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, 8CCC Music Co-Ordinator Kodi Twiner contributes a list of local music from community radio you should be listening to right now.
8CCC Community Radio broadcasts in the NT on Arrernte Country in Mparntwe/Alice Springs and Warumungu country in Tennant Creek, with a commitment to featuring one-third local and one-third Australian music.
The station just turned 40 and was the first FM station in Central Australia – a new format at the time uniquely suited to bringing new music to the masses.
8CCC has continued to embrace new technologies and media platforms to create connection through music, art and culture, supporting local artists to develop their demos and build audiences that are not limited by a remote location.
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Check out Kodi’s selections below, featuring some of the finest artists from Central Australia, The Barkly Region and the Northern Territory’s thriving music scene.
This track punches a hole in the ozone! Stellar Sea are a 5 piece post-punk band of eco-queers with a penchant for heavy eyeliner and advocating for planetary survival. The song features co-lead vocals that scream and whisper with love and rage in almost equal measures. The bassline is straight outta the 90’s, garage drums and electric guitar leave you wondering if someone just pierced your ear with a safety pin.
The sense of place in this song is obvious, you can hear the desert vastness, harsh exposure, and fierce biting connection these folks have to the planet.
Stellar Sea just toured this release to Gadigal, Awabakal, Worimi and Darkinjung lands, playing HELLNATION festival in Newcastle, plus shows in Woy Woy and Sydney. With more tours coming up in 2023, follow Stellar Sea on IG and FB to get a date to their live show. Their hand made merch is also worth a look featuring artwork by Lindsey Matthews.
Madam & The Mafia – “Madam & The Mafia”
Queer fetish performance duo Madam & The Mafia have followed up their first release, ‘Riding High’, with this self-titled queer anthem. Full of musical earworms, the synth bass and tongue click riff are a vibe you want on high rotation. This song is accompanied by one of the best music videos you’ll ever see (watch below), produced on Arrernte land by an all-queer local cast and crew with an affirmative agenda to uplift trans and non-binary people.
“It’s a big Queer take-over song about kink and sex positivity; celebrating queer flex, humour and play”, said Faggot Mafia. This song premiered on RAGE during WorldPride.
Sally Balfour – Sally Balfour EP
Folk storytelling at it’s best. Fireside romance, slide guitar, simple and intimate vocal harmonies. The arrangements alone might bring you to tears (in a good way). Sally’s voice sits down next to your heart with a cup of tea and so much tenderness.
“Nothing Short of a Mess” is a catchy, upbeat jig featuring mandolin and violin. The lyrics oscillate between different scenes of heartbreak; a dingy motel room, a run-down terrace (‘but you were too stoned to notice’), and in the last verse ‘I broke your heart in a KFC carpark and I barely gave a f*ck’.
“Flawless” deviates from conventional folk, with a dark electronic beat and haunting vocals. It’s spooky! You’ll listen to it again and again to get to the bottom of it.
Sally just played Nannup Music Festival, WA, but lives in Central Australia. This EP has been 10 years in the making – put it on your list.
Vayah – “Lil Somethin Somethin”
This release is surprising mix of Sade-esque vocals from Kenyan-born Tyra Latoya, and chunky electric guitar lines from Arrernte man, Jason Renehan. Self-produced and mixed, “Lil Somethin Somethin” is a moody and sultry R&B track. Tyra moved to this continent at six, and Jason’s been playing guitar since seven. Their musicianship is obvious and glorious.
Vayah just moved from Mparntwe/Alice Springs to Naarm/Melbourne. Get in touch and make them feel welcome if you’re down there!
Ripple Effect Band are a ground-breaking all women’s rock band from the remote Aboriginal community of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, NT. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you’re about to be delighted and refreshed. They just played two huge shows at WOMADELAIDE.
The band sing in the Aboriginal languages of Ndjébbana, Na-kara, Burarra, Kunwinjku and Kune as well as English. All of them are multi-instrumentalists, and they swap around onstage so that each woman can sing lead vocals in her own language.
Barry Skipsey – The Wrong Tram
Skipsey came to Central Aus for 6 weeks to escape the traffic and bitter winter of Melbourne. 47 years later he is still here in Mparntwe/Alice Springs and just released his new album The Wrong Tram. The CD cover art is a photograph he took in 1971 and the album features 20 local session musicians and two local choirs. This is a collection of strong desert folk musicianship, resulting in a record full of honest storytelling and tales of Skipsey’s life.
Barry came on air with 8CCC’s Brekky Show recently and recounted some of his incredible life as a photographer for Australian Geographic and long experience as a working, gigging musician.
Dave Crowe (of Resin Moon) delivers his latest folk pop single with moments of warped electronic production. It’s a fresh tune with dreamy synth-keys melodies and iconic vocal hooks and harmonies that you hear all through Dave’s music. It’s a bit nostalgic (good way) and it’s the perfect road trip song. It’s really sweet, you’ll like it.
