Marrying psychedelia with folk and a touch of country, Baby Cool is the new side project from Nice Biscuit co-front woman Grace Cuell. Baby Cool made her debut with singles “Magic”, “The Sea”, “Poison” and “Daydream”, all lifted from her the lush album, “Earthling on the Road to Self Love”, which was released in February 2023 via Virgin Music (Aus/NZ), Levitation / Greenway Records (US), and Fuzz Club / Bad Vibrations (EU/UK).

Praised for its warmth and dreamlike swell, “Earthling…” was 4ZZZ’s Album of the Week, featured on the RRR Soundscape and playlisted on RAGE, FBI, PBS, 2SER and RTRFM. The Guardian flagged Baby Cool in its Best New Music column while NME pinned her as an artist to watch in 2023.

Following a debut appearance at Bigsound 2022, Baby Cool was tapped to support Babe Rainbow, Wet Leg and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard before travelling to the UK for a co-headline tour with Nice Biscuit, including appearances at The Great Escape and Wide Awake Festival.

BIG WETT is the name on everyone’s lips.

The enigmatic electro-pop sensation is taking the dance music scene by storm with her 90s inspired dance beats, explicit lyrics, and her thumping live show.

Her songs are tinged with undertones of queer pride, femme power and sexual empowerment, making her one of the moment’s most intriguing new artists with an overwhelming stage presence and personality to match.

The BIG WETT journey began when she uploaded her first ever demo onto Triple J Unearthed back in December of 2021. Within a matter of days, industry heads began to turn and die-hard fans were born almost instantly as her demo of ‘EAT MY ASS’ began to leak across the internet.

A few months later BIG WETT was playing regular gigs in packed clubs and bandrooms all across the country, supporting Confidence Man on their national tour, plus Channel Tres and Northeast Party House giving her the call up to join them at their Melbourne shows. By the end of 2022, tens of thousands had bore witness to her powerful live show, with even the most skeptical of chin strokers being drawn into the BIG WETT world by the end of each of her undeniably thrilling and wild performances. 2023 has international shores calling, with BIG WETT embarking on a tour of the UK, the release of her debut EP and sold out headline shows in her home country of Australia.

Whilst comparisons have been drawn between her and Peaches, Kim Petras, Uffie, COBRAH and more, it’s clear that BIG WETT is creating a world of her own and that there’s no stopping this act until the ultimate goal is achieved – world domination.

Blusher are here to soundtrack your night out with their sparkly, energetic pop. Within a month of starting to write together, the Melbourne-based trio recorded and released their euphoric self-produced first single “Softly Spoken.” Soon after, they signed to their managers and, by the end of the year, to Atlantic Records.

2023 is primed to be bigger and better for the group; fresh off supporting Aurora on her national Australian tour with their explosive live show and releasing their second single “Dead End”, Blusher are gearing up for an EP, touring and soon, a global takeover. “We want to write hard-hitting, confidence-building pop, the kind you listen to when you’re getting ready for a night out”. With unfiltered lyricism peppered over dreamy synths and thick basslines lands the Blusher sound somewhere between late-night solitude and a 2am dancefloor.

Children of Finland Fighting in Norway (C.O.F.F.I.N) are a four piece hard rock & roll band hailing from the ocean shores of Sydney, Australia, featuring a lead vocalist on drums. The band formed in 2005 as schoolmates influenced by a huge love for music, skateboarding and a good-times-all-the-time attitude. Since playing their first show at the age of 12 opening for The Hard-Ons (Sydney, Australia), the band have meticulously carved out their own corner of hard biting Australian Rock n Roll. C.O.F.F.I.N have gained a passionate following for their unique take on punk and rock music, gathering widespread acclaim for their energetic and addictive live shows combined with their lyrical activism and howling guitars. It has brought them hundreds of gigs over the years, headline tours, and numerous festival appearances. They’ve toured and shared the stage with many world renown bands such as Rose Tattoo, TSOL, Celibate Rifles, Dead Kennedys, Cosmic Psychos, Parkway Drive, Frenzal Rhomb, Misfits, Amyl and the Sniffers and the Hard Ons.

C.O.F.F.I.N have recorded and released four studio albums, one live album, and three EPs, all of which have sold out globally. Their most recent LP – the self-titled ‘Children Of Finland Fighting In Norway’ – released through Legless Records (AUS) and Erste Theke Tontraege Records (EU) in October 2020 is now in its 6th re-issue.

2022 saw C.O.F.F.I.N tour the world in support of Amyl and The Sniffers, while also working hard on a new full length album due for 2023.

My Mum taught me how to love ballads, but she left when I was 10.

And when I moved in to dad’s house, he banned music just because it reminded him of mum.

And when the voice came out, it came out raging because it was suppressed for a long time.

Relapse was written in pretty much one of the darkest periods, I was just in such a dark spot.

I thought I was done. That song was supposed to be like a, almost like an exit song, you know.

Growing up as a kid, like I’m from a broken family and then moving into one of the roughest parts of Sydney back at that time, I can’t write anything that’s, uh, that’s not lived.

There had been instances where I’ve been writing and I can’t tell whether it’s destructive or healing.

