First off, shoutouts to anyone who feels confident enough in what they’re making that they can keep it down to two minutes and eleven seconds. It takes a certain nerve to hear what you’ve made as a two minute record and think ‘that oughta do it I reckon. That’s done’. But look, May, you kept this one in the microwave not a minute too long because what you’ve come out with is a cooked through record that needs little else. We got ourselves some piano and uhhhh… what’s that thing over the top? You know, kinda sounds the way a professional massage feels and the way a renaissance painting looks? Oh that’s your voice, sure ok, makes sense. Born with it? Right yeah, I kinda get that. I was born relatively good looking so that’s kinda my ‘gift’ you know? Noone remarks on it because I can be self-conscious but needless to say, I know what it’s like. You might even say we’re the same, me the 2012 award winning blog man and you, the human who posses a vocal that could force lava back into a volcano.

That’s enough then, why don’t you all just head right on below and hit play on this one and if you wanna leave her a review of your own, head over to her Unearthed profile. Maybe you too hear a little of Emma Louise’s Everything Lilac (shoutouts Harrison Kefford for drawing this excellent connection), I know I certainly do.

Declan ‘Sweetboi’ Byrne from my workspace counts GGM’s 2017 single ‘Phone Keys Wallet‘ as his favourite track of twenty seventeen. He hasn’t explicitly said that to me recently but it seems like something he’d probably say don’t you think? He sure loved that track.

Me though? I didn’t even know who this band was until just now on the arrival of ‘Little Heart’. I reckon I’m close to mirroring Declan’s feelings when it comes to this new one that’s barreled me over so completely. It has all the charm of seminal Australian indie-pop like The Lucksmiths or the localized affection of a record like The Starry Field‘s Back On The Milks. It’s homemade syrup in a worn down can and it tastes better than anything you’ll find on Woollies shelves.

If you want to crank the cute up a few levels further, check out the video they just dropped for the track.

Ah yes, it’s Bloghound Billy at it again after a cool quarter year hiatus, a period during which I was hounded mercilessly by fans, artists, creditors and publicists alike. “When will you write about my new single, dumbass?” and “you understand it’s a loan right? You can’t just keep the money?” are just a few of the questions that I’ve failed to answer over the past quarter.

I’m gonna answer this one though. You’ve not asked it yet but I’m gonna answer it, stand back now. YES. Yes, this song is one of the best Australian tracks of the year. YES, it’s one of the best produced hip-hop tracks of the year, local or international. YES, it’s indicative of a luminous future for Australian hip-hop. Its called THANK THE LORD by uprising Sydney crew Savour The Rations.

Can we pause on the production though for a second… The hand drums, the maniacal plucked sounds pattering like rain and those classic-Kwame manipulated bass sounds that allow the beat end to carry the same energy as the vocal parts – some feat, truly. Maybe I should have led with this but indeed it’s produced by Kwame under his production handle ‘thayboykwame’. He’s also one of the four MCs who lay bars over his production and I’m gonna have to put my hand up and say that I was expecting his flowcomotive punch to leave the other three in the dust. I was dead wrong and that’s what makes this crew feel so lucrative – there’re different voices to this and each bring fire and thunder of their own. That’s the strength of a crew like Brockhampton who can exhibit so many personalities in the one track and I think that’s what gives gas to THANK THE LORD too.

Imagine this thing live though… just dwell on it while you’re listening and thank the lord you get to. No word on whether or not these four will continue releasing under the mantle of STR in months to come (Kwame, Domba, Raj Mahal and Gibrillah all have blossoming solo projects in 2018) but on the strength of THANK THE LORD, you’d have to think they’ll go in on some more posse cuts. Please.

Well ol’ Pipsy is from the great city of Dunedin but that didn’t stop him uploading to triple jay unearthed dot com did it? Hijinx afoot? No mam, Pipsy went and moved to Melbourne so it’s all above board. What he did next is what we’re here to talk about, cause he went and put out this lil ol’ LP called Users and there’re a few on here that are worth your attention. The one that got me most immediately was this reverb sodden ‘Holiday’ that’ll slurp you the same way Sures did what feels like so long ago. We’re talking critical levels of sun soaked buoyancy here folks, unsinkable bubbles of hook laden pop.

Pipsy, real name Paul Pouwels-Trumpour, plays every instrument and even mixed and mastered the damn thing. Paul, nice one. Colour me impressed.

It’s best received as a full record experience but I’m not gonna tell you how to take your music, I’m not your damn dad and even he should know better than to try to micro-manage your media consumption. Dude really needs to dial it back 30%.

I heard this song this morning in our regular Tuesday morning triple j Unearthed music meeting and lemme tell you, the effect was immediate. Sweet child of the ocean and literal sunbeam Claire Mooney brought this in full of nonchalance, as if she wasn’t just about to play us an absolute wonder wrapped in jazz, psych loops and hundred dollar bills. I played it down. “This is fine, I guess”, I shrugged. I knew though. I knew that Claire had unknowingly stumbled upon a rich mineral deposit, and I was ready to take it off her hands. “Mind if I borrow this for a minute?” I asked, hefting the mp3 in the air and catching it again. “We won’t have much use for it but it might make for an excellent paperweight, perhaps. Or I can just chuck it in the bin for you if you’re finished with it?”

I pocketed that sweet file and I knew I’d committed a great evil, but what was I to do in the face of a groove this infectious. Vocals, flitting in and out, probably lyricless and largely formless but another dynamic that helped to drive this song constantly onward. I considered burying it in a lockbox so that only I would hear the song again but it felt wrong to deprive the world of this great rhythm. Now, I present it to you, underneath this text and as spectacular as I’ve suggested. The reference points on his Unearthed page are Caribou, Floating Points and Kevin Parker and that’s just about the listing of its parts. They’re a Melbourne four-piece founded by former Lurch & Chief member Brendan Anderson. Starts strong, ends stronger, here for you right now.