“Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to Everything.”
Autumn is probably my favourite season of the year, and 2022 has been no different. Apart from it being the time when the Adelaide Writers Week and Womad occurs, I just love the weather at this time of year. There has also been a heap of new music released this Autumn making it a fertile season for new inspiration which has kept my soul well fed.
I’m balls deep into writing my book so putting this little blog together has been a welcome distraction and has provided the opportunity for me to reflect on the music that has kept me going over the last 3 months. I have even put together a playlist which contains all the albums, EP’s and singles listed below, here’s a link, Autumn 2022. On most days when I’m writing I have music playing so I am relishing the opportunity to be much more vigilant in sussing out new releases. But I’m sure I’ve missed some so if there is anything that’s been new to your ears that’s not listed below, please let me know.
So, without further ado, here’s my Soundtrack for Autumn 2022.
NEW MUSIC
Albums
Xavier Rudd
Jan Juc Moon is Xavier’s 10th album, I love it and it’s seriously challenging Aurora’s The Gods We Can Touch for the mantle of my favourite album for the year, in fact it’s probably just pipping it at the moment. Which is a bit of a shock given I’ve hardly listened to any of Xavier’s music before this album found its way into my ears.
My favourite track from the album is We Deserve To Dream but others such as Ball And Chain (feat J-MILLA), The Calling, I Am Eagle and the title track Jan Juc Moon have also captured my soul.
I love the following quote by Xavier from an interview he did about this album, he said, “You know, all of our ancestors around the planet have come from some form of struggle and we carry that, all of us, years on. We’ve got stuff to heal. And I think music is the greatest medicine on the planet.” I would concur. In fact, I have recently been learning about the role sound, music and frequencies have had in our evolution through sacred geometry, ancient traditions, quantum physics, mathematics, binaural beats, brainwave patterns and music theory and I suspect this will be the subject of a future blog as I find all this fascinating and believe it is intrinsic to our way of being in the world.
Anyway, before I head off on some tangent, I recommend you get your ears around Jan Juc Moon, it’s a brilliant album and I have used the cover of the album as the featured image for this blog.
Lisa Mitchell
Lisa released her 4th studio album, A Place To Fall Apart, in April and it is also a brilliant album that I recommend to you.
The following description of the album pretty much sums it up …. “A Place To Fall Apart is a glorious and heartrending tribute to what it means to be alive and learning in the world, having been old enough to feel its bruises and heartbreaks, but also be at the beginning of understanding our own individual insignificance within it. Accompanied by her beguiling melodies and hushed tones, the lyrics within the album are deeply introspective and impactful, written in the thick of the first year of a global pandemic that forced everyone’s lives and spheres to become very small and very still.”[1]
My favourite track from the album is I Believe In Kindness which was released as a single back in January.
Spiderbait
Spiderbait released a new compilation album, Sounds In The Key Of J, which contains 33 songs of Spiderbait goodness. The album contains songs from each of Spiderbait’s 7 albums and highlights the contribution of Janet English to the band. Janet is Amy’s favourite member of the band while I love Kram.
Be that as it may, I’m loving the new album, and whilst it doesn’t contain new music it has brought back many memories from the many great tracks this band has released over the last 30 years (as well as some of the gigs I have seen them perform).
I can’t pick a favourite track from this album as it contains too much Spiderbait goodness.
Thorts
I first got into Thorts back in 2009 when he released his album, Bleeding Heart Muzik. His latest album, Hanky Man, was released in March. I like Thorts’ sound and enjoy his new album, but it has been overshadowed by some of the other releases over the last 3 months.
My favourite track from the album is Dense (feat. Haunted Days & Nolto), it highlights some of the frustrations that I feel about our current state of politics.
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill released their 10th studio album, Back in Black on 18th March. The first Cypress Hill album I purchased was Black Sunday back in 1993. It was their second album and I have all 9 previous albums on CD but, I guess moving with the times, Back in Black will be the first album I’ll just stream through Spotify.
My favourite track from the album is Open Ya Mind.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Chili Peppers released their 12th studio album, Unlimited Love on 1st April. The first Chili Peppers album I heard was Blood Sugar Sex Magik back in 1991 or 1992 (it was released in 1991). A friend of mine, Jimbob, introduced me to the album. It was their 5th album and is one of my all-time favourite albums from back in the day.
One of the coolest things I’ve watched is the Chili Peppers doing carpool karaoke with James Corden, here is a link to it. I reckon it’s the best carpool karaoke but the one with Paul McCartney was also awesome, here’s a link to that one.
Anyways, the Chili Peppers new album, Unlimited Love made its debut at number one in 10 different countries including the US giving them their first number one album at home since Stadium Arcadium back in 2006.
