Kylie Minogue – Padam Padam
For fans of: Ava Max, Eurovision, all the fake-sounding RuPaul songs
Padam Padam, the first single from Kylie Minogue’s forthcoming 16th album Tension, has proven as inescapable (and about as subtle) as an airborne virus. The track has been subject to hundreds of memes and thousands of text messages from mums to their gay sons: “What’s ‘padam’?”
The memes, combined with the overt ridiculousness of the whole affair – a dead-serious Eurodance track built around the onomatopoeic sound of a heartbeart – have pushed Padam Padam to Kylie’s highest singles chart placement in over a decade. Thankfully, the hypnotic, deeply strange song is worth the hype, harking back to the 1997 Towa Tei collab German Bold Italic, another track that made great use of Kylie singing lyrics that were basically gibberish. To borrow a phrase from the UK charts company: it’s a Padamic! – Shaad D’Souza
For more: Listen to 2020’s underrated Disco (Guest List Edition). Kylie’s new album Tension is out this September.
Jack Howard – Were You Born to be Alive?
For fans of: Hunters & Collectors, Midnight Oil
Last year Jack Howard, the long-serving trumpet player for the classic pub rock band Hunters & Collectors, released a startling electronica album called Lightheavyweight 2. It was a world away from his better-known material, but this swinging mid-tempo anthem returns him to more familiar territory. The lyrics trade in ironic footy cliches – “Did you come to play? / Were you a credit to the boys?” – but the big brass lines of the chorus lift it up to more ecstatic territory. – Andrew Stafford
For more: Howard is a prolific soloist: check out Dog Songs (2020), Lightheavyweight (2018) and Lightheavyweight 2 (2022). He’s also the author of the excellent memoir, Small Moments of Glory.
Genesis Owusu – Leaving the Light
For fans of: Nine Inch Nails, TV on the Radio, Odd Future
What do you get when you cross an insistent bass line reminiscent of 90s video games with industrial, hip-hop and punk influences? Whatever the question, Genesis Owusu is the answer. It’s been great fun watching the rise and rise of the chameleonic Canberra musician since his eclectic debut album, 2021’s Smiling With No Teeth, and this hurtling single from his follow-up is just as thrilling. Whether rapping, singing or something in between, Owusu’s flexible vocal style crosses genres with ease. – Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
For more: Genesis Owusu’s second album, Struggler, is released 18 August. He tours nationally in December.
Alex Lahey – You’ll Never Get Your Money Back
For fans of: Tegan and Sara, Liz Phair, Body Type
When a breakup left Lahey feeling emotionally and financially ripped off, Melbourne’s premier purveyor of power pop cashed in on her heartbreak with a ripper of a tune. “Give all you have, get nothing back / Love never leaves you in the black,” Lahey belts in the chorus to this track off her confident third record. It’s here for a good time, not a long time – a short, sharp hit of catharsis and chutzpah that’s up there with Lahey’s hookiest. – Janine Israel
For more: Lahey’s third album, The Answer is Always Yes, is out now. She’s touring Australia in August.
Death Bells – Take My Spirit Now
For fans of: Iceage, Diiv
Take My Spirit Now, the harsh, windburnt new single from Sydney outfit Death Bells, captures a unique kind of catharsis. Far less linear than anything on the band’s 2022 album Between Here & Everywhere, it’s a swell of hyperkinetic drums and decaying guitar lines, each part bouncing off the other like twin magnet poles forced together. It’s an endurance exercise, each new fragment of the song buffeting away at you until you reach, finally, a sanctified conclusion: “Take my spirit now,” the band sings, “Steal my soul.” – Shaad D’Souza
For more: Listen to their last record Between Here & Everywhere, or 2020’s New Signs of Life.
Monnie – Lately
For fans of: Mallrat, Charli XCX, Slayyyter
Monica Sottile’s songs smell like chewing gum and nail polish. Over just three tracks as Monnie, the Brisbane-born, Melbourne-based pop ingenue has fashioned the kind of fantasy land most musicians can only dream of – a universe where puffed-up macho men get their comeuppance via crafty kiss-offs, where there’s a BFF waiting behind every corner to flick away your insecurities like a hair toss. On her new single Lately, she sings about the thrumming jitters of an interstate move with the unvarnished candidness of a late-night landline conversation. Anxiety never sounded so dishy. – Michael Sun
For more: Monnie’s EP, also titled Lately, is out 23 June.
Rin McArdle – Something Blue (feat Georgia Maq)
For fans of: Waxahatchee, Angie McMahon, Courtney Barnett
Rin McArdle channels the great Americana songwriting tradition on her evocative new single. With simple ingredients – mostly built on the same four chords – the Melbourne-via-Adelaide multi-instrumentalist paints a striking picture, elevated with her plaintive vocals. Georgia Maq, leader of recently disbanded indie-punk favourites Camp Cope, adds her distinctive voice to the fold in the second verse, before the two swirl together in spine-tingling harmony. Brutal and bruising, there’s both hurt and healing here. – Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
For more: Rin McArdle plays Melbourne’s Old Bar on 22 June and releases her self-titled debut album on 28 July.
Rebel Yell, Black Dahlia – TNT
For fans of: Marie Davidson, Peaches, Boy Harsher
There is something wonderfully claustrophobic about this new cut by Melbourne-based electronic artist Rebel Yell and Berlin producer Black Dahlia. With industrial percussion, chanting vocals and booming, icy synths, the pair sing about freeing themselves from domination, finally overcoming a marsh of constrictive power relations. This is not a move to be made quietly or subtly – instead, their demand of liberation involves explosive and ignited fury, using the story of King Kong as a template. – Isabella Trimboli
For more: Listen to Rebel Yell’s 2020 record Fall From Grace.
David Bridie – Sympathetic Martin
For fans of: Sleaford Mods, Talking Heads, Public Service Broadcasting
Bridie is prolific: he was a founding member of the groups My Friend the Chocolate Cake and Not Drowning, Waving, and has created extensive work as a film composer. This first single from his upcoming spoken-word solo album follows in the rich tradition of music celebrating suburban nihilism in Melbourne’s north, as Bridie ruminates on assorted local characters – the “heroes of our modern life” who “don’t believe in Das Kapital any more” – while he roams streets that reek of “Kentucky Fried fat fumes”. There’s an inexplicable joy here, with melodious vocal interludes threatening, in the best possible way, to break into REM’s Belong. – Janine Israel
For more: Bridie’s new album, It’s Been a While Since our Last Correspondence, is out now and features original spoken-word pieces by 13 Australian storytellers put to music. Bridie is touring Australia now.
Simona Castricum – Limited Edition
For fans of: Depeche Mode, Laura Jean, early Ministry
Simona Castricum has been a stalwart of Melbourne’s electronic scene for decades, and this new single off her forthcoming record Sink, is a brilliant, brooding slice of techno-pop. The song is full of propulsive 80s drums and synths, undercut with melancholic, airy vocals – including contributions with pop vocalist m8riarchy. It’s enough to put you in a trance: incredibly catchy and bound to be a hit on local dancefloors. – Isabella Trimboli
For more: Castricum’s album Sink is out 14 July. In the meantime, listen to her 2020 album Panic/Desire.