But for the most part, in the last few months in the lead up to this project, I felt it’s healing. And I felt like it’s a lot of light.

British Caribbean artist Chanel Loren has been hailed by VICE as a ‘A defier of genres and a boundary pusher’, likened to SZA, Jorja Smith and PinkPantheress. South-East London born & raised, Chanel studied at the famed BRIT School, before moving to Australia in her late teens.

Chanel has released five songs that have 1.65 million+ streams, performed alongside Kehlani, Destin Conrad, IDK & Kota The Friend, received global radio + DSP support, championed by tastemakers CLASH, VICE, GRM Daily, The Line Of Best Fit, Notion, Dork Mag and won the FBi Radio SMAC Award for Song Of The Year.

One of the most exhilarating bands to emerge in recent years, CIVIC have reimagined the reckless intensity of proto-punk for an era of endless uncertainty. On their 2021 debut album Future Forecast, the Melbourne-based five-piece offered up a barrage of songs matching their frenetic sound with both self-aware outpouring and incisive observation of the world around them—a dynamic that’s earned massive critical acclaim as well as admiration from the likes of punk legend Henry Rollins. As further shown on their upcoming sophomore full-length Taken By Force—an album the band aptly sums up as “1984 meets Endless Summer”—CIVIC joyfully obliterate the line between furious catharsis and unbridled fun, introducing a vital new energy into today’s musical landscape.

Hailed by Stereogum as “an unholy lo-fi pile-up of garage rock, punk, and ’90s-style noise-rock,” CIVIC inject every song with a visceral urgency hinting at their shared history in the local hardcore scene. As frontman Jim McCullough recalls, the band first took shape back in 2017, when he and a friend dreamed up a musical project inspired by iconic Australian punk acts like Radio Birdman and The Saints. “We were in a bowling alley in Japan and came up with a very strong focus for what the band could do, which was take that three-chord ’70s punk sound but get a little more thoughtful with the melodies and songwriting,” says McCullough. Upon returning from Japan, McCullough soon recruited a full lineup featuring Lewis Hodgson and bassist Roland Hlavka. Within six months, CIVIC had banged out their debut EP New Vietnam—a powerhouse 2018 release that prompted Vice to crown the band “Melbourne’s New Kings of Wild Rock And Roll.”

Over the next few years, CIVIC made their name as a captivating live act defined by masterfully controlled chaos, embarking on a European tour in 2019 and taking such esteemed stages as Victoria’s Golden Plains Festival. “With our live shows we’ve always made a point of being super-loud and in-your-face,” says McCullough. “As an audience member I’ve always enjoyed that feeling of really believing in the band but also feeling like everything’s teetering on the edge of falling apart at any second.” With the arrival of the rapturously received Future Forecast—praised by NME as “an album that rivals real-life gig-going”—CIVIC found their fanbase expanding far beyond their homeland, inking their deal with ATO Records in late 2021. After a lineup change, with guitarist Jackson Harry and drummer Matt Blach joining the fold, CIVIC next set to work on Taken By Force.

For the making of Taken By Force, CIVIC holed up for a week at Harry’s father’s house deep in the Castlemaine countryside, enlisting Radio Birdman frontman Rob Younger as producer. “Instead of recording sporadically over six months or something, we wanted to build our own ecosystem in this space and allow for a bit more spontaneity,” says McCullough. Mainly recorded by Blach, Taken By Force lifts its title from a jangly yet bombastic track perfectly encapsulating the album’s underlying narrative. “It’s a song about the collapse of the Western empire and the rise of a new one,” Hodgson reveals. “An empire’s collapse can take hundreds of years, but this was a vision of a quick complete takeover—a sci-fi ending to an archaic reign, but with surf elements added in for fun. At the time when we wrote the album it felt like the Western world was headed for a quick death, and ‘Taken By Force’ was an expression of all of the fear coming from every media outlet.”

Mixed and mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current, Sonny & the Sunsets), Taken By Force opens on an ominous intro whose origins echo the charmed nature of the recording process. “We knew we wanted to start the record with war sirens, but we didn’t want to just grab them off YouTube,” McCullough says. “One night we all woke up to these emergency sirens going off, so I ran out into the paddock and recorded it on my phone. We had Lewis and Blach set up two snares across from one another and pound out a marching drumbeat at about two in the morning—the whole thing was so intense and creepy and incredible.”

All throughout Taken By Force, CIVIC set their artful venting of existential dread against a backdrop of blistering riffs, thrashing rhythms, and shout-along-ready vocals. On the album’s lead single “End of the Line,” for instance, Hodgson delivers a glorious 12-string guitar solo that adds a galvanizing potency to McCullough’s lyrics, a ripped-from-real-life meditation on the precariousness of mortality. “I wrote that song about a solo trip I took around Europe in my early 20s, and the anxiety of realizing I had no one to protect me but myself,” says McCullough, an accomplished painter who tends toward an impressionistic approach to songwriting. “It’s about the realization of your own mortality, and finding peace in a chaotic moment that you have no control over.”

