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.
In this edition, Cam Durnsford, the Music Director for PBS 106.7FM in Melbourne contributes a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amrap’s music distribution service ‘AirIt’. Check out Cam’s selections below and if you’re a musician you can apply here to have your music distributed for free to community radio on Amrap’s AirIt.
S I L E N T J A Y x Jace XL – ‘Sacrifice’
S I L E N T J A Y and Jace XL do slow jams right. Having been part of Melbourne’s forward-thinking neo-soul scene for a while – both as backing vocalists for Hiatus Kaiyote and as a duo in their own right – producer/vocalist Jay and vocalist Jace give us some honey-dipped 90s RnB on this, the title track from their debut EP.
After a super-limited cassette run sold out in days earlier this year, the duo’s seven-track EP of retro-futuristic RnB has just been released on vinyl by UK label Rhythm Section ahead of some dates in Europe. Forgive me for quoting a YouTube commenter, but the description is spot on: straight baby making music.
Mere Women – ‘Numb’
Sydney’s Mere Women have teamed up with Melbourne live favourites Gold Class with two perfectly complementary takes on gothy post punk, on a recent split 7” for Sydney DIY stalwart Black Wire Records.
For me it’s the Mere Women cut that really shines – ethereal vocals about pain, dullness and the void underpinned by a kinetic rhythm and layers of guitar that are at once dissonant and beautifully melodic.
Their last album Your Town was a favourite a few years back, so I was very happy to see something new from them. This isn’t to discount the flipside of course, which is another compelling piece of songwriting from Gold Class.
Stina Tester and Cinta Masters – ‘Deep Sleep’
Stina Tester and Cinta Masters have done their fair share of time in Melbourne punk bands, playing in Spite House and Useless Children respectively (among others). Their eponymous pairing comes after a brief spell together in three-piece Gold Tango, and continues where that band’s take on synth-punk left off.
Released by new local imprint Listen Records, which aims to “promote and distribute the creative output of underground Australian female and LGBTQIA+ artists”, this tune from Stina and Cinta’s debut LP Awake and Dreaming features the beguiling blend of synth and organ, skittish post-punk percussion and delicately intertwined harmonies.
Mark Pritchard – ‘Sad Alron’
Having lived in Sydney for quite a few years now, I think we can safely claim UK-born producer Mark Pritchard (and all of his many aliases) as one of our own at this point and include him here. As a veteran of the UK’s electronic music scene, Pritchard has put out innumerable releases spanning jungle, techno, industrial and footwork in the last 25 years.
He’s famously retired the aliases now, and forthcoming LP Under the Sun looks likely to explore Pritchard’s less dancefloor-oriented productions, if this and second single, the Thom Yorke-featuring ‘Beautiful People’, are anything to go by.
Terry – ‘8 Girls’
Scathing political commentary delivered via perfectly rambunctious guitar pop from the Australian underground’s answer to ABBA.
The debut 7” from Terry last year was great – this follow-up on Melbourne’s Aarght Records is even better. I tend to be a bit vague on the lyrics on songs and hone in more on melodies, so the message of ‘8 Girls’ passed me by on the first few listens.
Once I really heard it though, it all made sense. A rollcall of (some of) our female politicians, their inherent shortcomings and contradictions laid bare. Such beautiful deception – if only the swinging voters and the apparatchik fools were listening to Terry.
2200 – ‘Cactus’
Deranged analogue techno from prolific Melbourne producer Rory McPike, who also releases dubby tech house under the Dan White moniker, and more ambient material as Rings Around Saturn.
It’s 2200 though that sees McPike really cut loose. This track, taken from Black Iron, his second release as 2200 out on by local cassette label Altered States Tapes, is brutal, banging techno that combines robotic drum sounds with mild-melting, heavily distorted synths and an unrelenting bassline.
Camp Cope – ‘Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams’
Camp Cope’s songs are at once universal and deeply personal and idiosyncratic – it’s a similar quality that saw confused Americans became familiar with Melbourne’s ridiculous property market, thanks to Courtney Barnett’s ‘Depreston’. It seems fair to assume this honesty comes from many of these songs originally having been vocalist Georgia Maq’s solo output before the band came together.
‘Jet Fuel…’ is a great example of what to expect from the trio’s self-titled Poison City Records debut: insightful, clever lyrics delivered with heartfelt urgency; simple, hook-laden songs that are indebted to riot grrrl philosophically and slacker 90s indie sonically.
