Beckah Amani – Smoke and Mirrors
For fans of: Clairo, Sia, Benee
Most of the environmental damage we do will be irreversible by 2028, according to a scientific theory that haunted Amani when she first read it, leading to this sublime track. The Tanzanian-born, Australia-based Amani despairs at the damage already done and warns against the “painted glitter and shiny little” of the fast fashion further aiding our planet’s demise. The production is handled deftly by Matt Corby, and it is to his credit that the casual listener won’t see his fingerprints on this tune at all. The breathless way in which Amani rushes through “I’ve fallen for the worst of it” in the chorus echoes the urgency of the situation, while the way she juggles a number of distinct vocal stylings within one verse showcases a singular talent. Total annihilation has never sounded so pretty.
For more: Beckah Amani’s debut EP, April, is out now.
Cry Club – Somehow (You Still Get To Me)
For fans of: Noiseworks, 1927, Van Halen
Cry Club makes rock music for those who refuse to acknowledge any guitar music recorded after Guns N’ Roses’s Use Your Illusion records. With huge distorted guitars that strut and chug, drums that pound like a headache, and huge, belting lead vocals from Heather Riley, this song isn’t exactly searching for a new sound, instead having a hell of a lotta fun pummelling through all the classic rock tropes with extra gated echo on top. It culminates in a wonderful tapping solo from Jono Tooke, who unleashes his not-so-inner 1980s rock god, leaving restraint and taste at the neon-lit door.
For more: Check out previous single People Like Me, or catch them on their east coast tour throughout November.
Confidence Man – Holiday (Tame Impala Remix)
For fans of: KLF, 808 State, EMF
Holiday is the spiritual fulcrum of Confidence Man’s second album Tilt, arriving halfway through the playing order and offering the clearest example of what the group excels in: dancefloor fillers that mine the best sounds from the early years of electronic music and marry them to an earworm vocal hook. On remix EP Re-Tilt, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker takes these ingredients and blends them into a stripped-back banger best suited to a Manchester club at the dawn of the 1990s. Parker has remixed artists from Daft Punk to Mick Jagger, and he usually delivers something fun and otherworldly. This is no exception.
For more: The Re-Tilt EP features Tilt tracks remixed by Daniel Avery, X-Coast and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.
Tim Rogers and the Twin Set – Been So Good, Been So Far
For fans of: Bob Evans, You Am I, Weddings, Parties Anything
By the time his 30th birthday rolled around, Tim Rogers had written three number one albums with You Am I and launched his solo career with the now-legendary What Rhymes With Cars and Girls record. Having gracefully slid from a Kinks-obsessed upstart to his current elder statesman role, Rogers has now circled back on his first solo album with a series of “sequel” songs: older but not necessarily wiser ruminations that reference and wrestle with the originals while being of their own creation. Fans of Rogers’s 1999 collection will enjoy the similar fiddle-and-squeezebox instrumentation; close listeners will adore the deft lyrical substitution of Jebediah frontman Kevin Mitchell for the former album’s Joni Mitchell.
For more: Tines Of Stars Unfurled is out 24 February. Until then, revisit 1999’s What Rhymes With Cars and Girls.
The Great Emu War Casualty – Bacon Rampage!
For fans of: The Go-Betweens, Dick Diver, RVG
In 1932, the Australian army was enlisted to fight a national scourge: thousands of emus who were wreaking havoc on farmers’ livelihoods. The Great Emu War was a resolute failure and a national embarrassment, but it did inspire the name of one of Melbourne’s brightest indie rock hopes, so history may yet remember this folly fondly. With jangly guitars peeling throughout, joyous boy-girl harmonies and a laconic propulsion that suggests a wander rather than a sprint, The Great Emu War Casualty wields this enchanting sound to chronicle the ills of trickle-down economics. Bet you weren’t expecting that from a tune named Bacon Rampage!
For more: EP Quiet Bat People is out 4 November.
