First as Anonyme and now under his own name, Andrew Tuttle has long been making music of the most natural order, inextricable from place and time. Australia has a long history of this. A basketful of the countries most recognisable artists, from Archie Roach through Boomgates have hinged their creativity (consciously or otherwise) on placing their context within their music.

Tuttle’s new record Fantasy League differs in that it doesn’t rely on words to conjur the images, they’re embedded in the sounds. The record shifts in hazy textures. Whorls of guitar are overcome by droning rhythms, to be overtaken by thundering organs or fluttering electronic blips. Fantasy League is heat, it is the long summer, the break of the rain, humidity. The escape. Ideas are presented, developed like maths problems and then slowly disintegrated, or theatrically imperious-thundering across the soundscape, at others moments the hot wind flows through. Fantasy League is Australia in texture and feeling, without saying a thing.

The album is due out this month via Someone Good, an imprint of Lawrence English’s Room40 and you can cop it right here.

What better title for a track on the back of yesterday’s annual vote competition to see which band has made the most comfortable song to listen to in the year of our Lord 2016. ‘Contest’! Winning! Losing! Ranking! That’s the thrust of the day’s discussion and though I enjoy the spectacle of it and the opportunity to inject some nonsensical banter into an otherwise uneventful day (except for when Lewis played number #97 BEFORE #98 – MAYHEM!) I’m filled with a constant desire to hear a song that punches me in the stomach. And look, this song from FOREVR doesn’t strike you in the face with such intrusiveness that you’d deny the bands potential to be a Band That People Like but it also doesn’t scream Winner Of A Radio Competition. The guitars build impossibly on top of each other (something I’d almost NEVER get to say about a song on SD) but you’d expect that sort of wieldy guitar action given Donnie’s background in Roku Music. Sam, who sings the bits with her voice as a singer in the vocal sections, was last seen in Mega Ogre so maybe we should judge them more harshly knowing that they’ve had a little practice before delivering their recent EP. Won’t though, I wont at all. I’m just going to praise them real good and revel in the optimism and warmth that I feel when I go in on this record. Make sure you dive in on ‘Heart Of Ice’ too, it has a sonic crunch akin to that first Sleigh Bells recorded, similarly tempered with some electronic production.

They’re playing Black Wire Records this Friday which means the ultimate Blackwire weekend is now ahead of you if you live in Sydney. FOREVR on Friday, Snakeface Saturday and Dave Le’aupepe on Sunday. Yum.

Oscar Key Sung back on another collab proving that he’s the Allday of the beats scene. Here aligned with future classic Brisbanite Charles Murdoch, he floats above the clicks, snaps and eventual synth blow outs that make for a refined three minutes. I’mma just sit back here with my san pellegrino in hand and get involved with this track for a little bit this morning. I can’t think of anything more palette cleansing for a Thursday morning than Oscar’s vocals, drained a little of their usual colour, and then filtered over Murdoch’s watery take on garage. The accompanying video is sweetly shot too, science in reverse and so on, and adds to the experience. You’re welcome, thursday friends.

I didn’t manage to secure an exclusive on this track but what I did get for all y’all is an exclusive Jeremy Neale image (see above) that you won’t see on any other bliggity-blogz. Nope, not the coup I was aiming for but still a big deal I’d say. The tune I have to accompany said image is called ‘In Stranger Times’ and features Brisbane woman-quartet Go Violets who in-and-of-themselves make some pretty swell tunes. When two forces for good (see picture above) unite, one can expect positive vibes and that’s exactly what one gets right here. What we’ve always known without question is that Jezbot can write some big hooks (see: Darlin’ + Love Affair) and the addition of Go Violets in the chorus of this new track is a hell of strong decision from the Jeremy Neale board of directors. I thought Jeremy had debuted with what would probably be his opus in Darlin’ but this trumps all that came before. I’d also like to take this opportunity to coin the Jeremy Neale Drinking Game™ wherein one must consume part of or even an entire alcoholic beverage any time the word ‘Baby’ or ‘Girl’ features on a Jeremy track. You can work the specifics out for yourself but obviously I’ve staked my claim on all future income. He’ll soon be releasing a new EP which will feature his extensive canon of good-time hits at which point the mighty will look upon his works and despair.

Remember Jeremy Neale? He made music history earlier this year when he became the first Australian to use a saxophone as a sonic aphrodisiac. If you didn’t follow the above hyperlink then you might not already know that he’s a Brisbanite but more than that, you may be unaware that he’s previously been referred to as “Brisbane’s answer to all overseas bands”. The earlier mentioned saxophone was a function in of the year’s best singles. It was (and probably still is) called Darlin’ and by jove it was a mid-year diamond. Even on the back of Darlin’ however, I almost didn’t write about the next single as I have a most severe papercut on my index finger but also because Jeremy Neale is a Queenslander and they’re the natural foe of the NSWelshman. This is because they always beat us in the world state of rugby championships or something, and that’s real bad. Cut it out Jeremy/other Northmen. I don’t know if you realise this but rugby league football is of particular import to me and when the blue waratahs lose I get crazy down on myself, in much the same way I do when I’ve a painful papercut. And thus, we’ve come full circle and things return from whence they came – back to the single making credentials of Mister Neale. The new single is called ‘A Love Affair To Keep You There’ and look, it’s no Darlin’ but it’s still a tour de melody. I want to make mention of “sixties guitars” but I can’t think of another sentence that would sound so broad and uninformed so I’ll leave that right out. The guy can sing which is a significant one-up on most other garage-rock outfits. He can properly sing. I saw him at BIGSOUND a few months ago and despite a sound guy who obviously had the high and lofty goal of permanently rupturing my eardrums, it was still fairly obvious that the dude could wail. Lend your ears to this.

Also, heard the new Wiz Khalifa record today (I know, right?) and it featured the lyric “I’m the shit, literally”. Either I didn’t hear what I thought I heard or excrement is finally beginning to become a hip-hop feature.