Although much of Taken By Force abounds with images of dystopian warfare—bloodied bodies, funeral pyres, skies lit up in the blazing flames of burning trash—its songs often explore the more intimate aspects of the human experience. With its spectral textures and hypnotic guitar tones, “Trick of the Light” finds McCullough slipping into a laconic drawl as he narrates a quietly chilling portrait of cycles of abuse. “It’s about a friend trapped in an abusive marriage, a story of running away only to find that the life you left will always be there waiting for you,” says Hodgson, who wrote a number of songs on Taken By Force. A frenzied blast of raw tension, “Born in the Heat” captures the psychic unrest of feeling hopelessly detached from your own surroundings and circumstances. “‘Born in the Heat’ is about being forced to leave somewhere you felt was home, and conforming to an idea that you don’t believe in,” McCullough says. One of the most effusive moments on Taken By Force, “Time Girl” arrives as a bouncy piece of surf-punk propelled by Hodgson and Harry’s driving guitar melodies. “Lyric-wise, it’s purely an angst-driven heartbreak song from the perspective of an early-’20s scumbag—but it’s still a lot of fun to play,” says Hodgson. And on “Blood Rushes,” Taken By Force winds down with a lush and sprawling track whose pummeling drums and crystalline guitars magnify the moody longing of McCullough’s vocal work. “Lewis and I each wrote half the lyrics, and I mostly ended up writing about anxiety,” notes McCullough. “My verses are about new love and trying to protect that in a violent world, like trying to keep a candle alight in a cyclone,” Hodgson adds. “It’s about wanting to have your own world away from everything, wanting that feeling to last a little bit longer before it all comes crashing down.”

In sharing such an immersive and emotionally arresting body of work, CIVIC ultimately hope to leave listeners with the same revelatory sensation they found in discovering the music that’s shaped them. “Lewis and I were talking about listening to the Stooges for the first time as kids and feeling completely overtaken by it,” says McCullough. “It would be amazing to have that same kind of impact, to make people feel something like ‘This music speaks to me.’ Even if it’s as simple as making them realize they just really love rock-and-roll, I think there’s something meaningful in that.”

Awabakal Land / Newcastle post-punk quintet dust is fast cementing their status as one of the country’s most singular and essential bands. Urgent, mesmeric, and arresting both on and off the stage, the collective has wasted no time in ensuring that their music and message reaches as far as it possibly can.

Forming against the backdrop of COVID in May 2020, the group – comprising vocalists and guitarists Gabriel Stove and Justin Teale, bassist Liam Smith, guitarist and saxophonist Adam Ridgway, and drummer Kye Cherry – gathered whenever they could to hone their craft, performing at every possible chance as they sharpened their sprawling yet intricate sound.

Unleashing debut single ‘STARE’ in early 2021, dust soon found themselves gracing the live stage with greater frequency. In March 2022, the band opened up the Newcastle leg of the THIS THAT festival, with support slots for high-profile names such as Bad//Dreems, Pist Idiots, Party Dozen, CIVC, and ARSE following soon after.
All the while, dust were hard at work behind the scenes, putting the finishing touches on their forthcoming debut EP. In June, the band gave fans a taste of what was to come by way of ‘The Gutter’, which scored critical acclaim from commercial radio stations around the country.

Now, dust are set to officially make their indelible mark upon the Australian music scene by way of et cetera, etc. Produced by Wade Keighran (Hockey Dad, Polish Club, Wolf & Cub) the eight-track EP is a culmination of dust not just as people, but as resonant artists.

Leaning heavily on themes of mortality, family, and social commentary, et cetera, etc arrives not just as an accomplished debut, but a vital addition to local music as a whole.
Offering a contemporary take on Australian post-punk, along with elements of experimental jazz and electronic music, dust have curated a sound that is as dark, introspective, and angular as it is powerful and progressive. Together, they’re set to provide Australian music with the sort of powerful jolt that will reverberate for years to come.

Together, they’re set to provide Australian music with the sort of powerful jolt that will reverberate for years to come.

Eliza Hull is an award-winning musician; she recently won the Music Victoria ‘Amplify’ award and The Women in Music Award. Her music has been described as ‘stirring, captivating and heartfelt.’

Her songs are featured in ABC KIDS TV show ‘And Then Something Changed,’ ABC drama ‘The Heights’ and American TV shows ‘Awkward, ‘Teen Wolf’ and ‘Saving Hope.’

She is played on radio nationally and internationally including on ABC, RN, BBC, double j and triple j. Eliza recently performed at SXSW in 2022 and Big Sound Festival. She also has performed at Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre.

Eliza has toured international and nationally and performed at the Natural History Museum in London and in Central Park New York. She has performed at the Brunswick Music Festival, Surround Sounds, New Years Eve on The Hill, St Kilda Festival, Ability Fest and Moomba.

Eliza has her fifth studio record coming out in 2023, which will feature lead single ‘Running Underwater’ which she performed live on Q&A on ABC TV. The EP will be produced by Pip Norman, with collaborations with Gordi and Odette.

Last year a suffocating black fog pursued Melbourne musician Gena Rose Bruce through the night’s depths – a recurring dream wraith brought on by the passing of her partner’s mother and pandemic instability. But as the inky spectre retreated, she began waking early, when the stars just barely cling to the sky – the first sparks of the strength, self-acceptance and resilience, which came to fruition over the recording of her new album Deep Is the Way.

