We listen to a lot of music here at Tone Deaf HQ, and we’re the first to admit we’re perhaps a little biased towards sounds of the Australian variety. We do make the best music in the world, after all.
In honouring our favourite Aussies, we’ve once again compiled a list of the most outstanding local releases you should be listening to right now – whether they’re smaller indies acts or big-name essentials, these are the newest Australian records you should be adding to your ‘must-listen’ list.
Let’s get started.
Sampa The Great – Weapon Chosen (Wonercore Island)
It’s been an absolute whirlwind few months for local rapper Sampa The Great following the release of her incredible mixtape titled simply The Great Mixtape.
The Zambian-born, Botswana-raised, and now Sydney-based vocalist and rapper is back after just a few months with this six track Weapon Chosen, a rework of Choose Your Weapon, the stunning record from grammy nominated crew (and co-management label mates) Hiatus Kaiyote.
The rework sees the prolific Sampa continue her winning streak of boundary pushing avant-garde hip experimentation and we cannot get enough of it. Get used to hearing this name a lot more often.
Plum – Black Doris (Independent)
For those uninitiated, Plum is the dreamy electro bedroom recording project of local talent Caleb Jacobs. Usually known for his catchy, melodic guitar work in Sydney outfit The Cathys, this solo project Plum sees Caleb tap deeper into his pop influences to create a unique take on heady electronic pop.
A follow on from ‘Pavement’ his debut single release last year, Plum has now dropped an immersive four track EP (which features the single).
The EP is a stunning alt-pop gem awash with woozy guitars, progressive beats and carefully crafted songwriting. Having already captured some attention for his efforts including being contacted by Virginia-based label Citrus City Records to be part of their inaugural mixtape, he’s now really pushing some boundaries with the release.
World Champion – Avocado Galaxy (Future Classic)
Sydney duo (and recent Future Classic signees) world champion made a splash when they premiered their brand new track ‘Shakes’ with the one and only musical tastemaker Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio.
They have however managed to follow on from their big entrance with an impressive, very hype worthy four track EP dripping with up best dreamy synth pop.
Part futuristic electro pop, part retro-psych journey we expect this is just a taste of great things to come from these two.
Dallas Crane – ‘Scoundrels’ (Nylon/Rocket)
Overflowing with their quintessential Aussie rock bravado, the record features the blistering lead single ‘The Sunnyside’ which proves to any doubters that non of their pent-up verve and vigour went missing in their brief sabbatical.
Godriguez – Godriguez 4.0 (Independent)
We just wrote about about Sampa the Great’s killer two mix tapes, but the man behind the incredible genre bending production of said mix tapes; Godriguez has just today dropped an hour long mixtape of beats.
Currently available for streaming via Thump the enigmatic producer has collocated 22 original compositions to create this impressive effort.
Part Dilla, party exotica, part Karriem Riggins, it’s difficult to truly put your finger on where in the genre spectrum this fits, but it doesn’t matter ’cause it’s just so damn good. Pop it on and ride it out ’til the weekend.
