2SER’s Favourite Music of 2025!
Welcome to 2SER’s annual list of our favourite music releases of 2025, as selected by our wonderful presenters!
It’s been an immense year of new music with emerging talent making their mark alongside enduring artists across all sounds and styles, weird and wonderful.
On-air, 2SER has continued to champion local and Australian music in it’s many forms, and as you’ll see in the list below this is a passion across the entire station. We don’t support Australian music because we have to, we do it because it’s too good to be ignored. Well over 50% of our daytime rotation features music made and produced on these shores, and on-air in 2025 2SER hosted approximately 1,000 interviews, live sessions, videos, events, DJ takeovers and more, featuring artists, producers, advocates, promoters, labels and more from across our vibrant music community.
This year saw a host of exciting new programs join the 2SER family: such as The Sound Exchange, Feed my Frankenstein, Reverie & Pho The Girls alongside some fresh shows on the airwaves for this summer. As well, a big shout out to Nina Longfellow and Tom Smith of Soft Spot Recordings for producing the ongoing Live at 2SER video film series.
2025 also marked some significant milestones for some of 2SER’s longest-serving and most loved shows, with The Phantom Dancer celebrating 40 years on the 2SER (and national) airwaves in October. As well, 2SER celebrated 45 consecutive years (across various hosts, names and iterations) of Australia’s, and possibly the world’s, longest running weekly funk music program Back to Funk with a live outside broadcast blowout in July.
And thanks especially to….you! For supporting 2SER: subscribing, listening, messaging in, coming to shows and being a part of this wonderful community. Looking forward to an exciting new year! ~LH
Lost Johnny / Slow Life Sound System (Monday 12am)
Melbourne synth ambassadors and beat makers Birdsnake blend dubbed out rhythms and percussive textures into laid-back, psychedelically infused electronica. Exploring the line between digital and organic, the four piece seamlessly combines acid jazz, psychedelic funk and down tempo grooves that aim straight for your head and, if you really want to get off the couch, your feet can get involved too.
Notable mention: Batov Records (label)
https://batovrecords.bandcamp.
Danny Chifley / 2SER Breakfast (6am Weekdays)
Big Thief – ‘Happy With You’
Not since ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ by Bon Jovi has popular music borne witness to such a majestic key change. Key change? Chord change? Whatever you call it, it is triumphant. Extra marks cause the lyrics for this one are relatively easy to learn. There’s only like 7 words or something.
Open Mike Eagle – ‘woke up knowing everything (opening theme)’
Shout outs to Mike for making a song whose title and subject matter is perfect for 2SER Breakfast, on your airwaves weekday mornings from 6-9 am. Next favourite rap song of the year was Ensalada by Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist featuring Anderson .Paak, but it has too many swears for so early in the morning. Or any time of the day, really.
Rio Kosta – ‘Effortlessly’
It’s the singalong of the year, baby!
…but what about local releases, Danny? Well, I find it hard to play favourites with all of the local stuff, cause it’s all so great. I had the pleasure of meeting Jeremy from O.M.R. and I was like ‘I love your new song ‘They Take What They Want’! That bit at the end where it’s like (makes guitar noises) is rad!’ and he legged it quick smart cause no one wants to deal with the guitar noise guy. ‘Kanana’ by Bumpy is an awesome record. The Sydney soul sisters Ella Haber, Natalie Slade and Cinta all held it down in 2025. ‘Mad Rooter’ by Party Dozen is that rare instance where the song is as good as the title, and the title of that song is amazing. Julien Mier & The Dieyoungs. Bonniesongs. Slumba Party. All great stuff. And so much more! Dog Trumpet – still good! I told the bloke who made our 2SER shirt who is in that band on the phone that their new song is good! He had no idea who I was. Good times.
Eva Greifeneder, Amy Hossking, Lorna MacRitchie / The Daily (9am Monday)
Marlon williams – Te Where Tīwekaweka
The dreamy crooner pays homage to his mother tongue, Maori culture and community with this beautiful record featuring group choral arrangements, excellent instrumentals and one of the most beautiful songs ever written: Kāhore He Manu E. A gift to all. – Lorna
Sarah levins – Eye Spy EP
Sarah Levins simply has the voice of an angel. Her music transcends you into a peaceful, alternate universe — specifically somewhere in a field of dandelions (referencing her song).