“I really connected with the idea that stars are the people we’ve lost looking over us,” says Bruce. “You see that there’s so much beauty still left. You’re awake and you’ve got this whole day, this whole life ahead of you.”

It’s a memory Bruce channelled into the hopeful, devotional track ‘Morning Stars’, taken from Deep Is the Way – a record of dark introspection punctuated by the brightness of self-acceptance; and startling guitar excursions that articulate the present moment’s roiling emotions. It’s a complex album – devastating, jaunty, heavy and besotted.

Deep Is the Way chronicles Bruce’s fraught path back into the light, as she processes death and inner turmoil to emerge with a newfound state of strength and resilience. Following the success of her acclaimed debut Can’t Make You Love Me, Bruce had international touring planned, including stops in the US for SXSW Music Festival, the UK and Japan. But her last stores of adrenaline were running dry as she attempted to balance her career with trips to Israel to support her partner.

Artists are told by the industry to capitalise on momentum both explicitly and implicitly, to keep pushing or risk losing it all. When the pandemic flattened Bruce’s months of preparation, doubts about her future and artistic worth crept in. Her journey into balancing ambition and self-worth shows up on the burning slow-build ‘Future’.

“My passion and drive had actually been a burden and held me back from a lot of other aspects of life,” says Bruce. “You’ve dedicated yourself to something – and then there’s a pandemic and it’s just gone. I took it too far, too hard and kind of destroyed myself.”

She found herself facing Melbourne’s extended lockdown, in a tiny apartment with a grieving partner, and her career in jeopardy – anxieties that bubble over in a whitewater of arpeggiated synthesisers on ‘Misery and Misfortune’

“I just burnt out completely. When everything stopped, I felt exhausted and completely frustrated,” says Bruce. “It sounds funny to say now, but I felt like I wasn’t really good at anything. I didn’t like myself as a person, like I needed to have attention, recognition, or praise to make myself feel acceptable.”

She began turning inwards and shutting down around friends and family. Her close relationships felt laboured and her responses in social interactions insincere. She even began questioning her commitment to her partner. On the baroque, Billie Holiday-inspired track, ‘I’m Not Made to Love Only You’ Bruce fantasises about the thrill of new romance with unflinching honesty; and on the album’s dancefloor-ready opening track ‘Foolishly in Love’, that heat feels palpably close.

“I was asking myself: ‘am I meant for one sort of relationship?’,” says Bruce. “I think it’s an important question to ask, to really just have a frank conversation about those feelings.”

Housebound, with the claustrophobia of lockdown setting in, Bruce began identifying with characters in the books she was reading, like April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road – an actor whose ambitions are dampened by domesticity. Frustrations that made their way into the aching track ‘Captive’.

“Being out of work made me feel like a 1950s housewife,” says Bruce. “Because music wasn’t happening at the time, it felt like my time was over… I couldn’t see a way out. I just kind of felt trapped at home. That’s what April’s like, she’s just not made for that kind of suburban housewife existence. She kind of fell into it and let go of all of her dreams.”

Bruce’s journey inward led her to seminal psychoanalytical texts, including Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, in which he continues his exploration of humanity’s self-destructive tendencies. On the doom-laden ‘Destroy Myself’, with its buzzing synths and chugging guitars, Bruce reflects on her own dark compulsions.

“I think what I found fascinating was that he was talking about the fact that people have a need for that sort of behaviour. I have always felt that I drive towards that darkness,” says Bruce. “But it’s not a way to live your life and you do need help.”

Deep Is the Way is Bruce’s outlet for those emotions; but writing only gets you part of the way. It’s only through professional help and embracing the strength in her long-term relationship – found on the delicate piano tribute ‘Love’; and on ‘Harsh Light’, with its jagged Crowded House-like guitars and post Paul McCartney swing – that Bruce has found herself back literally on solid ground.

In the absence of touring, she has relished nature’s therapeutic qualities, through her newfound love of gardening, which she’s now studying too. Investing time in life’s cycles of renewal and growth gave Deep Is the Way its name, and the context for its pivotal title track, co-written with iconic songwriter Bill Callahan.

“Sometimes you don’t know why plants die, it can be so many things,” says Bruce. “Gardening just feels like going back to simple things. Working with your hands, in dirt and mud, is just a really beautiful feeling.”

Now, Bruce is content in her artistry: happy to dream, and relinquish herself to the whims of time and circumstance, rather than fight the tide. On the Electric Light Orchestra-inspired ‘I’d Rather Be a Dreamer’ she bucks society’s measure of success, instead finding contentment in her own creations and inner-strength, the dirt below and the stars above.

Deep Is the Way is out now via Remote Control Records.

Growing up jamming together on their family farm in South Australia, sisters Georgia (guitar, keys), Ella (bass, electric cello), and Clara Germein (drums) have since been turning heads with their unique brand of indie pop songs and signature harmonies.

Having toured internationally with Little Mix, Jess Glynne & Phil Collins to name a few – the trio’s energetic and charismatic live show has been described as nothing short of mesmerising.

Germein’s latest single ‘Good For A Girl’ was recently awarded 3rd place in the International Songwriting Competition. Writing, recording, and producing the track themselves in their home studio, ‘Good For A Girl’ touches on the siblings’ personal challenges they’ve faced being an all-female band in today’s music industry.

