Tone Deaf and Amrap are continuing in 2023 to ask music directors or presenters at some of the finest community stations around Australia to share their best Australian music finds discovered on amrap.org.au.
If you haven’t got your music on Amrap, what are you waiting for? Community radio uses Amrap to source Australian music for airplay.
Anyone can discover all the great Australian music championed by community radio on the Community Radio Plus App, featuring the diverse range of community radio stations nationwide in one handy spot.
This week, 2SER’s The Tuckshop hosts Mick and Jules contribute with a list of Australian music from community radio you should be listening to right now.
Jules’ Picks:
Liz Stringer (Remixed by Tim Shiel and Mindy Meng Wang 王萌) – “First Time Really Feeling”
Melbourne’s Milk! Records has spent the last month on a gradual victory lap of the country celebrating its 10th anniversary. The label threw a bunch of parties at the end of last year featuring artists on their roster, and out of those shows came the idea for a remix album. The full Milk! Records Remixed Vol 1 is out now, and the highlight of the album is Tim Shiel’s and Mindy Meng Wang’s stunning reworking of Liz Stringer’s “First Time Really Feeling”.
Tim Shiel and Mindy Meng Wang have forged a brilliant creative partnership over the last few years, and this remix does everything a great remix should: respecting the original composition while being bold enough to break it apart and give it a whole new life.
Siobhan Cotchin – “When the Curtains Close”
Perth’s Siobhan Cotchin has been one of the west’s best kept secrets for a couple of years – but no more. The singer-songwriter has released a string of excellent singles over the last year, and “When the Curtains Close” is the strongest yet.
Taking cues from Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers (and Taylor Swift in some of her more muted moments), “When the Curtains Close” is a melancholy reflection on the end of a relationship. If this is a sign of what is to come, Cotchin is poised for big things.
We’re used to brilliance from Sydney’s Body Type – after all, their debut album Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising wound up shortlisted for the prestigious Australian Music Prize. Their second album Expired Candy is deep and wide, the band tapping into Australian Gothic themes and sketching visuals of small town life and the simplicity (and hardships) of life through the ages. Highlights include the languid and shoegazy “Beat You Up’ and reflective “Albion Park”. Body Type have never been sharper, and Expired Candy already feels like a classic.
Mick’s Picks:
When you think ‘art-punk’, you might think that the genre is not as accessible as other styles, but Gut Health are here to prove that the genre is as fun and uplifting as you’d hope it be. “The Recipe” is a perfect example of how the punk genre is progressing in this country and in particular, Melbourne.
The group are all about bringing community together, inclusivity, for giving power to the people and in showcasing those that deserve the stage. This single is the latest since their Electric Party Chrome Girl EP and sets an exciting path forward for the five-piece.
We all reach those points in our day, week, life where we just need to take a breath, close our eyes and let something wash over us. That’s where Daley Road come in. The combination of sweet vocals from James Kelly (Tipsy Scholars) combines with the absolutely gorgeous saxophone of Hugo Lee (Icehouse!) and you have the life cleanse you’ve been looking for.
They may be only a few singles in, but there’s enough to like about these two to compare them to Bon Iver, who they have certainly channelled in their latest single, “happy rain”. The song epitomises their ethos of ‘creating what you want to experience.’ Let it take you wherever you want it to and know that when you return, you’ll be in a better place than ever.
Crossing the line between electro-folk and hip hop, Mr. Rhodes is keeping us guessing with every release, but his latest, “Can’t You Tell”, dials it back to the basics – a beat, an organ and the award-winning lyricism of the artist himself. There’s a vulnerable but palpable energy to Mr. Rhodes’ delivery and it shows as the song progresses.
Having just come off a supporting tour with Winston Surfshirt and with an EP due this month (Refract), The Bundjalung (now Gadigal) man is on the up and it feels like that trajectory is moving up fast, as he explores his own style and brings a bit of synthy-dance fun to Australian hip hop.