Baby Cool – The Sea
For fans of: Cocteau Twins, Sade, Angelo Badalamenti
Opening with beautiful aquatic chimes before sliding into a jazzy shuffle reminiscent of the Zombies classic She’s Not There, The Sea is a calm meditation, luxuriously stretching across five breezy minutes. Psychedelic, Doorsy guitar licks wade in and out as singer Grace Cuell’s hypnotic vocals drift on a breeze, the single-syllable melody of the chorus the closest thing to a hook she provides. This is a pure mood piece, born of Cuell’s wellness practice of writing love letters to herself, reading them each morning, then throwing her healing words into the infinite ocean.
For more: Debut album Earthling on the Road to Self Love is out 10 February. Until then, listen to debut single Magic.
Robert Forster – She’s A Fighter
For fans of: Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, Violent Femmes
Last July, Robert Forster’s wife Karin Bäumler received a devastating cancer diagnosis. With a run of chemotherapy sessions looming, the phrase “she’s a fighter” jumped into Forster’s head. Forster added a second line – “fighting for good” – affixed it to a stray melody written a month earlier, and according to the man behind some of Australia’s most densely lyrical tunes, it was finished. “I had written my first two-line song. I had just out-Ramoned the Ramones,” Forster recalls. Given the deeply personal origin, it’s fitting that She’s A Fighter is a family affair: Bäumler sings and plays xylophone, while the pair’s two children play guitar and bass on the sparse track. Sometimes close family and a few simple phrases of hope and love are all you need.
For more: The Candle and the Flame, Forster’s eighth solo album, is out 3 February.
Ayesha Madon – Fish and Chips
For fans of: Lily Allen, Gwen Stefani, Heartbreak High
When the simple act of enjoying fish and chips on the beach causes you to dwell on the massive environmental toll inherent in this meal, it’s enough to cause a panic attack. Over the two-step garage beat from Craig David classic Re-Rewind, Ayesha Madon, star of the newly rebooted Heartbreak High, details a real-world panic attack with hilarious and scary lyrics. Tourette’s-style, machine-gun swearing intercuts otherwise pleasant nostalgia as the seemingly unchanged beauty of her childhood holiday location puts into full focus the evil forces in play to destroy it, reminding Madon of our government turning away refugee boats, of the oil in the ocean and the whales dying due to the fisheries industry that delivered the lunch wrapped in her lap. It’s enough to make you wanna tap out and binge-watch Netflix, to be honest.
For more: Check out her previous (fish-themed) tune Goldfish.
Genesis Owusu – Get Inspired
For fans of: Squeeze, the Clash, Kraftwerk
Genesis Owusu broke through in a big way with last year’s genre-hopping Smiling With No Teeth, an album that scooped up four Arias as well as the coveted J award and the Australian Music prize. Given that record’s kaleidoscopic vision, Owusu could have moved in any music direction; still, I was not expecting this jaunty Clash-sounding number to follow the anthemic call-to-arms of GTFO. Over a beat made for aerobics, Owusu sing-speaks a melody akin to Cool for Cats for three minutes of pure inspirational fare. A brief respite from the high-octane bouncing comes towards the end, as keyboards ring out like sirens and Owusu slides to his higher register for a brief bridge. Then he towels off and jumps back into the fray.
For more: Check out previous single GTFO or Smiling With No Teeth.
Betty Who – Big
For fans of: Clare Bowditch, Moving Pictures, Journey
Jessica Newham stood six-feet tall when she was just 12 years old, towering over her peers and “playing dress-up in a five-foot-two, 100-pound woman’s world”, as she now puts it. Like Newham herself, who now stands six-foot-two, this song is big in every way. From an opening piano line that suggests a power ballad akin to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin‘ is a-brewing, to the in medias res opener in which a young Newham is cruelly pushed to the back row during photo day, this is big music with big feelings. And big electric drum sounds – the type last heard on the St Elmo’s Fire soundtrack – which crash in to end all subtlety.
For more: Betty Who’s album Big is out now.