Her melodies paired with her sonically expansive sound tell beautiful stories and fills you with such a warmth. Her EP Eye Spy has been a standout album of the year for me! – Eva G
dust – sky is falling
Dust’s latest album sends listeners into a state of pure excitement. The Newcastle band leans into a post-punk sound with hints of Aussie pub rock that we know and love. Their iconic saxophone is nothing short of danceable, perfect for their incredible live shows. Dust’s “Sky is Falling” was the perfect release for this upcoming band! – Amy
Sofie Loizou, Prize & Lucas Pisani / Shadows of Tomorrow (10pm Monday)
Bass Bin Twins – I Love You
This is rocking and so fresh.
If you need a reminder of how fresh it is..you get one every 16 bars with a killer stab.
Just keeps me moving and the tiny fills of drum beats and samples, makes this a master class breaks track.
Seekers International and juwanstockton – Wareta-Kokoro-Ni-Kintsugi
Sofie: I am absolutely soaking up this cosmic journey/mixtape by SeekersInternational and juwanstockton, out on Riddim Chango Records from Japan. Press download on this one if you’re up for sonic kintsugi: blending atmospheric, vaporwave-like nostalgia with fragmented samples. File this one under music for lazy summer afternoons or dancefloor dub spice.
Rio Kosta – Unicorn
Prize: The Shadows of Tomorrow crew are all about channelling deep vibrations from across the globe, with a particular love for the sun-drenched psychedelic sounds of Los Angeles. This album, Rio Kosta’s debut album Unicorn, has been Prize’s go-to this year, soundtracking long coastal drives and late-night Huichol healing. A third-eye opener from a duo to watch.
Pete Pasqual and Eo / When the Levee Breaks (2pm Tuesday)
Lorna Clarkson, Colin Ho & Teresa Tan / Down Low Disco (8pm Tuesday)
Lorna: I promise this isn’t nepotism! I genuinely feel that the Tall Tales album represented a line in the sand in 2025 – or perhaps a fork in the road? – one that asked us to consider where our world is going and the importance human creativity plays in our collective future.
Andre Calman / The Space In Between (Tuesday 10pm)
feeo ‘Goodness’ (AD93)
If broken down into its parts, Theodora Laird’s first full length album as feeo, is remarkable enough. Diagonal ambient sounds, wordless vocal samples, gentle noise, tape hiss, spare guitar or scattered drums assemble sit separately until simple melodic phrases arrive and pull them all together. These arrangements are remarkable enough on their own, and are all produced by Laird. But it’s the combination of that with her hushed vocals, that could be described loosely as “Soulful” from one perspective or “Folk” from another (the Beth Gibbons references are maybe the best way to place her, if a limiting comparison) that quietly startle.
Each side pulls emotional complexity out of the other wouldn’t be there otherwise.
And then there are the cynical observational monologues from her father.
Easily the most original album I’ve heard all year.
Birdsnake ‘Biofilter’ (Bathtub Music)
With the revival of a sound that’s 25-30 years old, there’s invariably some artists that go all out to sound as similar as they can to the source material. So much so that even if you really loved said original genre at the time it was new, their contributions feel redundant.
But then there are some that, when you lay it all out, are doing the same thing, but they add something else that you just cannot put your finger on that adds a new vitality.
Maybe it’s like spreading vegemite – add a layer that’s a fraction too thick and it’s inedible.
Melbourne has somehow become the global hotspot for Trip Wave (don’t call it Trip Hop, m’kay?) and their exponents all feel the need to add an overcast tone to what they do.
But Birdsnake’s second album manages to build their low to midtempo grooves skilfully and adorn them with sounds that are familiar but just slightly adjacent enough to extract new joys from a sound that you (along with many others, and not just in Melbourne) are relieved to see emerge from its cave of purgatory. Which it really never deserved in the first place.
Oneohtrix Point Never ‘Tranquilizer’ (Warp)
A new album from the artist who is quite possibly the most played artist on the show is always an event. Maybe that’s because no one else can make music that’s so challenging while rarely being difficult or abrasive to listen to. At first ‘Tranquilizer’ feels like a retreat from the more song embedded previous four or so OPN albums. And when you first encounter more of that ‘90s glossy sound pallet it could feel like a creative doubling back to a place where he always felt most comfortable.