I’ve listened to the album a few times over the last couple of months and my initial thoughts were ‘how good is Flea?’ Flea would be my favourite bass player (sorry Dale (aka Rok Poshtya) from The Herd), I just love his sound, which is of course intrinsic to the Chilli Peppers music and one of the things that draws me to them.
There are several cracking tracks on the album, but my favourite would be Poster Child, it’s a classic Chili Peppers track providing a trip through the history of pop music and culture.
Mallrat
Mallrat released her debut album, Butterfly Blue on 13 May. Leading up to the release of the album she released the singles, Your Love in February and Surprise Me in April.
Mallrat said this about the new album, “I’ve always valued music that is interesting, beautiful and unpretentious …. Something timeless and not reactive. ‘Butterfly Blue’ was made with that in mind. It’s a demonstration of not pretending to be anyone else.”
I first got into Mallrat when I heard her song Charlie from her EP, Driving Music which was released back in 2019.
I love every track on the album, but my favourite track would be Teeth.
Peter Tosh
Another live Peter Tosh album was posthumously released in May, it’s called Light The Chalice (Live 1983). I haven’t been able to find out where this album was recorded but I love listening to these old live recordings (there have been four live album releases over the last 3 years).
This latest live album includes several of his classic tracks such as Pick Myself Up and Bush Doctor.
Paul Kelly
Aside from the new single, Back To The Future, the songs on Paul’s new album, Time, which was released in May, are all based on the theme of ‘time’ and drawn from his 28-album back catalogue. It’s the first in a series of themed compilation albums, future instalments will centre on people, places, and drinking.
EP’s
Benee
I mentioned in my last music blog, here is a link, that I was hoping an album was in the offing and my hopes were realised in March when Benee released her 7 song EP, Lychee. It’s a cracker.
My favourite track from the EP would be Doesn’t Matter which made my Hottest 100 top ten last year.
Pete Murray
I have a couple of Pete’s albums, but I haven’t listened to him at all over the last 10 years or so. But when I saw he’d released his new EP, Before I Go, I thought I best give it a listen and I’m glad I did as I have enjoyed it over the last couple of months.
My favourite track would be Kingdom.
Horrorshow
Horrorshow released their EP, Good Problems in May. I like the premise of this EP which was trying to actively choose to be more positive and grateful after a couple of tough years. As Solo said about the EP, “After the last few years I feel like we could all use a mood lift and some good vibes so I’m looking forward to injecting a bit of positivity into people’s hearts, minds and ears.”
My favourite track on the EP is DMT.
Nardean
Nardean is one of the newest artists to join the Elefant Traks family and she released her latest EP, The Architect in April. She describes her music as ‘post hop’ being heavily influenced by hip hop, while also drawing on elements of neo-soul, electronica, glitch and RnB.
My favourite track from the EP is The Come Down.
Singles
Barkaa
Barkaa released a single, Fight For Me featuring Electric Fields in March which followed her EP, Blak Matriarchy, which was released back in December 2021.
I was excited to listen to her Rappertag #26 which she did just before Womad in March, so was a nice little morsel to enjoy before seeing her live for the first time. I enjoyed her set at Womad, she is just so honest and endearing to the crowd and so grateful that so many people were there to see her perform. It was great to experience it.
Kuuku Black & Vida Sunshyne
Vida is one of my favourite female artists, I love her voice, and she recently teamed up with Kuuku Black on the single KOM KOM which was released in March.
Aurora
Not just content with releasing her third studio album in January, The Gods We Can Touch, which is a contender for my favourite album of the year, Aurora also released a single, The Woman I Am, in April. From what I can gather this song and several others are on a vinyl release of her latest album.
Aurora has become one of my favourites and her new album (and her new single) have been on high rotation ever since its release.
Tones and I
Tones and I released her latest single, Eyes Don’t Lie, in March. It is another classic Tones and I track.
King Stingray
I saw King Stingray perform at Womad, and their set contained their new single, Camp Dog which they released in March. I really enjoy their music and have only started getting into them this year.
Jack Johnson
Jack released a new single, One Step Ahead in March as a first taste, and then followed up in May with the release of the title track, Meet The Moonlight, from his forthcoming album which is due to find its way into our ears on 24 June 2022.
I can’t wait to listen to Jack’s new album. He has been one of my favourite artists ever since I first bought his album ‘On and On’ in 2003. I have since purchased 8 of his CD’s and a couple of DVDs but alas, I am yet to see him perform live. Fingers crossed his tour for the new album might bring him to Oz in the not too distant future.
The Tongue
The Tongue has released two singles this Autumn, Joy (feat. Inês) in March and Two Girlfriends in April, I wonder if there is a new album on the way? His last album was Hard Feelings released back in 2015 so he is due a new album.
Hilltop Hoods
The Hoods keep releasing bangers and their latest single, Show Business ft. Eamon is another great track.