The band look forward to showcasing at SXSW Austin Texas USA in March, followed by The Great Escape Brighton UK in May. They have also just been announced as the opener for music icon Sting at Lytham Festival UK in June, The Isle of Wight Festival UK, as well as The Corrs Australia & New Zealand Tour in Oct/Nov 2023.

Girl and Girl are Kai James, his Aunty Liss on drums, longtime friend Jayden Williams on guitar and bassist Fraser Bell. Hailing from Australia’s sun-drenched Gold Coast, the four-piece garage rock outfit has a special kinship that shines through in their music and in their electric live shows — Kai’s magnetism backed by Liss’ 37 years of drumming experience. With undeniable hooks and surprising emotional intensity, this multi-generational outfit leaves everything on the stage.

Named as one of the TheMusic.com.au’s ‘Top 25 Rising Acts of 2021’, Girl and Girl caught a wave in 2022. They landed their first airplay on Australian youth broadcaster triple j with the single ‘Garden Song’ and were playlisted on both 4ZZZ and 2Ser, with support from Tone Deaf, Australian Music Scene, LivewireAU, Blank Street Press, MILKY Magazine and more. Internationally, the band scored early radio play for their single ‘Dance Now’ on US radio station NCPR’s ‘Dean’s List’ program as well as stations in both France and Germany. ‘Dance Now’ also garnered massive support locally from Music Feeds, theMusic, 4ZZZ and triple j Unearthed, as well as appearing on Spotify’s The Local List, Fresh Finds AU & NZ, Indie Arrivals and Local Noise.

After winning the inaugural Gold Coast Music Prize, Girl and Girl became one of the hottest buzz acts at Australia’s 2022 Bigsound Music Conference, partnering with Sundowner Management (Amyl and The Sniffers), Will Church at ATC Live (UK/Europe) and Ali Hedrick at Arrival Artists (US) before signing a global deal with Sub Pop Records.

It’s not often that you come across a voice so commanding that it stops you in your tracks and demands your attention. JACOTÉNE, a 17 yr old from Melbourne, Australia, does exactly that. Possessing a tone infused with textures and shades of past vocal greats, JACOTÉNE delivers with a power well beyond her years. Since being crowned as Triple J’s Unearthed High Winner of 2022, she has taken the first steps towards her dream of becoming an internationally recognised artist. In the short time since her first demo was uploaded in August 2022, she has delivered a top 5 most played song across Triple J, a digital pressing that sold out in 8min, a national run on Laneway Festival 2023, confirmed for The Great Escape UK ‘23 and Neighborhood Weekender UK 2023, in addition to a string of live dates across Australia, US and the UK.

Her battle to overcome leukemia taught her early on to take life as it comes and go where the inspiration leads. “Music provides me with a space that allows me to be myself and stay in sync with who I am. People (past and present) and my true emotions keep me inspired. I want my music to be global, to connect with people around the world. Most of all, I want to sing!”

With influences ranging from Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, Amy Winehouse and Adele, JACOTÉNE is an artist poised to make her mark.

The talents of indie-pop artist Jem Cassar-Daley have dazzled the Australian music scene since her debut in 2021.

Jem’s debut EP I Don’t Know Who to Call released in 2022, a devastatingly gorgeous collection of all of the singer-songwriter’s works to date. Featuring previous singles “Letting Go,” “Changes,” “Like it More” and “Oh No” which have quickly gained her notoriety and adoration.

Jem’s captivating performances, stellar vocals and timeless songwriting have earned her the Indigenous Award at the 2022 Queensland Music Awards along with the New Talent of the year at the 2022 NIMA’s, impressive Spotify and Apple editorial playlist support along with nationwide press, including being named as the star to watch in 2023 in the Sunday Mail.

The young talent has come into her own as a contemporary artist, with a world class sound that is a unique combination drawing from favourites like Missy Higgins, Phoebe Bridgers, Angus and Julia Stone, and Carole King. As imagined, the result is a gorgeously diverse soundscape of soul, indie, pop grooves.

Make sure you see this immeasurable new talent for yourself.

Memphis LK is a Melbourne based artist, producer, vocalist and DJ.

Memphis fell in sync with electronic music in her late teens, teaching herself Ableton and eventually combining early soul, pop and RnB influences with her love of underground electro, UKG, 2-step and breakbeat. She has paved her way within the Melbourne club music massive, twisting parties with the likes of DJ Koze and Ms Boogie.

Memphis’ current discography has gained support from DSP’s, triple j and triple j Unearthed, naming her Unearthed feature artist and landing her in the triple j Unearthed ‘5 star club’.

‘Letters in Concrete’ is the latest offering from Memphis, packed with powerful lyricism, dreamy synths and danceable lo-fi breaks.

MF Tomlinson is an Australian-born, London-based artist who, with his collaborators the MFs, crafts sonic worlds that draw upon acid folk, prog, jazz and ambient music – lying somewhere between Bill Callahan, Yo La Tengo, and Leonard Cohen. His second album, We Are Still Wild Horses, was released February ‘23 on PRAH to a remarkable critical reception (★★★★ The Times, Uncut, Mojo, The Line of Best Fit). Their compelling live show has earned them supports with Dry Cleaning and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and a set in Latitude in ’22. This summer the MFs are set to play numerous festivals in the UK and abroad (including The Great Escape and The End of the Road) with more announcements to come.