But on repeated and closer listens one marvels at how he uses sounds that are overtly from that era (in this case a trove discovered, lost and then found again early ‘90s ready made sound samples that were used in much dance music of the time) but those sounds don’t control the aesthetic of the record. Instead, he’s extracted segments and built worlds made purely of past artificial sounds that flutter and shift but aren’t trying to recall that era. It’s a world made out of redundant technology and any sense nostalgia is filtered through a fractured unease. It doesn’t give the easier pleasures of his treasured early albums, but maybe it’s the work that it asks the listener to put in that makes this the most rewarding OPN album to date.
Cody Giunta / Wednesday Daily (Wednesday 9am)
Ivy Whittingham / The Sound Exchange (Wednesdays, midday to 2pm)
Essendon Airport – MOR [Chapter Music]
I think I might have played every (if not almost every) song from this album on the show this year. I love Essendon Airport and Chapter Music and what they represent in the Australian music landscape, and above all I love the music (obviously). If I’m going to be honest, when the album first got announced I think I anticipated something more experimental, maybe even a bit challenging (which would have been amazing regardless), but this release is such a beautiful listen from front to back. It sounds like the summer I want to have, with shimmering melodies and steel sliding guitar making me want to laze around in a hammock all day under a tree.
Sheriff Lindo & The Hammer – Ten Dubs That Shook The World [Endless Recordings / EM Records]
Originally released in 1988, we were lucky enough to get a repress of this incredible album in August this year. Produced by Australian musician Anthony Mayer under his alias, Sheriff Lindo (aka Nutcase, and a past member of Pelican Daughters among many other collaborations), Ten Dubs is such an impressive crossover of industrial post-punk and Jamaican dub that feels so timeless in it’s creative use of samples and sound effects. It’s re-issues / represses of records like this one that continuously inspire me to go down whatever rabbit holes I can find of Australia’s eclectic underground music scenes.
Various Artists – Maybe I’m Dreaming [Anthology Recordings]
Compiled by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The Green Child) and Keith Abrahamsson (founder of Anthology Recordings), Maybe I’m Dreaming is a collection of independently released folk, psych and soft rock leaning songs that tap into a very specific place of nostalgia within my brain. Although I know I hadn’t heard any of them before, somehow they make me feel like I have a deep, generation spanning attachment to them – not an uncommon reaction from myself when listening to this sort of music from the 60s / 70s, but Young and Abrahamsson really hit the nail on the head with this compilation just as they did with their previous compilations on the label, Follow The Sun, Sad About The Times and … Still Sad.
Honourable mentions – R.M.F.C, Crown and Country, Jeremy Downer, Solo Career and Blue Communications.
Reenie /Crossing the Streams (2pm-4pm Wednesday)
Sampology – Ripen Vol. 1
4 deeply luscious percussive, jazzy, housey tunes from a Brisvegas legend. This release takes a beautiful shape into a cinematic-like acoustic collage- there are 14 collaborators on this record! The album art is sick too, makes it even more worth copping the physical.
Various – Downundaground II
La Sape Records (Naarm) is back with a second comp of some of the most exciting instrumental acts this country has to offer. Featuring up and coming Eora acts like BIKE THIEF and thedieyoungs – it’s a incredible collection of groovy electronica, experimental free-jazz and leftfield vocal dub tunes. Really awesome stuff.
The Melodrones – The Melodrones
Fav local release of the year. It’s a great rock record. Get around it.
Cameron Menegoni / The Band Next Door (8pm Wedneday)
This Naarm/Melbourne outfit bring to the table everything there is to love about garage rock. It’s gurgling bass riff sets the tone for this charging two minute burner. Pure grit.
Hannah Hong Rizzo & Siobhan Lee Fryirs / The Daily (Thursday 9am)
Charm of Finches – Meteor
From producer Siobhan:
It’s a recent pick, but hearing this song on 2SER was a beautiful experience. I sat there and just felt like I was in a whole other world, which could be a combination of Charm of Finches’s vocals and the soft acoustic instrumental. (Siobhan)
Platonic Sex – Face to the Flywire
I didn’t know young Australian music could sound like this! Platonic Sex’s grungy then delicate tracks are something I feel that I’ve never heard before from an Australian artist. Their Paramore-esk sounds but from an Aussie perspective is just so special and makes me so proud and feel all the feels! (Hannah)
Vinny Ramone / The Outpost (Thursday at High Noon)
The Apartments – That’s What Music is for
Peter Milton Walsh has been making music as The Apartments since 1978, bred out of Joh-era Brisbane along with
The Saints and The Go-Betweens (a band he was briefly a member of). Commercial success has always bypassed The
Apartments (outside of France, where they’re pop stars). Extended breaks, diversions, a rotating cast of musicians,
stints in Europe and NYC, then eventually settling in Sydney, The Apartments re-emerged with 2015’s deeply
personal No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal. Since then there have been 2 more intense, moody, melodic albums.
