Community radio music directors often have an encyclopedic 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, Simon Winkler from Triple R in Melbourne contributes with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amrap’s music distribution service ‘AirIt’.
Check out Simon’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.
This week’s 7 best Australian artists
Laura Jean is an extraordinarily gifted songwriter and storyteller. Like all Laura’s songs, ‘Touchstone’ goes to the heart of human experience, capturing with rare skill the shaky shores of our inner landscape, the cliffs and shifting tides. Lorde has described ‘Touchstone”s lyrics, synth melodies and atmospheric beats as “maybe the sharpest communication of the spooky, all-consuming nature of feminine love I’ve ever seen.”
It’s taken from the forthcoming album Devotion which Laura wrote “for my mum, middle sister and myself as we were at that time – eccentric, romantically-unfulfilled teens and a stressed out single mum trying to have a love life.”
Cosima Jaala first saw the words “Junior Spirit” embroidered on a pair of oversized overalls. Jaala said the words struck a chord, sounding like a kinder way to say ‘young soul’ or inexperienced person still learning the ropes. It hints at an energy and fresh perspective that feels apt when talking about Jaala’s own music.
“I don’t want to stay the same, I don’t want to stay the same, ever” are the first words of the first song of the new album. Jaala describes the song as “written from the perspective of Piakchu who, to quote HTMLflowers, wants to ‘go full Raichu’. Replace the word ‘sames’ with ‘caterpillar’ and you’re getting pretty close.”
Couture is the latest outfit to emerge on Solitaire Recordings – a chic electronique project formed by Simon Lam (Kllo, Nearly Oratorio) and Hamish Mitchell (I’lls). ‘O.H.M.’ is their first single, a meticulously crafted assemblage of styles and sounds that draws from UK garage, hip hop, and experimental dance traditions.
