Community radio music directors often have an encyclopaedic knowledge of local music and 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.
Adam Christou from Perth’s RTRFM continues the series with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amrap’s music distribution service ‘AirIt’.
Check out Adam’s selections below and if you’re a musician you can at apply at www.airit.org.au to have your music distributed for free to community radio on Amrap’s AirIt.
Wilson Tanner – ‘Long Water’
The collaborative musical project of Perth’s John Tanner (Eleventeen Eston, Hugo Gerani) and Melbourne’s A.R.T Wilson (aka András).
Long Water sees both artists exploring new territories in meditative ambient tones, new age dronescapes and celestial sounds.
While this is not Wilson’s first foray into the world of new-age music, it’s Tanner’s contribution to the record that brings forth an interesting blend of Clarinet and guitar to the pieces.
Benjamin Witt – ‘Dead Fish’
Best known for his role as founder of Perth band The Chemist, Benjamin Witt’s solo material has become one of Perth’s best kept secrets.
Witt’s surprise 2015 album AUDIO_ILLOGICAL BACKYARD DOG was a dense collection of fuzzy guitar rock, sloppy psych pop and weird cosmic noise.
Dead Fish comes from his follow up record (Future Reset, out later in 2016) and is a more immediately hi-fi affair. Production on the song is lush, Witt’s take on West African rhythms and guitar-work.
The Goon Sax – ‘Up To Anything’
The band I wish I could have been in when I was 17!
Brisbane trio Riley Jones, Louis Forster and James Harrison have created an album filled with awkward teenage insecurities, hand-wringing over crushes and home haircuts. It’s all wrapped together with an impeccably mature sense of songwriting skill.
Mt. Mountain – ‘Freida’
Perth six-piece Mt. Mountain haven risen out of the swamps of the WA psych-rock scene by taking on a darker, heavier direction with their recent material.
Debut album Cosmos Terros comes out in April and lead single Freida is fuzzy, dark and riff-heavy, drawing on inspiration from bands like Sleep and Earth.
Summer Flake – ‘Shoot & Score’
Fuzzy, layered guitar rock from one of the best in the country.
Steph Crase (Summer Flake) has been putting out some of the best guitar-orientated releases of the last few years.
Make sure you listen back to her fantastic Where Do I Go? EP, released in 2013. Her new album Hello Friends drops very soon on Sydney label Rice Is Nice.
Sam Weston – ‘Faberge Egg Shaker’
Sam Weston is one half of Sydney production duo Alba (formerly Albatross). The duo have put out some great 12″ releases in the last few years drawing on everything from atmospheric ambient tones to footwork and house.
Weston’s solo work takes on an lighter edge here on this carefully twisting lo-slung house tune. The track features some great chopped samples of school kids that elevates it upwards towards the stars.
Jen Cloher – ‘Famously Monogamous’
Cloher’s drawl on this tune is infectious and doesn’t get lost in the whirr of guitars that stomp through it.
The track is taken from the recently released Milk! Records compilation ‘Good For You’. Famously Monogamous continues on Cloher’s explorations of fuzzy, guitar-fuelled music, following the release of 2013’s In Blood Memory.
