kites can’t jive: the playlist is the soundtrack to kites can’t fly. Great tunes, guaranteed. All album links head to Apple Music.

The backlog

October

Rhinestones by HTRK. Bliss.

Welcome to paradise lost by Taraka. “Psychocastle” is an insanely good song.

September

Ultrapop by The Armed. There’s a lot going on here but it’s all good.

Sometimes I might be introvert by Little Simz. New Little Simz music is always a good thing.

Under these streets by Emma Donovan & The Putbacks. Chef’s-kiss level soul.

August

We are to answer by Ancient Astronauts. Very good vibes.

Imposter – EP by Miss Grit. Good, fuzzy indie rock about impostor syndrome.

Cable ties by Cable Ties. More punk music out of Melbourne? For me?

July

Sleeveless by Johnny Dynamite and the Bloodsuckers. Neo-80s post-punk. Think Robert Smith vocals with a contemporary twist.

This is a mindfulness drill by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. I don’t know if I love this but I keep listening to it.

Gold-diggers sound by Leon Bridges. Any album that features a collab with Robert Glasper is a good one.

Luminol by Midwife. Non-zero chance this becomes one of my most-listened to album of 2021.

Deep fried decline by Saint Taint. It’s 100 gecs but queer.

June 2021

Hiss spun by Chelsea Wolfe. Mood.

Aleph by Gesaffelstein. This rips.

(I’m) stranded by The Saints. The OG punk album hasn’t aged a day.

May 2021

Talking business – EP by Dessa. Dessa doesn’t miss.

All hands by Doomtree. Doomtree is a fantastic hip-hop label and this collection of tracks from artists under its banner is fire.

Fortitude by Gojira. Gojira slay, plain and simple.

Oklahoma by Keb’ Mo’. Fantastic blues that’s incredibly easy to sing along to.

Rock and roll juice by Ciggie Witch. Rollicking pub rock that’s unrelentingly Australian.

April 2021

I’ll probably be asleep by Hachiku. Charming, light, and a great listen.

New long leg by Dry Cleaning. Another top-flight album from one of the best new bands going.

acts of rebellion by Ela Minus. This album sits somewhere in between punk and electronic and I can’t stop listening to it.

Amyl and the sniffers by Amyl and the Sniffers. All killer, no filler punk from the streets of Melbourne.

Letters to Chi-Chi by Planet Vegeta. It’s just good fun. Perfect for anytime you need to pump the energy up.

March 2021

Dream weapon by Genghis Tron. One of my favourite discordant metal bands are back after 10+ years with a fantastic album that’s barely metal at all. Hypnotic, droning, energetic, and all around great.

Disclosure classics – EP by Disclosure. These are bangers, y’all.

Discovery by Daft Punk. Daft Punk forever.

Hoorsees by Hoorsees. Adorable cover, great indie rock tunes.

FABRICLIVE 66 by Daniel Avery. My love affair with Avery continues.

As the love continues by Mogwai. Mogwai can do no wrong.

February 2021

A playground for sad adults – EP by Phoxjaw. Unfortunately, they don’t share the location of this playground.

Real headfuck/Reverse déjà vu – single by HTRK. HTRK have sneakily become one of my favourite bands.

Who’s Yellen now? by Dessa. Dessa has some of the best lines in hip-hop: “And lift up your mojitos / Cause she manages the mint”. What better way to celebrate Janet Tellon, the first woman ever named as the USA’s Secretary of the Treasury.

January 2021

Love + light by Daniel Avery. Seamlessly moves from blissful ambient to chugging dance and everything in between. Perfect workday album for me.

Sleepless by Palm Reader. The exact kind of post-hardcore I find comforting. Lot of head banging and air punching.

Bleach by Nirvana. Somehow, I’d never listened to Nirvana’s debut album before now. It’s not as polished as their later efforts, of course, but it has much of the “pop-hooks-and-raw-riffs” that characterises my fave Nirvana tracks (“Aneurysm” from Insecticide is the best example, overall. “Negative Creep” and “Blew” stand out on Bleach.)

Now or never by Nio García & Casper Mágico. I don’t know a thing about reggaetron as a genre but I love this.

December 2020

We will always love you by The Avalanches. The Avalanches’ previous album, Wildflower, didn’t really hit for me but this one didn’t miss.

Funky Christmas by Too Many Zooz feat. Big Freedia. Just a dope Christmas song.

FeelMyBicep Radio by Bicep. I’ve been running the playlists from Bicep’s Apple Music 1 radio show in the background a lot lately and they’re all great. Hit the link for volume three.

November 2020

Spirit world field guide by Aesop Rock. One of Rock’s best albums (and that’s saying something): it’s skittering, clever, anxious, animal-obsessed quality throughout.

Metal galaxy by Baby Metal. I moved house in November and this album’s fun, bouncing metal got me through a lot.

CHOMP - EP by Russ. “Stockholm Syndrome” feat. KXNG Crooked just slays.

