Tone Deaf and Amrap are continuing in 2024 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, Brooke Kymberly, presenter of Melbourne’s PBS FM’s Homebrew, contributes with a list of Australian music from community radio you should be listening to right now.
Brooke Kymberly’s Community Picks
Xani Kolac is a Naarm/Melbourne-based electric violinist/vocalist, I first caught her performing as a feature violinist with the CB3. “Keep Moving” is about society’s pressure on us all to keep being productive even through times of grief and sadness. Xani reckons she’s going through her art-rock violin, krautrock era – which is perfect timing as she happens to be heading off to perform in Berlin for the first time! Closer to home, Xani has a launch show for this release at Tempo Rubato on May 3rd.
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“Boom-funk” 7-piece Ebiphè – one for fans of the Naarm/Melbourne nu-soul/jazz movement to keep on their radar. Frontperson Ebi Nori possesses a distinct vocal styling and musicality, and the band, put simply, is off chops. Ebiphè features many familiar faces from the local live circuit: members of Emma Volard, Proto Moro, Malla, Ebi Nori & The Phantom Fingers, and the Emerald Woods live band.
Regular Spread – “Pipe Dreams”
“Faking jazz” has never sounded so good. I have a soft spot for soulful, jangly slacker rock on the program, and Regular Spread knows how to deliver. I’ve heard whispers that they have a new album on the way, which I’m very excited for.
I’ve been a fan of Good Morning’s growing catalogue for some time, and their brand new record Good Morning Seven has to be one of their most mature, developed records to date. Buoyant and optimistic – this song feels like rediscovering joy, waking up to a new found lease on life.
Tommy Dynamite & The Explosions – “EGO”
Post-punk done authentically, “EGO” documents the ongoing mental rollercoaster of confidence, self-doubt, and resilience. The single was released alongside a music video shot by James Morris which features Tommy Dynamite and The Explosions losing a footy match against the Anakie Roos Junior Football Team.
Tangents – Timeslips & Chimeras
I love having textural, jazzy instrumental soundscapes to segment brackets of music on Homebrew. Tangents are an exceptional experimental jazz outfit out of Sydney, and their album Timeslips & Chimeras was a fortunate chance encounter I discovered searching Amrap.
Original jazz-tronica band Firetail are no strangers to the Naarm/Melbourne live circuit. Touching on some 70s jazz influences, their new album Undertow blends soul-infused rhythms with driving percussion and evocative, melodic sax lines.
Slomo – “ROCKETS”
Slomo is Jem (guitars), her brother Tom (bass), and Scott (drums). Their new album Light Pollution is 11 tracks of distorted punk bass, unhinged guitars, and drum grooves, documenting some familiar previous songs from the band as well as some newer unheard cuts – including my personal favourite: track one, “ROCKETS”.
