Local Artists:

APEman: Ohm (Single) (Indie)
-Deeply embedded in Brisbanes’ hip hop community and a part of the the ever-growing Strictly Family, APEman’s single Ohm, is an exorcism of energies and an assertion of self over a deep monk’s drone that knocks rather hard. (Nick Rodwell)

Hat Fitz & Cara: After the Rain (Manhaton)
- Roots rock isn't at quite the peak of its popularity, but local stalwarts Hat Fitz & Cara may well sound their most accomplished. Whether it's blues, country, swamp rock or mandolin driven folk-rock they sound tight. Cara's solid-as-a-brick-wall alto takes most of the vocal duties but Hat's leathery baritone is very serviceable too. A record by two very skilled practitioners of the craft. (Chris Cobcroft)

Low Season: No Headline (Single) (Indie)
- An unlooked for meeting of post-rock and thinking person's emo. It makes those emotional peaks that much more epically emotive and a pretty smashing song overall. (Chris Cobcroft)

OKBADLANDS: Gold & Dust (Single) (Indie)
- This single from duo OKBADLANDS has a seriously slinky groove, so much so that it makes you furrow your brow and nod your head back and forth. That furrow won’t last long, though, there is too much sweetness flowing over the top, smoothing out what is actually some tight pop. (Nick Rodwell)

Virginia Sook: Mandarin Song (Ruined Smile)
- Loose, airy but deceptively grown-up folk and folk-rock. Always going to sound a bit like something nutted out at the kitchen table, but for all that, gently compelling. (Chris Cobcroft)

Australian Artists:

Alpha Wolf: Nail Bitter (Single) (Collision Course)
- With the impenetrable heaviness of deathcore and the schiz-noise of nu-metal, Melbourne heavies Alpha Wolf are offering up something quite interesting. The much maligned nu-metal is proving to have a residual effect on the youngbloods and thankfully, these guys know the sub-genres better parts to bring into their brutal sound. (Nick Rodwell)

Billy Davis: No Longer Lovers (Single) (Good Manners)
- Pretty smooth-ass and jazzy neosoul out of Melbourne. The large outfit, led by the rhodes-stroking Billy Davis, finds themselves in a fairly large field of urban smoothies, but they certainly have the chops to make themselves stand out, even in that large crowd. (Chris Cobcroft)

Broadway Sounds: Ah Ring Ah Ting Ting (Single) (Indie)
- Melbourne afrobeat enthusiasts Broadway Sounds continue to achieve with just three what usually takes a whole bunch more, sweating their asses off. The new single is pretty synthetic but no less energetic and euphoric for it. High BPM and highly entertaining. (Chris Cobcroft)

Corin: Void (Single) (Wondercore Island)
- Pretty classic, oldschool idm from the Melbourne producer. She confirms the orientalism of the angular electro melodies and sharp stabbing beats with a video as stuffed full of virtual cherry blossoms as circuit boards. Playfully aggressive, retrofuturistic in a web 1.0 kinda way and probably completely impossible to dance to, but any dimly lit nightclub that plays it will feel thirty percent more like a scene from a William Gibson novel. (Chris Cobcroft)

Dro Carey: Elevate (Single) (Soothsayer / Mushroom)
- Following up the underrated Dark Zoo, Dro Carey continues to mine the grime with stand alone Elevate. It’s not your conventional grime, if you’re across Skepta’s Konnichiwa, you’ll appreicate the Americanised flavours present in Carey’s style. Regardless, it grinds hard with Cadell & Chocolate adding that extra level of cred. (Nick Rodwell)