October 2020

Wake of a Nation - EP by Zeal & Ardor. Holy shit.

Outland by Ital Tek. Cold, dark, and hypnotic: this will get a lot of play during my working hours. (Even if that does make it sound like I’m a professional serial killer. Close: I do content marketing.)

September 2020

Porcupine - EP by Molly Payton. Payton is one of my artists of 2020 and this EP just cements that.

Ultra mono by IDLES. More urgent, vibrant rock from one of the best bands going today.

Haiku hands by Haiku Hands. “You can be my man bitch / (I will be your man bitch)” is the anthem the world needs right now.

Afraid of heights by Billy Talent. I haven’t listened to Billy Talent for a decade but Afraid of heights is the most energising, infectious album I’ve heard in months.

Freak show by Silverchair. I was about due for a grunge relapse and Silverchair may as well be the band that pushes me over the edge.

August 2020

Jump rope gazers by The Beths. I adore The Beths. Their second albums expands on their fantastic debut without losing all the charm and personality that made it such a rush. Frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes has a real gift for humour and deft phrasing; there’s something new to fall in love with on every listen.

Super natural by Jonnie. A solo EP from one of the members of HTRK. Can’t go wrong.

ENERGY by Disclosure. Want some bangers? Have some bangers.

1000 gecs and The Tree of Clues by 100 gecs. More bangers but now they’re angry.

Always was by Briggs. A deadly EP from Senator Briggs.

July 2020

Expect the unexpected by 79rs Gang. Impossibly cool. The album looks to bring “New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian culture… to dance floors and block parties around the world” and it does. Just give it a spin.

The light pack by Joey Badass. Joey cannot be stopped.

Staying power by Emma Ruth Rundle. I love everything Rundle’s released and this is no different.

Drop 6 by Little Simz. Simz is on fire. One of my favourite rappers in the game right now.

Palimpsest by Protest the Hero. Protest the Hero are back with their fifth album (and their first in four years). It might be their best.

Joy as an act of resistance by IDLES. Rock music (don’t call it punk) at it’s most vibrant and vital.

June 2020

Black thoughts by Ziggy Ramo. A stunning debut album that explores Australia’s history of racism, colonialism, and trauma.

Nyaaringu by Miiesha. A collection of powerful songs about the lives of Indigenous Australians from a young woman with an amazing voice, punctuated with spoken-word interludes from Mieesha’s late grandmother.

Rosetta - EP by Dua Salah. Soulful, hypnotic hip-hop about everything from race, to gender, to identity, and more.

ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADASS by Joey Badass. Badass takes his golden-age-of-hip-hop sound, pushes it forward, and uses it tell listeners what it’s like to live in the US as a young black man.

The return by Sampa The Great. Fantastic storytelling, tight flows, and a real statement of intent in Sampa The Great’s fantastic debut album.

Abandoned language by dälek. “Turn that page muthafucka cause our story’s all scripted. 600 years, ain’t a fuckin’ thing different. Don’t speak to us about strength and upliftment. The closest thing to paradise is mad distant.”

May 2020

Yoch! Bangers, vol. 1 by dave the band. Catchy indie rock with an Aussie pub rock twist.

Temper – EP by Suss Cunts. “Vaxxer” is an anthem for the misinformation age.

Mess – EP by Molly Payton. Molly Payton is going to be a big deal.

Stranger fruit by Zeal & Ardor. Combine old school blues and black metal but make it work.

I laughed, u cried, we swapped. by cbakl. Stylish instrumental hip-hop for when you want people to think you’re cooler than you really are.

April 2020

GREY area by Little Sims. A talented rapper puts it all together.

To Iceland! To Iceland! by Antelodic. Three-piece jazz to drink coffee to.

The impossible kid by Aesop Rock. The king of underground hip-hop’s most approachable work to date.

March 2020

Boiler room on Beats1, episode 13 by Bicep. An absolute banger of a DJ set.

Simulcast by Tycho. Tycho can do no wrong, as far as I’m concerned, and this companion album to Weather is just further proof of that.

Homework by Daft Punk. One of the best dance albums ever released.

February 2020

Sisters by Spinifex Gum. Soulful, joyous pop music, with vocals provided by the talented Marliya Choir.

On dark horses by Emma Ruth Rundle. Perfect for driving too fast down a highway in the middle of the night.

Birth of violence by Chelsea Wolfe. Perfect for walking too slowly in a forest in the middle of the night.

Electric Lady sessions by LCD Soundsystem. Some great tracks get even better.

January 2020

Patchouli blue by Bohren & der Club of Gore. They call it “doom jazz” for a reason.

A crow looked at me by Mount Eerie. A perfect album about loss and grief.

Life on other planets by Moon Hooch. May the horns move you.

Sweet princess EP and Boundary Road snacks and drinks EP by Dry Cleaning. Post-punk for the 21st century.