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This week, Nick Hibbs, music team volunteer and producer of Out of the Box on FBi Radio, selects five must-listen local tunes playing on community radio right now.
FBi Radio’s Nick Hibbs’s Amrap Picks
An explosive new manifesto from Western Sydney’s finest. After his sold-out Vivid Sydney show at the Sydney Opera House last year, Zion Garcia is back to conquer and unite. This isn’t just a victory lap – the tyres screech on the roundabout, leaving a cloud of rubber and smoke. It’s the type of track that can be heard on both blown-out sound systems in the Krispy Kreme Liverpool carpark and radios nationwide. “C*nt you know that!” is repeated – if you didn’t already know, now you know.
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Ninajirachi – “F**k My Computer”
Desperate times mean desperate measures when it comes to the dating scene. When Tinder’s burnt out, Hinge has fallen off the hinges, and Bumble stings you bloody – where do you turn? In a vortex of motherboards, binary code, and thermal paste, Ninajirachi’s newest offering glitches and transforms. She moans about yearning for unconditional love and being misunderstood. Sick of the noise – she gets real: “I wanna f**k my computer, cause no-one in the world knows me better.”
Immy Owusu – “Spiritual War” (ft. Sensible J & Mazbou Q)
The Melbourne afro-psychedelia artist was recently awarded FBi’s Independent Artist of the Week – and for a good reason. Off his 1970’s Zamrock-inspired extended play of the same name, “Spiritual War” is a percussive protest on capitalist cycles. The record tackles everything from spiritual resistance to the legacy of colonialism. It’s best served in a dance hall surrounded by your community. As you pause to take your shoes off halfway through the night, the music makes you stop and think.
Orchid Bloom – “Don’t You Know Better”
Sounding like a dream you had last night but can’t quite remember, “Don’t You Know Better” is a sonic odyssey. Recalling the haziness and lethargy of artists like Boards of Canada and Vegyn, Orchid Bloom is in season. The New Zealand-born, Sydney-based artist blends obscure samples and hypnotic lo-fi drum beats to concoct something truly unique. Orchid is one to watch – his newest project Ambivalent Works speaks volumes.
Blending country, Americana, and shipping it to our shores, Hatchling’s “Cloud Boy” is emotive and dramatic. Sydney’s Hatchling recalls the avant-garde nature of acts like Kate Bush and Mazzy Star, stripping them down to their core. The song could easily be featured on Lana Del Rey’s upcoming country offering. Her seductive yet sedated delivery draws you in, her siren song entrancing you in the process.
A frenetic, futuristic pop track which could be the theme song to the new Blade Runner film. Sydney’s up-and-coming pop princess MAXINE blends the best of alt-pop, fusing it with a die-cast steel attitude. The industrial soundscape she places you in leaves a metallic taste in your mouth. MAXINE is well and truly in her villain era.
