“Glimpses” - Closer
Closer aren’t just back—they’re coming in swinging. The Scottish alt-rock trio have been around long enough to earn their scars, and Glimpses feels like the payoff for two decades of surviving, recalibrating, and refusing to die quietly. It’s a record that doesn’t just pick up where they left off—it slams the door open, plugs straight into the amps, and reminds you why Glasgow has always been a breeding ground for raw, unrelenting rock.
“Once Was Blonde” - JD Hinton
JD Hinton has always had a knack for spinning words in ways that make you laugh one second and reflect the next, and “Once Was Blonde” is him at his absolute best. The title alone is classic Hinton—playful, witty, and layered with more meaning than you first expect. What sounds like a cheeky twist on a Sunday-school saying—“I once was blonde but now I see”—quickly unfolds into something far more universal: a meditation on innocence lost.
“Dark Charm” - Sugar Scars
If there’s one thing Sugar Scars have mastered, it’s turning contradiction into cohesion. Their new single, “Dark Charm,” the first taste of their upcoming sophomore record Dark Spark White Light (out November 21, 2025), feels like a perfect continuation of the boundary-bending path they laid down with last year’s critically acclaimed Rhythmic Body Reflexes.
“The End of Love” - The Vanities Ft. Kaysha Louvain
Sometimes a song just oozes drama from the very first note—and The End of Love by The Vanities, featuring powerhouse vocalist Kaysha Louvain, is exactly that kind of track. This isn’t just another retro-pop single; it’s a full-throttle, neon-soaked, 80s-inspired epic that refuses to stay in the background.
“The Pilgrimage” - Tim Oksanen
Some albums feel like they’re written in a studio bubble, neat and polished but detached from real life. The Pilgrimage, the new record from Australian alternative pop artist Tim Oksanen (out September 19, 2025), feels like the opposite—it’s an album born in the in-between spaces of life. Written between long shifts at the hospital, late nights with a young family, and moments of wrestling with faith, doubt, and purpose, it carries a rawness that’s rare in the pop world.
“Girls in Hollywood” - Lola Wild
If Hollywood’s golden glow ever had a soundtrack to its darker underbelly, Lola Wild just wrote it. Her new single “Girls in Hollywood” is a cinematic, slow-burning indie-pop elegy that feels both dazzling and devastating, a mirrorball cracking under its own light. Co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Jim Wallis at London’s iconic Strong Room Studios, the track balances shimmering retro textures with raw emotional grit. Think ABBA’s nostalgia-fueled pop sheen colliding with the atmospheric melancholy of Weyes Blood or Suki Waterhouse.
“Far Off Summer's Night” - MAHUNA
Mahuna doesn’t so much write songs as he exhumes memories and lets them flicker into melody. His new single “Far-Off Summer’s Night” is a perfect example: an intimate, ghostly lament lifted from his debut album Forever Is Mine—a record already praised for its lyrical tenderness and sonic weight. But here, stripped down to twilight and shadow, Mahuna reaches for something even more fragile.
“Women of the World” - Fierbinteanu
Electro-punk duo Fierbinteanu aren’t exactly known for subtlety, and thank goodness for that. Their new single and video “Women of the World” is a riotous celebration of joyful womanhood, delivered with the kind of chaotic charisma that makes you grin, flinch, and dance all at once. Released September 12, the track is a hypnotic hyper-pop thumper that takes their avant-garde pop instincts and cranks them into something both danceable and defiantly unhinged.
“Soul for the Taking” - Olivia Millin
Halloween has its candy, costumes, and horror flick marathons — and now it’s got its next big anthem. Olivia Millin, the 20-year-old global pop powerhouse who stormed iTunes and radio with her #1 hit “TTYL,” is back with a track that feels destined to haunt dancefloors for years to come. “Soul for the Taking” isn’t just another pop single — it’s a full-on Halloween experience, the kind of song that oozes fog machine vibes, strobe lights, and the delicious thrill of being just a little bit scared.
“Dark Days” - Machine on a Break
Sometimes a song doesn’t just sound heavy — it feels heavy, like the weight of its riffs and words is pressing down on your chest. That’s exactly the sensation you get when you put on “Dark Days”, the latest single from Canberra’s own pop-metal disruptor, Machine on a Break. Part confession, part battle cry, this track fuses pounding double-kick drums, serrated drop-tuned guitars, and unsettling synths into a piece of music that sounds as brooding as the story behind it.
Exclusive Interview: MURDAH SRVC
If you’ve ever loved a song that makes you dance first and think later, “THANATOS” is for you. MURDAH SRVC — the art-meets-pop project fronted by singer-songwriter and manga artist CHE, produced by John Lui at the foot of Mt. Etna — has taken an old-school late-90s/early-00s dance vibe and turned it into something bittersweet, cinematic, and weirdly moral. The result is a glossy club cut with a heart that’s been stabbed and stitched back together.
We spoke to CHE from MURDAH SRVC about their journey so far.
“Speaker” - JNZI
Every once in a while, a new artist comes along who makes you sit up and say, “Wait… how old did you say he is?” That’s exactly the reaction you’ll have when you hear JNZI, the 14-year-old from Australia who’s already crashing through speakers worldwide with his debut single, “Speaker.”