That’s What The Music Is For may be the best of them. Songs of heartache, darkness, lost relationships, family
tragedy, accompanied by gentle piano, guitars, trumpet and magically produced by band member Tim Kevin. The
defining moment being the closing 6 minute track You Know We’re Not Supposed To Feel This Way. Hearts broken
irrevocably. Feature song: You Know We’re Not Supposed To Feel This Way
SNOCAPS – SNOCAPS
The record no one saw coming. Hot on the heels of Waxahatchee’s ground breaking 2024 album Tigers Blood, Katie
Crutchfield reunites with her twin Allison for their first new music together since their pop-punk band P.S. Eliot split
in 2011. The Alabama sisters are joined in Snocaps by indie guitar hero M.J. Lenderman and renowned producer and
multi-instrumentalist Brad Cook. It’s a perfect mix – Katie’s Americana tones and Allison’s indie rock voice and 13
catchy-as quick fire 2 to 3 minute songs. The kids are alright. Feature song: Angel Wings
Kathleen Edwards – Billionaire
After 4 critically applauded albums in 10 years and having sung herself ragged, Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen
Edwards withdrew from music to take an extended 8 year break, launching a coffee house called Quitters in her
native Ottawa, Ontario. She re-emerged with the brilliant Total Freedom record [Outpost Album Of The Year 2020].
Now living in Florida, 5 years later Kathleen Edwards is back with Billionaire, with Jason Isbell on board playing
blistering electric guitar solos and producing the album. Isbell’s 400 Unit band all over the record also. Celebrated as
one of the forebears of modern alt-country, Kathleen Edwards’ songs have the emotional eloquence of a great short-
story writer and for all the sonic polish Isbell & co. bring, the richness of this album is in the emotions of the lyrics.
Feature song: Say Goodbye, Tell No One
Deleted:
Meredith Welch, David Balodis Serra & Riley / Thursday Drive (Thursday 4pm)
Deleted: Nick Griffith – Trash and Treasure
Berko and Mick / Static (Thursday 8pm)
Having previously teamed up with Belgian dancefloor deities Soulwax for a Grammy-nominated remix of her 2018 club anthem “Work It”, Montréal’s minimal electronica marvel went to their Ghent studios to, well, work. It was a perfect match, melding Davidson’s alt-techno energy with the Dewaele brothers’ analogue pop smarts. Blending her throbbing disco and snarky spoken-word monologues, the album largely took its influence from Davidson’s reflections on the impact of technology and was inspired by American professor/sociologist Shoshana Zuboff’s book ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’. A perfect mix of dystopian drama and self-deprecating wit, its lyrics explored the bargain we make with technology – “Demolition” flipped the idea of desire into an informational transaction (“I don’t want your cash – What I want is your data baby”) – as well as trying to push back against interactions with computerized services (“Push Me Fuckhead” humorously asked of those online security checks in squares “How many busses? How many trees?”). When we talked to Marie on “Static” she implored “It’s a robot questioning your own humanity, and telling you that you have to prove yourself! It’s pretty surreal.”
Andrew Wowk / Time to Track (Thursday 10pm)
Om Unit – Acid Dub Studies III
Eleanor Godley / The Daily (Friday 9am)
Marlon Williams – Te Whare Tīwekaweka
This album is, without a doubt, some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard this year — maybe ever. Marlon blends Aotearoa folk, alternative country, and waiata Māori (Māori songs) in a way that feels both timeless and completely his own. I started listening to it while I was in New Zealand, and it became my soundtrack for that time. I’d sit inside while the rain came down outside, drawing New Zealand birds, and this album would be playing on rotation. The whole experience became one unforgettable memory — the music, the place, the moment.
Sunny War – Armageddon In a Summer Dress
This was my first time hearing Sunny War, and I was immediately drawn in. Her sound is a brilliant mix of folk, blues, and punk-infused Americana — raw, rhythmic, and full of soul. Her voice has such an effortless strength, and the songs are catchy enough to sing along to — which I definitely do. There’s a warmth and honesty in her music that feels both classic and fresh, the kind of album you put on once and instantly feel like you’ve known it for years.