Mass of Man
Mass Of Man has released some poignant tracks including his latest single, Domestic Violence. The first song I ever heard of his was Fallen Angel which is about depression.
DOBBY
The first time I listened to Dobby was when he teamed up with Barkaa releasing the single I Can’t Breathe back in 2020.
In May, he released two singles, the first, Susie Q, is a mash up of blues and hip hop and features Jackie Brown Jr. The second, Walk Away, features The Merindas and is a powerful statement on the erasure of Australia’s Indigenous history and culture.
He also recently released his contribution to Rapper Tag, Rappertag #27, after being tagged in by Barkaa. Its also a cracker.
The Chats
I love the Chats. They’ve given us classics such as Smoko and Pub Feed and in May they released their latest single, 6L GTR. It is the opening track for their forthcoming album, ‘Get Fucked’, due to be released in August. I can’t wait.
The HU
I only came across this band a few weeks ago and they have been on high rotation ever since. They are a folk rock/heavy metal band from Mongolia with a unique sound due to the traditional Mongolian instruments they use as well as the Mongolian throat singing which I love.
They have been around for some time, releasing their debut album, The Gereg in 2019 and were touring Australia when the pandemic started in 2020. They are returning to Oz in August and I’m keen to see them perform live.
The Hu released a single This Is Mongol in May. It is another great song of theirs, but my favourite from the album would be Yuve Yuve Yu.
OLD FAVOURITES
Much of my listening this Autumn has been focussed on new music but I have found time to stay acquainted with some of my all-time favourite artists.
Gurrumul
I just love listening to Gurrumul. Here is a link to my Gurrumul playlist on Spotify. This playlist is a favourite for when I’m writing.
Kev Carmody
I just love listening to Kev as well and he also is a regular for my soundtrack to my writing. Here is my Kev Carmody playlist on Spotify.
My favourite track is his poem, Comrade Jesus Christ.
Janes Addiction
I haven’t listened to much Janes Addiction in recent years, so I have enjoyed getting back into their music. It always reminds me of my late teens and early 20’s. Here’s my Janes Addiction playlist on Spotify.
Womad
As far as seeing live music the highlight for Autumn was attending Womad. Adelaide Writers Week which is immediately followed by Womad are my favourite events each year, I love both events and they are a permanent fixture in my calendar.
It was great to see the likes of Baker Boy, L-FRESH The LION, A.B. Original, The Cat Empire and Paul Kelly perform again although I didn’t get into the A.B. Original set much and we left that early to go see L-Fresh cook up a storm in the Taste the World tent (he cooked a Butter Paneer with Rice). The bonus of that decision was seeing the performance of Dancenorth while we waited for L-Fresh. They were brilliant and are a dance troupe who teamed up with 100 drummers to perform NOISE.
The artists I loved seeing for the first time were Barkaa, King Stingray, Parvyn, Grace Barbe, Ausecuma Beats, Balkan Ethno Orchestra, Reb Fountain, BULLHORN and Chikchika.
The highlights for me were Baker Boy, L-FRESH The LION and Barkaa but special mention must go to Parvyn and BULLHORN. Parvyn’s performance was mesmerising, and the energy of Bullhorn was electric and they’ve both been regulars in my playlists throughout Autumn. Here is a link to my Womad 22 playlist.
If you’ve read my blog Food Glorious Food you would know that we also get pretty excited about the food offerings at Womad and we had been lamenting not being able to get a Meloui at the last couple of Womads. But to our great delight Moorish Bites were there this year serving up their Moroccan delicacies, so we enjoyed a Meloui on all 4 days of Womad … sensational! I digress …
2022 Triple J’s Hottest 100
At the halfway mark of the year my Hottest 100 top ten is starting to look like this …
-
- Xavier Rudd – We Deserve To Dream
- Aurora – A Temporary High
- Lisa Mitchell – I Believe In Kindness
- Mallrat – Teeth
- DOBBY – Walk Away
- Barkaa – Groovy Remix
- The Hu – This Is Mongol
- King Stingray – Camp Dog
- Jack Johnson – One Step Ahead
- Horrorshow – DMT
With special mentions to Midnight Oil’s Rising Seas, RHCP’s Poster Child, Mass of Man’s Domestic Violence, Tones and I’s Eyes Don’t Lie and The Chats with 6L GTR who have missed the cut at this stage.
I’ve started a little playlist, 2022 Hottest 100 Contenders, containing the above songs. I will add to the playlist as other contenders for my top ten are released.
Here is a link to my Spotify playlist, Autumn 2022, which includes all the above albums, EP’s and singles.
So, there you go, that’s what’s been in my ears and feeding my soul for the last few months, so what’s been in your ears?
[1] Lisa Mitchell – A Place To Fall Apart – Australian Independent Record Labels Association (air.org.au)