Elisabeth Dixon: LP1 (Trait)
- Melbourne producer Elisabeth Dixon draws on techno as much as she does industrial, her cuts are long, layered and make for a dancefloor experience that is at once shadowy and pummeling. Her debut, helpfully entitled LP1 is getting released both in Oz and overseas by a Berlin label, Instruments Of Discipline, natch. Its commitment is to the club, first and foremost and -every now and then- might be a little repetitive. That may also have something to do with the fact that, bizarrely, Dixon has only just entered the dance world; her first contact with music-making of any kind was only a year ago. That aside there's heaps to recommend her style: take the excellent Technique of Self, with its background sheets of crackling and snarling ambience, metallic beats, completed by Elisabeth's vanishing, whispered vocals: excellent. A precocious and promising first offering. (Chris Cobcroft)

Floating Pyramids: Out Of This World (Single) (Floating Sounds)
- Chris Hammer-Smith aka Chasm, aka Dr Don Don, aka one half of Astronomy Class has had a bit of success with side projects, so why not have another one? Floating Pyramids' latest single is instrumental hip hop circa the late '90s infused with all of the production chops Chris has developed over the years. A pretty tasty and nostalgic offering. There've been other singles trickling out over the year, but so far things seem to have been kinda only on the downlow - I wonder how long that will last? (Chris Cobcroft)

Gawurra: Mulunda (Kingfisher) (Single) (Caaama Music)
- If you’re charmed by Gurrumul’s virtuous voice then Gawurra will please you to no end. Hailing from East Arnhem land, the singer songwriter has teamed up with Broadwing to produce a beautiful single. Light touches of electronica fused with acoustic guitar recall the modern power of Jose Gonzales whilst never losing it’s distinctly Australian sense of awe. (Nick Rodwell)

Going Swimming: Debt Collector (Single) (Indie)
- Going Swimming return with their scuzzy surf rock vibes, releasing their new single Debt Collector. Filled with jangley guitars and upbeat, thrashing percussion, the band have kept their lo-fi garage sound but added a little extra punch. (Ben Gibson)

Jack River: Highway Songs No. 2 (I Oh You / Mushroom)
- Holly Rankin does a pretty convincing country rock with her Jack River project. So convincing you'd be forgiven for thinking that was all she did, but stick around for the length of debut EP and you'll hear melancholy synth-pop and urgent pop-rock and slow, hazy psych. What every number shares is a richness, a lush sound that does to justice to Rankin's languorous emotion. (Chris Cobcroft)

Jamatar: Interstellar (Single) (Hyperwave)
- Jamatar has injected his recognisable ambient, chiptune vibe with jovial vitality in this new track. Interstellar takes you for a journey on a fast-paced spaceship through a psychedelic, galactic universe set within a vintage 2D Video game - fitting given it was composed using a Gameboy. (Alyssa Bebbington)

Lossless: Teeth Real Yellow (Single) (Wondercore Island)
- Gritty as a mouth full of broken (yellow) teeth. The minute-and-a-half of HTML Flowers' beats and Oscar Key Sung telling us he's actually really appalling is moving and strangely romantic. It's really only a taster though - when's that full-length due? Must be very soon. (Chris Cobcroft)

MYOHWAR: Floodsong (Single) (A&R)
- Perth's MYOHWAR sounds like a fusion of French prog-rock band Magma and Pink Floyd. With classic guitar riffs and Dark Side Of The Moon style ambience the effect created is one of dynamic tranquility. (Francesca Kurlansky)

Papa Pilko And The Binrats: Bloodlines (Single) (Off The Hip)
- There are a lot of blues rockers about, but few of them scream as loud as Papa Pilko and few have as soulful a horn and rhythm section as The Binrats. Submitting this single as exhibit (a) in evidence. (Chris Cobcroft)

POPPONGENE: Belgravey (Single) (Our Golden Friend)
- Good dream-pop is all vibe first, content second. And Melbourne’s POPPONGENE have vibed-out this gem to a point that i don’t know if i’ll ever make it to the content that lies within the twinkling guitars and hazy melodies. Don’t wake me, just press repeat. (Nick Rodwell)