Barry Adamson – Cut to Black (2024)
A friend suggested I go see Barry Adamson when he toured Australia this year, and I had to admit — I’d never heard of him! I hadn’t realised he’d been in Magazine or The Bad Seeds. So I dove in headfirst: I listened to Cut to Black and all his earlier albums, looked at photos of Magazine and The Bad Seeds, read his biography… and before long, I was a little obsessed. When I finally saw him perform at the Factory Theatre, everything clicked — that cinematic, soulful sound, the charisma, the storytelling. Cut to Black is an album that’s stuck with me; it’s soulful, catchy, and completely captivating.
Mick Radojkovic and Jules LeFevre /The Tuckshop (Friday 9pm)
Rageflower – Infinite Highs, End of Times EP
Jules: The debut EP from Sydney’s Madeleine Powers tips its hat to alt-pop luminaries like Phoebe Bridgers, MUNA, and even country stars like The Chicks and Shania Twain. Tracks like ‘Kerosene’, ‘Angel Things’, and the delicate ‘Everyone’s Girl’ (featuring collaborator and fellow Sydney artist jnr., reveal a seriously skilled songwriter. A standout is closer ‘Desk Job’, which tears itself apart and collapses in a mess of Rageflower’s screams.
dust – drawbacks
Mick: dust are the band that you wish you’d known from the start. Luckily for you, and most 2SER listeners, you have been following them since their Covid-era debut, a sound coming from Newcastle that felt like it was from another industrial town…probably in the UK. But these guys are ours and their debut album, ‘Sky Is Falling’, written over the past five years is the culmination of a raw and real post-punk with a melodic tinge. This is the sound of a band already confident in their direction and ready to take on the world that already likes that sort of music…
Tyne-James Organ – The Other Side
Jules: Tyne-James Organ’s second album has been a long time in the making, and didn’t come without trials and tribulations. Following the release of debut Necessary Evil in 2021, the Wollongong-via-Sydney artist fell into a black hole of poor mental health, wrestling with the grief of losing family members and a bipolar diagnosis in 2024. That diagnosis forced him to pause and put a second album on hold, but earlier this year The Other Side arrived. Organ’s voice is powerful and affecting, rocketing through highlights like ‘All On Me’ and ‘One Way Ticket’. The aching title track, which features a guest verse from Gordi, is the high point.
Mick: 2025 was the year that Platonic Sex stepped into the limelight, released their debut album and along with it, the absolute cream of the crop in ‘Shark Teeth’. If a song has the ability to feel like an epic and be under 3 minutes long, this is it. The driving guitar and drums give Bridget Brandolini the chance to absolutely cut sick on the vocals, soaring like possessed, but the breakdown at the end brings it home in raw Turnstile-like fashion. Then you look up when it’s done and you hit play again. A classic for our times.
Cathy Kirkpatrick / a Direction Home (Saturday 7am)
Bonniesongs – Strangest Feeling
I first met Bonnie Stewart at the fringe of the jazz scene – playing a drum under ethereal vocals. Her songwriting project Bonniesongs has evolved across several years, blooming into the captivating soundscapes and upbeat dream-pop of Strangest Feeling. Her vocals have a tonality and timing that is unique and unmistakable. A multi-layered and beautifully produced work.
I was overjoyed when this album appeared in mid-2025.
Stuart Coupe / Dirt Music (Saturday 1pm)
matter – except ALP 1 in elections, but here’s a few things I
played a lot in 2025.Robert Forster – Strawberries
When I heard the title song I gulped and had a troubled look on
my face. I thought the song was pretty light and that if that was
the best choice for radio song things weren’t looking good. But
friends – not only have I warmed to that song but it is the
slightest moment on a magnificent album, one of the finest of
Forster’s post Go-Betweens work – and it’s an output that has a
pretty high bar. Just 8 songs – one of them being the almost 8-
minute Breakfast On a Train which is a masterclass in
songwriting. It was also a good year in Go-Between world as
the (criminally expensive) third box set in the G Is For Go-
Betweens series was released – along with the announcement
of a reissue of the first volume for those who missed it. I have
all three and they’re big and heavy and magnificent.