Thanks to a belter of a voice, no holds barred lyrics and endless charisma, Melbourne artist Mia Wray’s star is on a rapid rise. Originally from Noosa, Mia honed her craft playing bars, restaurants and country clubs up the coast, just her and her guitar. In her late teens she moved Melbourne, and after a couple of years of gigging locally realised there was a bigger, braver sound, one she’d not dared to dream, waiting dormant inside her.

Her debut single “Work For Me” was one of the most exciting in recent years, ‘blowing up’ the triple j textline and gaining widespread support from Spotify, Apple and one Elton John, who plugged the track on his Beats 1. Mia has gone on to become one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed emerging artists. Five singles and a debut EP in, Mia has graced playlist covers, had her singles added to high rotation on triple j, toured alongside the likes of The Rubens and Vance Joy and performed on national TV several times over. Mia entered the global arena in 2021 which included her debut headline show in the UK and resulted in an invite to the Great Escape Festival as part of its First 50.

Mia’s debut EP, ‘Stay Awake’ is a culmination of the Melbourne musician’s big, bold, and expansive musical output to date. The five-track collection, featuring 2022 singles ‘Evidence’ & ‘Rerun’, is a testament to an artist as powerful behind the pen as she is behind the mic; a huge voice with something to say.

A cutting-edge collaboration from two of Australia’s most distinctive musical voices: Chinese guzheng virtuoso Mindy Meng Wang 王萌 and Melbourne-based electronic producer Tim Shiel.

Their unique works connect ancient traditions to the distant future, with exploratory wide-eyed production that oscillates from jungle breakbeats to minimal house thumps, incorporating smoky trip-hop atmospheres and lush ambiences. Everpresent throughout are the dreamlike melodies of Mindy’s 21-string guzheng – a two-metre long Chinese harp with a rich tradition stretching back millenia.

Their debut EP, forged during Melbourne’s brutal 2020 lockdowns, organically reached across the world to touch tastemakers at BBC 6 Music, NTS & Mixmag, with MTV Australia calling it “some of the best Australian electronic music released this year,” and Gorilla vs Bear calling it “incredibly hypnotic and cinematic.”

Brisbane-based psychedelic rock quintet Nice Biscuit are unique in the mesmerising sonic and visual world they create. A swirling blend of krautesque rhythms and powerful dual vocals, combined with heavily modulated guitar tones, the band creates a hypnotic psychedelia that sets them apart from the rest. Their choreographed live show has taken them to festivals all around the world and earned them supports slots for King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard, Wet Leg and many more. With two EPs and an independently-released album behind them, Nice Biscuit has recently signed to cult labels Bad Vibes/Fuzz Club (UK) and Greenway/Levitation (US), and will release their much-anticipated sophomore album in late 2024.

In 2017, in the Australian coastal town of Gerringong, a four-piece alternative rock band was born, blending the sounds of classic rock & roll with a contemporary indie flavour.

Pacific Avenue have had a busy and exciting few years landing festival slots at; Mountain Sounds, Sounds of the Suburbs, Yours and Owls, Lost Paradise, and Snow Tunes. They have also supported the likes of established acts including; The Wombats (UK), Tash Sultana, Ocean Alley, The Vanns, San Sisco, Tyne James Organ and The Angels.

Throughout 2018 and 2019, Pacific Avenue spent time in the studio with producer Adrian Breakespear (Gang of Youths) to create their debut EP ‘Strawberry Skies’. These songs were written over a period where all the boys were out of home for the first time and living together in a beach shack at Woonona. Through these shared experiences, the EP expresses the notion of ‘freedom of youth’ and discovering oneself at a sometimes confusing age.

Following the release of this EP in late 2019 and establishing their powerful sound, Pacific Avenue have been back in the studio with Adrian Breakspear to bring to you their latest single ‘My Hero’. This song was written when singer Harry met someone for a fleeting moment on holidays, who amazed him in every aspect. ‘This person had all the beautiful things that made you stop and forget about this crazy world for a while, and with music that is exactly what we want to do’- Harry Obrien.

The release of Penelope Three in 2021 marked the final instalment of Trappes’ quietly mesmerising, acclaimed trilogy. The artist spent 2016 writing and recording what would become Penelope One in a small piano studio in East London. Composed of mostly percussionless, reverb-heavy, haunting atmospherics with dystopian themes, the LP was released via Optimo Music in 2017.

Penelope signed to the stellar Houndstooth label and released her second album ‘Penelope Two’ in 2018, a minimalist album built around field recordings, meditations, guitars, piano and reverb, which deals with mortality, predestination and empathy. 2019 saw the release of ‘Penelope Redeux’ consisting of reworks of songs from ‘Penelope Two’ by uncompromising artists, including Cosey Fanni Tutti, Mogwai, Félicia Atkinson and Nik Colk Void.