The Ruiner: The Ruiner (Desert Highways)
- The stoner-metal supergroup (featuring members of Christbait and Blood Duster among others) sounds in fine form on its debut album. Slowly, crushingly groovy, thundering into sonorous doom or pub rock when the mood takes them, a tight but diverse record. (Chris Cobcroft)

Traffic Island Sounds: Maximal Electronics (Moontown)
- Zak Olsen of Orb and Hierophants takes a cosmic left-turn into DIY electronica. Extremely weird -like an even more self-indulgent Ariel Pink?- but with some sweet, left-field lofi psych-pop buried in there. (Chris Cobcroft)

Overseas Artists:

American Football: Desire Gets In The Way (Single) (Wichita / Polyvinyl / Mushroom)
- It's not small thing to try and follow up your band's one and only, seventeen-year-old, much loved cult record. The earnest Mike Kinsella and co. never do anything by half measures though. On the (emo) strength of singles like this, it actually seems like it might have been a good thing to do. Anthemic, in your face, but subtle too: there's a lot going on under the surface. Clever, moving, powerful, yeah I really am looking forward to that record. (Chris Cobcroft)

Apothek: Apothek (Propeller)
- A beautifully delicate collection of dreamy eletronica with melodic, ethereal vocal harmonies. Norwegian duo explore the inner workings of the human mind and vocalise them to a stripped back and gentle electronic soundtrack. (Marli Blanche)

EZTV: High In Place (Captured Tracks / Remote Control)
- Twanging folk guitar riffs of the early Beatles' tracks and light psychedilic touches create EZTV's individualistic take on the typical pop-rock genre. The album explores alienation and despondency with a wistful, breezy and air-light sound. (Marli Blanche)

Greys: Fresh Hell (Single) (Buzz / Carpark)
- Toronto-based noise-power poppers Greys are back with the further destruction of pop. Such a talent for melody and harmony, such a sense of perversion to place such a hypnotic racket beneath such beauty. Marvelous. (Nick Rodwell)

Gurr: In My Head (Duchess Box / Red Eye)
- Two girls from Berlin doing that kind of skeletal art-punk that Berliner's do so well. Not that it's crippled by cool or anything, In My Head is as sweetly infectious as any effort by Vivian Girls or even Best Coast. (Chris Cobcroft)

Hamilton + Rostam: In A Black Out (Single) (Liberator / Glassnote / Mushroom)
- This intersection where The Walkmen meets Vampire Weekend is proving rather diverse. After the declarative garage pop of 1000 Times, In A Black Out pulls back into a folk ditty with modern flourishes. Rostam’s production cues are superb as a support for Hamilton’s textured experience. (Nick Rodwell)

Nils Bech: Echo (DFA)
- Constantly redefining pop music, Nils Bech has once again created an album that pushes the boundaries of the genre. Haunting falsetto floats over almost orchestral synth arrangements, contrasted by the brutal and gritty drum production throughout the album. (Ben Gibson)

Pional: When Love Hurt's (Counter / Inertia)
- Spanish producer Pional vacillates between electro-pop and house, funky and ghostly, bouncing along playfully and making sharply techy right-angle turns. His debut for Counter is a little difficult to pin down, but pretty damn enticing, including that guest-vocal from another house trailbreaker, Empress Of. (Chris Cobcroft)

Solange: A Seat At The Table (Saint / Columbia / Sony)
- Solange's third r'n'b full-length is political and complexly so, subtley through-composed rather than stitched together from pop hits, but ultimately, the whole lot is very rewarding. Though it doesn't pull its punches, in the end it's unifying rather than divisive. Urban music has been throwing up a few personal, political epics and A Seat At The Table stands tall among them. (Chris Cobcroft)

Teenage Fanclub: Thin Air (Single) (Pema / Warner)
- Scottish rockers Teenage Fanclub have been around forever, but they still sound pretty fresh. This single sounds like some bizarrely workable mix of shoegaze, dadrock and Elliott Smith. I don't expect anyone to take that recommendation without a listen, so please have a listen. (Chris Cobcroft)