The concept is magnificent, the album cover striking and the
songs and performances off the dial great. The Waterboys
decide to record a long (double vinyl) concept album about the
actor, photographer, film-maker and crazy person Dennis
Hopper – and it’s INCREDIBLE. It’s sprawling, musically
inventive and rewards repeated listening. It doesn’t need guest
singers but hey – why not enlist the likes of Steve Earle, Bruce
Springsteen and Fiona Apple – the latter being staggering
brilliant on the harrowing Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend. The Waterboys are touring Australia next year with a show
which has this album as its centre-piece – although I’m NOT
HAPPY that the Sydney show classes with the Swans vs
Collingwood at the SCG so I’ll need to go to Melbourne to see
the concert there. Mike Scott guested with me on Dirt Music
last time he was in Australia so let’s hope he joins me again in
2026.
Magpie Diaries – Some Kind of View
Every second week in 2025 (just like previous years) Neil
Young released something or another – new records, box sets,
reissues, expanded editions – but really the best Neil Young
styled album of the year came from up the road in the Hunter
Valley. The Magpie Diaries are a band I’ve dug for awhile but
nothing prepared me for just HOW good this record is. It’s a lot
more than just Neil influenced of course but there are times
where if you close your eyes . . . but this is ten really superb
songs sung and played with heart and soul and passion. It’s
languid, groovy, perceptive and cosmic enough that you’d
swear Laurel Canyon has been relocated to within two hours of
Sydney. I didn’t expect it to be the case but in the latter part of
2025 it was an album I listened to constantly. And you know
what – I’d had it digitally for awhile but when I received the vinyl
edition and it spun around the turntable – well, I realised just
how much goodness was in these grooves.
Trevor Parkee & Sophie Bagster / The Departure Lounge (3pm Saturday)
Evelyne/Masao – Test Pattern
Electro, Synth-Pop … Evelyne/Masao bring TESTPATTERN to Dark Entries for the
label’s first foray into vintage Japanese electronics. Masao Hiruma and Fumio Ichimura’s
project Testpattern is known for their release Apres-Midi, a cult slab of synthpop
perfection released by Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono’s legendary Yen
Records in 1982.
Sumbisori is the debut album by newly formed Melbourne group Temporary
Blessings, led by stalwart Melbourne trumpet player / composer Liam
McGorry. The resulting recordings realise McGorry’s sonic visions of film noir, giallo,
library music and cinematic soul, captured live in one room with what the
maestro describes as “a shared spirit”.
the possibilities of who we could be and how we could live. Steeped in
vulnerability and resolve, the Sydney-based Australian singer-songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist explodes love into something more expansive than the
fairytale narratives of nuclear romance we are confined to.
Boo Boo Muck and Del Piero / Love Buzz (Saturday 8pm)
Sven Wunder – Daybreak (selected by Piero)
Del Piero: Well he’s done it again with his fifth album release titled Daybreak. Sven Wunder, composer/multi instrumentalist who is a master in fusion, mixing jazz, atmospheric grooves, eastern and world beats, gifted us in 2025 with yet another magnificent and compelling record. And although it’s almost expected that any new works will always just be astonishing, especially for those of us that breathe lost library records or foreign soundtracks for the 60’s and 70’s, it’s still an absolute gift whenever a new composition is experienced from Sven Wunder. Seamlessly continuing the progression of his musical oeuvre, this 13 track piece shows us how far he is willing to take us, into yet another beautiful journey that soars between his fingers and his mind. This is not background music. This is music to listen to in isolation, away from the outside world. To be immersed. Allowing to be caressed. Letting it take you away.
Dive into “Misty Shore” and swim amongst its artistry. Fall into Liquid Mountains, hold your breath and feel your heartbeat. Close your eyes and sway to “Daybreak”. The journey is deep, but the light is vivid.
Durand Jones & The Indications – Without You
Del Piero: I always get excited when I hear word of a new “Indications” record, but there’s always a voice that says, “well it can’t possibly be as good as their last album”. Every album… I’ve been proved wrong. I’m loving the journey this band is on and the progression of their relationship with soul music. This is a very personal record for all band members. After ten years together, four incredible studio albums and relentless touring, they appreciate what they have gone through to get where they are in life and with their music. This is such a beautiful record and there’s so much influence and life experience in all the tracks. It’s an album that can only be played from beginning to end. Lover’s Holiday, Flower Moon, Really Wanna Be With You, and Been So Long are just exceptional.
