the new project from former Saskwatch members Nkechi Anele and Nic Ryan-Glenie. The track explores the complexity of existing between cultures, with Anele’s vocals floating over lush orchestral soul arrangements and psychedelic undertones. Lyrics capture the disorientation of cultural in-betweenness — “I’m a tourist in my own town” — delivered with a playful, poignant reflectiveness.
A certified hit, “Miffed It”, is a tender acknowledgment of past mistakes wrapped in understated revivalist pop. Taken from the recently released album Massive Shoe by Dylan Young’s Way Dynamic project, the track opens with a playful drum fill before settling into acoustic guitar and rueful vocals: “I miffed it / And that’s the way it’s gonna stay.” Young recently supported MJ Lenderman during the Australian Manning Fireworks tour, sharing his particular blend of classic singer-songwriter styles and melodic baroque pop arrangements.
New from Naarm/Melbourne artist Molly Jane, who studied Jazz and Improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts, “Cough” sets vulnerability against sparse production that mirrors the track’s central scene: an uncomfortable car ride, looking mostly out the window while a painful silence fills the space between her and the driver. It’s a specific moment when two people finally understand each other just as they’re pulling apart. Working from her base in Melbourne’s music scene, Molly Jane continues to translate precise emotional moments into songs that feel intimate and familiar.
Stella Donnelly – “Feel It Change”
Stella Donnelly wrote “Feel It Change” on a baritone guitar in her sharehouse shed, plugged into all her housemate’s overdrive pedals. The arrangements stay stark and exposed — pianos and guitars stripped of any cushioning, letting Donnelly’s voice carry the weight.
“I love you baby but I’m scared to be near you,” she sings. It’s a breakup song that extends beyond romance to mark the shedding of old expectations and past versions of herself. Taken from her third album Love and Fortune, recorded in Naarm/Melbourne, it comes after stepping away from years of touring to figure out if she still loved making music.