The ‘Eel Drip’ EP was released in 2020 and Penelope Three, the final epigenetic-themed instalment of the trilogy, was released in May 2021 with a long string of UK tourdates, culminating in a live performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra at London’s Sounthbank Centre and a tour in Australia. ‘Mother’s Blood’, a vocal- free meditative reinterpretation of ‘Penelope Three’ was released on cassette at the end of that year.

In 2023, Penelope will release ‘Heavenly Spheres’ LP – an experimental collection of music made during her artist residency at Britten Pears Arts.

Previously fronting much loved acts Snakadaktal and Two People, Phoebe Go is the exciting new solo project of Australian alt-pop artist Phoebe Lou. The process of finding her voice as a solo artist has been, as described by Phoebe herself, daunting, but it has also set her free.

Phoebe Go unveils a full-bodied and wholly realised acoustic world unlike anything Phoebe has shared before. Produced by trusted friend Simon Lam (Kllo, Armlock), ‘We Don’t Talk’ muses on pushing through, riding on rough textures, grit and determination, kicking the Phoebe Go project into gear.

Phoebe Go is a heartfelt project that at its core, is full of hope. It’s lyrically heavy at the crux, but there’s lightness for a reason. It’s about growing up, staying young, losing your feet and finding them again. It’s passing Go and collecting $200 on the monopoly board. It’s the sweet milk at the end of a bowl of Crunchy Nut. It’s a NASA mission control countdown and Phoebe Go is the rocket.

RVG’s highly-anticipated third album is named Brain Worms for the hyper-recognisable experience of, each day, baring witness to a world of private obsessions being aired out in the infinite. For the Melbourne post-punk band and its lyricist/frontwoman Romy Vager, there’s a newfound radical acceptance glistening overtop everything.

After a momentous first five years — finding critical acclaim for debut A Quality of Mercy, landing on countless end-of-year Best Of lists, and playing alongside some of the world’s biggest acts in Pixies, Kurt Vile, Pete Doherty, Sleaford Mods, Shame, and more — RVG released second album Feral as the world was locking down. Feral was called “masterfully executed” by The Big Issue, “the record of a lifetime” by Rolling Stone Australia, and given four-and-a-half stars by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Between the four bandmates — lead singer and guitarist Vager, guitarist Reuben Bloxham, drummer Marc Nolte and bassist Isabele Wallace — this is the most confident they’ve ever felt in RVG. They’ve moved past their influences, pushed themselves, and tried new things. And they have made a record they can, by all accounts, call their best.

BIO COMING SOON

Hometown pride runs deep for 26-year-old rapper Tasman Keith, whose music is indebted to giving back to the community that raised him. From a small town on New South Wales’ mid-North Coast most commonly recognised for one of the country’s most notorious missions and most shameful history the rapper is carrying on the storytelling traditions of his family, by writing a new chapter through music. From syrupy 90s West Coast synths, to neo-funk, skittering trap hi-hats and emotive R&B, his music defies categorisation, but his message remains hard to ignore.

Formed during high school in their hometown of Canberra in 2019, TEEN JESUS AND THE JEAN TEASERS – Anna Ryan (they/them; vocals/guitar), Scarlett McKahey (she/her; guitar/vocals), Jaida Stephenson (she/her; bass) and Neve van Boxsel (she/her; drums) – channel Riot Grrrl-era energy with a 2023 spin and are the most natural, confident and damn likeable punk-rockers you’ll meet. Now based across Dharawal Country/Wollongong, Ngunnawal/Canberra, and Naarm/Melbourne, the band have graduated into an astute group of early twenty-somethings – just as concerned about issues facing today’s women, non-binary people and young people everywhere as they are with their loud and completely cool punk rock sound.

On their debut EP Pretty Good For A Girl Band, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers proclaimed that they are a true force to be reckoned with and aren’t here to mess around. Their most recent single ‘Girl Sports’ hit #55 on the triple j Hottest 100, and the band played a string of summer festivals including Party In The Paddock, Beyond The Valley, NYE On The Hill and St Kilda Festival, following their sell-out national EP headline tour last spring. The PGFAGB EP saw praise from the likes of The Guardian, triple j, frankie, The AU Review, Music Feeds, The Music and Kill Your Stereo, cover stars on Spotify and Apple Music, with ‘AHHHH!’ taking the #117 spot on the Hottest 200 countdown last year.

The Rubens are a five-piece alternative rock band from Menangle, New South Wales, Australia. The Rubens are the three Margin brothers, Zaac, Sam and Elliott, and long term friends Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis.

With tremendous backing from triple j and Ivy League/ Mushroom Music, their self-titled debut album was released 14 September 2012. It was a resounding success nationally in Australia, where it is now ARIA Certified Platinum.

This saw them sell out several national tours, perform at every major Australian music festival, support several major acts (Bruce Springsteen, The Black Keys, Grouplove), and sell out shows worldwide. The follow up album Hoops was released 7 August 2015 and debuted at Number 2 on the ARIA charts.

The band once more sold out venues all over Australia, playing to crowds of 5000 people a night at venues such as The Hordern Pavilion, Margaret Court Arena and Melbourne Zoo. The album is ARIA Certified Gold, and title track Hoops (triple j Hottest 100 Winner) has been streamed over 40 million times.