“Without You” is an almighty soul song that has no right to exist in this modern time frame. From the sitar sounding guitar introduction, (a call to influential The Sylvers’ Wish That I Could Talk To You), and the smooth voice of Durand Jones gripping your heart from the first verse, this song grows into what is classic soul and masterpiece construction all at once. And it’s a vocal collaboration with Aaron Frazer, which I always find the most exciting in the DJI catalogue. To me, this could be the best modern day soul song to exist to this day. And wait ’til you see this band perform this live!
If you are in love, this album will reassure you. If you’re not in love, this album will make you love yourself, and the sky and every flower under it. This IS the right time for this album to exist!
Thee Headcoatees – Man Trap
This year’s release of Thee Headcoatees’ new LP, Man-Trap, is an absolute triumph that proves some hiatuses are worth the wait. They deliver a killer sound that feels as vibrant and urgent as their best 90s work… maybe even better? Hearing Ludella Black, Kyra LaRubia, Bongo Debbie, and Holly Golightly (reunited after 26 years since Here Comes Cessation) lay down these 14 cuts is pure garage-punk bliss, a testament to the band’s enduring chemistry despite their impressive individual careers in the literal decades between. Produced by the incomparable Billy Childish at Ranscombe Studios, the album captures the raw, uncompromising energy that fans like myself love, boasting the perfect mix of interesting covers and incredible new tracks that sound both comfortingly familiar and fuzzy. This release is a true gift for longtime devotees, demonstrating that the Sisters of Suave still possess the fire and tenacity to drop one of the most exciting albums of the year. This nerding out fan-girl could not be more excited!!
You can get yours, as well as two equally great 7” EPs from the same session, at…
DJ MonStER / Feed My Frankenstein(Saturday 9pm)
There’s just something about this soooong. It’s equal parts groovy and rocky. Honestly I can’t not dance around to this it’s infectious. Ps the whole album Human Form. Her whole discography is awesome. Pls check her out <3
Lambrini Girls – Who Let the dogs out
Look if the dogs got let out I’m no snitch so ask someone else. From housework to helping your friend move out down 8 sets of stairs, this album definitely was the soundtrack of the year. Can’t wait to see them in Feb!!!
Special mention to tracks 4 and 11.
Lady Lazarus – The Collector
The Collector is my favourite Lady Lazarus song at the moment. This track was inspired by the 1963 John Fowlers’ novel of the same name which is a psychological thriller focusing on obsession, control and captivity. The songs lyricism captures 😉 this so well with “sit little butterfly, stay little butterfly, hush little butterfly, big girls don’t cry” hitting that spot in your soul that makes you want to get up and scream – which is exactly what the Berlin based band wants you to do with them.
Ps you neeeeed to check out the music video created by the bands bassist Izzy Rakuljic who spliced stop motion hand-cut butterflies with their euro tour footage. It’s DIY third eye level stoof.
Dave Howell / Music For Beaches (Sunday 7am)
Eddie Yutts / Super Fun Time Happy Hour (Sunday 11am)
Alessia Lalli and Billy Kealle / Newfangled (Sunday 6pm)
Headlights– Horse
Headlights is only the second single from Newcastle band Horse, but they’re already been dishing out one of the most satisfying, atmospheric walls of sound we’ve heard in years. The ambient guitars pull you in first, before the track quietly blooms into a restless indie rock groove. The vocals fluctuate between tenderness and full-tilt angst, keeping you locked in from start to finish.
In our humble opinion, the Australian music scene could definitely use more of… whatever Horse is on.
Wiles – Last to Leave
Wiles released her debut EP, World Undone, back in September. It’s a six-track collection that shifts between dream pop, shoegaze, and even some folky elements at times. The fourth track, ‘’Last to Leave’’, is the one that really stuck with us. The verses feel stripped back and give late-night vibes, yet the chorus opens up into a big 80s-style pop moment with a modern twist. Even the jangly guitars and vocal harmonies brush against Cocteau Twins territory in the best possible way.
This is the kind of track that’s best listened to when you are in your feels or just craving a chilled out vibe. The DIY, lackadaisical nature of Wiles’ music is exactly what makes her unique and definitely someone to keep an eye out for in the future.
If you’re a fan of bands like The Church, Echo and the Bunnymen, or The Cure, you’re definitely going to love Krystal Rivvers and their latest EP The World is On Our Shoulders (and, by the time you’re reading this, the album as well). The six-piece band, led by Wurundjeri / Boon Wurrung man Earl Weir, have crafted a sound that blends indie guitars with a touch of grit and a laid-back Australiana feel. Perfect for late-night summer drives or a cheeky boogie in the kitchen.
