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, Will Backler from 6RTR-FM in Perth contributes with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amrap’s music distribution service ‘AirIt’.
Check out Will’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 bands
Melbourne 4-piece Mildlife take us on a cosmic funk fuelled journey on ‘Im Blau’, lifted from their awesome new album Phase, out on Research. Rooted in ’70s psych and funk with a healthy dash of jazz, ‘Im Blau’ combines interesting guitar tones, heavily vocoded vocals and a tight rhythm section to great head-nodding results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYVu7stu-us
The Pissedcolas – ‘Gotas Perdidas’
Taken from their latest album Nievla, Nievla, a concept album about a deadly fog coming to engulf the planet, ‘Gotas Perdidas’ is a fuzzed and psyched out stoner & doom influenced punk odyssey. Appropriately recorded straight to 4-track, the song is satisfyingly raw – packed with detuned synths, heavy guitars and urgent reverb-laden vocals from singer Fabian Rojas.
Brisbane-based Grace Stevenson is back with a slice of moody, brooding, pounding yet understated techno. Composed on a few pieces of analogue gear, ‘Pressure Drop’ takes cues from ’90s Electronic Body Music and sounds appropriately gritty and begrimed.
The title track from the Melbourne three piece’s forthcoming EP starts with a relaxed intro before giving way to urgent drums and a relentless bass line, with distorted trebly guitars and aggressive vocals tying up this upbeat slice of garage punk.
The latest taste from Em Burrows’ debut album Invisible Seams, ‘Boy’ is a mellow trip through a modern take on ’60s psychedelic influenced sounds. Sweeping synths, bright guitar tones and Burrows’ distinctive commanding yet calm vocals come together in an extremely catchy manner.
Emotional, contemplative alternative rock on the second single from Melbourne’s Mod Con, highlighting issues surrounding the issues that have and continue to face Australia’s First People. ‘Neighbourhood’ reminds us that the sites on where our picturesque suburbs lay is sacred ground, in an incredibly catchy and engaging manner.
Perth’s Jake Steele returns as Tobacco Rat to unleash an absolutely mammoth take on modern bass heavy electronic music. Taking cues from jungle, trap and dubstep, ‘Snarl’ employs some crazy sound design, with a myriad of synths and sound effects colliding in a form of organised chaos, underpinned by chest rattling sub bass.