As of 2019, Hoops is now an ARIA Certified Triple Platinum single.

In October 2017, the band released Million Man, the first song from their 3rd album, working with credible producers Little Shalimar & Wilder Zoby of Run The Jewels fame.

A 27 global tour for Million Man single saw the band sell out 5 of their North American dates (Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Brooklyn, Chicago) and as well as London and their hometown show at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

In 2018 the band released their third album LO LA RU, debuting at #3 on the ARIA Album Charts, with ‘Million Man’ also receiving ARIA Gold certification and lead single ‘Never Ever feat. Sarah’ now certified ARIA Double Platinum. ‘Never Ever’ also won the APRA Rock Work of The Year Award in 2019.

At the end of 2018 the band supported PINK on her 42-date arena tour across Australia and New Zealand to huge success, playing in front of 500,000 punters across the tour.

A main stage Splendour In The Grass performance in 2019 saw the band do a live debut of their collab with US hip hop star, Vic Mensa.

Their single Live In Life has been certified double platinum and amassed over 35 million streams globally and was top 3 Australian streamed songs of 2020 and also received an ARIA nomination for Song Of Year.

To date their entire catalogue has amassed over 200 million streams & 250,00 physical albums.

The fourth studio album 0202 topped the ARIA Charts on its release in February 2021 and has also been nominated for The Australian Music Prize. The 0202 album tour sold 23,000 tickets nationally and the band picked up a Best Producer at the ARIA Awards.

In November 2022, the band announced the release of a new single ‘Waste A Day’, alongside the staging of a festival in their hometown of Camden called ‘ValleyWays’ to celebrate 10 years playing as a band, as well as the “Waste A Day 2022 Australian Tour’.

2023 will see the band release new music off their fifth studio album, with a trip to play The Great Escape in the UK and London headline show.

Ula and her music are clearly in a class of their own, and with 1.5M + engaged followers, her fans tend to agree.

Starting off in the humble world of street busking (a passion that Ula still regularly indulges in), there has never been a question of Ula becoming anything other than a performer – it’s in her DNA. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the legendary Gene Simmons from KISS signed her mother’s belly when Ula was in there, or that she attended her first concert at the tiny age of four.

Whatever the reason, Ula is a natural artist, ready for greatness.

Born and raised in Sydney, on a diet of 80’s rock with a side serving of traditional Lithuanian folk music, Ula is quickly making a name for herself. As an only child, Ula grew up with a collection of imaginary friends accompanying her on journeys through magical worlds. This vivid imagination that she describes as “me and my brain going off” has transferred into the beautifully esoteric lyrics that she and her imagination concoct.

In 2020 the then 16-year-old released her first track Futon independently. The track, which has now amassed an enormous 23.3m + streams across all platforms, not surprisingly started getting industry ears pricking up.

With in-person opportunities for Ula to spread the word of her talents almost non-existent with seemingly endless lock-downs, she had to formulate an alternate plan. Utilising her Gen Z skills, the multi-instrumental teen jumped aboard the social media platform TikTok to embark on her rapidly expanding musical journey. A decision that’s proved to be a master stroke.

When asked how she would describe her musical style, Ula provides a pretty phenomenal answer:

“I think I’m overly ambitious to compensate the mundane; I’m very conscious of steering clear of becoming a carbon copy of another musician.”

Ula has already given her ever-expanding fanbase a taste of what to expect off her debut EP through her most recent release of Gold Star. With an accompanying video, directed by Amber Mealing (Birdz, Benny Morell), that oozes early 00’s nostalgia, Gold Star showcases the inspiration Ula takes from the Y2K pop and grunge eras.

Her on-stage reputation has already paved the way for Ula to share the stage supporting the likes of international stars Alfie Templeman, Amy Shark and The Veronicas. She’s also spread her ‘festival wings’ at the Someday Soon Festival, alongside Holy Holy, Middle Kids and Ruby Fields, plus a national tour with Tyne James Organ, and her very own debut headline show Sydney’s Playhouse Playground.

Ula was also recently handpicked to support multi-award-winning Canadian Indie rock band Mother Mother on a run of shows across Australia’s East coast.

And finally, the Pop Princess is ready to unleash her music to a global audience; having received a perfectly timed offer to perform at the highly coveted 2023 UK festival – The Great Escape.

Having recently signed to boutique agency Flagrant Artist Management (Ruel, Taka Perry, Tom Thum), Ula and her aethereal, abrasive indie pop are soon to be very, very big.

A DIY affair from the get-go, the band Vacations formed in 2016 primarily as a songwriting vehicle for Campbell Burns, Burns later adding band members Jake Johnson, Nate Delizzotti, and Joseph Van Lier. Their song “Young” is certified Gold in Canada, Australia, and Poland, and was certified Platinum in the U.S. in early 2023. Their single “Telephones” is also certified Gold in the US, with the band racking up over 1 billion streams globally and over 1.1m Shazam’s. Their two sold-out U.S. tour included performances at Austin City Limits, Elsewhere (Hall), Meow Wolf, and even saw them go from The Roxy (500 cap) to The Fonda (1,200 cap) in a matter of months. Catch them next on their sold-out tour in the UK starting in May.