“Prisoner” is insanely catchy, and it also has a huge nostalgic vibe. The track reflects on love in all its forms, yet somehow manages to make you relive every good, bad, and ugly moment of your life in just over three minutes.
Josh Ray / Newfangled*
*and roaming 2SER Music Reporter, currently on seasonal loan to Music from Another Room on Flirt-FM, Galway
CMAT – Euro Country
The opening track on this album, a 57 second ambient introduction, is titled ‘Billy Byrne From Ballybrack, The Leader Of The Pigeon Convoy’. It features a sample of a phone call being made by the track’s namesake taken from a 1985 documentary called ‘Flights of Fancy – The World of the Pigeon Men’. In it, Billy Byrne muses on the weather in Cork to his friend back in Dublin, in anticipation of an all-important long distance pigeon race, the flightpath of which spans a good chunk of Ireland.
I know all this because I saw CMAT in a (near) hometown show in Dublin just last week, where she explained that ‘EURO-COUNTRY’, in its final form, might not have existed without Billy Brack’s voiceover. Billy Brack was in the crowd and was granted the longest standing ovation of the night.
Solo Career – Interior Delirium
I absolutely love this album but I found myself really struggling to articulate why. That is until I saw a brief-yet-glowing review of it on Bandcamp. It reads: ‘i love this album because of the song beta’. So true! I also love this album because of the songs ‘Venus on Speed Dial’, ‘Spring Drills’ and ‘Is That U’, as well as all the other songs on it. Sometimes life doesn’t have to be so complicated.
Solo Career is the solo project of Annabell Blackman, 1/4th of the really great Sydney garage-punk band Body Type. If you like Body Type then you’ll like this. You’ll also like it if you: find beauty in the mundane; listen to Stereolab demo material; or appreciate it when a “bedroom pop” album has a bed on the cover so you know for sure that it is a bedroom pop album.
Tropical Fudge Storm – Fairyland Codex
In another, more just world, TFS frontman Gareth Liddiard would be held in the same regard as Nick Cave in conversations about Australia’s great lyrical narrators (especially those near the border between NSW and Victoria). Unfortunately, as this album would have you know, the world is not just. ‘Fairyland Codex’, irrespective of what the title might have you expect, sounds like an Australian apocalypse.
‘Irukandji Syndrome’ is about a giant jellyfish terrorising a newly employed deep-sea fisherman, while the title track makes Newcastle sound like a warzone. Though every track on here is a highlight, ‘Teeth Marché’ and ‘Stepping on a Rake’ are two good places to start if you aren’t familiar with TFS’ signature abrasion.
Threatnique / Beatheads (Sunday 8pm)
Lachlan Holland / 2SER Music Director
Released on local vinyl imprint Planet Trip, it has been kept off of major streaming services, aiming to encourage alternatives for music consumption that prioritize artist value, intentional listening and “readdressing the rapidly degrading value of art”. I highly recommend buying the LP or digital via bandcamp as this is one of the finest Australian releases of the year.
Ex Generation – The Mumbai Exchange
This one really blew me away as a perfect intertwining of the past and present.
Ex Generation is one of the many projects of multi-instrumentalists Lewis Moody and Ziggy Zeitgeist (of Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange among many others), that focuses on working on a deeper collaborative level with artists in specific locales with strong musical traditions. This is their second album, and sees them visiting the “City of Dreams”, aka Bollywood, aka Mumbai, a place with an already rich history of cross-pollination of styles and culture between new and old, East and West.
It was recorded in Island City Studios in Khar West (Mumbai) and features collaborations with Mumbai-based artists including vocalist Vinyay Sugath Ramadasn, More Saiyyan and Anuja Zokarkar among many others: “The weight of this gift isn’t something we take lightly. Over the past year, we’ve been putting everything into shaping an album that stands as a testament to cultural sharing – honouring the lineage of Indian music while embracing the clash of Western traditions we’ve grown up in. Somewhere in that middle ground, we’ve found something fresh, exciting, and deeply human”.
The result is a fantastic record, packed with action, adventure and romance: a kaleidoscopic explosion of retro-futuristic disco, new-age folk and eastern jazz-funk. It also features one of the best Sister Sledge covers I’ve ever heard, so there’s that as well.