Local Artists:

Bad Pharmer: Where The Wild Bison Roam (Indie)

- Lo-fi punk and psychobilly lavished with ridiculous, psychedelic gestures inspired by their heroes, The Cramps and the B-52s. Sometimes you can see the cracks in the DIY facade, but the raw enthusiasm is hard to turn down and the Russian femme-fatale vocals are more than any man can resist. (Chris Cobcroft)

Big Strong Brute: Wait (Single) (Lofly / El Nino El Nino)

- Paul Donoughue's nasal twang imparts a dusty, country twang to the big indie sound of this single. Even with the smirkingly twee drum machine bopping away in the back, this still has -in a good way- the grandiosity of The National. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Family Jordan: Red Moon/Spirit Guide (Single) (Indie)

- Brisbane's most elusive "musical collective" dish out country-psych with an attitude so laid-back, they're really the musical equivalent of that one friend you have who's always stoned, but always willing to share their snacks with you. (Rob Steel)

Flex Cop: Domino (Single) (Lucid Dreaming)

- Brisbane's own Officer Flex takes us back the dancefloors and deep house / nu disco of the early 2000s for this tight slab of sweat-inducing, shot-downing, dark nightclub goodness. (Rob Steel)

Kerbside Collection: Trash Or Treasure (Earshot)

- Astonishingly suave, tasty jazz-funk flavours, and so admirably authentic too; there’s not even the slightest trace of try-hard artifice anywhere on this record. It's such a pleasure to listen to because it's obviously been made out of joy and nothing else. What's more, the whole thing's slathered in this beautiful, warm, analog faux-fidelity. Excellent stuff. (Joe Saxby)

Kitchen's Floor:Resident Dregs EP (Eternal Souncheck / Paradise Daily)

- Matt Kennedy's signature gesture of debauchery returns with an EP that is more hi-fi than ever before but even more savagely unhinged in its shambolic rocking. Then there's the eight minutes of folk-revival sounds. Despite the eye-popping developments, Kennedy and co. seem very much in control and capable of god knows what. (Chris Cobcroft)

Police Force: Power Point (Tenth Court)

- A bizarre combination of so many things shoved willy-nilly into a cloud of industrial atmosphere and grim post-punk. It's been called 'post-internet rock', you could call it no-wave. It's all over the place but it has both a sense of humour and moments where everything comes together to startlingly spine-tingling effect. (Chris Cobcroft)

Waax: I For An Eye (Single) (Indie)

- The Sleater-Kinney / Grates channeling Bribanites are led by Marie DeVita's telltale shriek, intertwining in a taut car-chase between grungy guitars, speeding drums and those hysterical vocals. We can't get enough of those other bands and we're unlikely to be able to get enough of Waax either. (Chris Cobroft)

We All Want To: Remove The Arrow (Single) (Indie)

- Verges on dream-pop without ever surrendering its indie-rock chops. Lush and made all the more so thanks to Skye Staniford's soaring vocals. (Chris Cobcroft)

Australian Artists:

Various Artists: Sounds Of The Sydney Opera House: Remixed (Indie)

- This unusual beast is what happens when you record a bunch of ambient noises from around the Sydney Opera House and hand them over to Seekae, Charles Murdoch and Victoria Kim to confect into dance music. The results swirl between tech house, bass music and industrial and they all sound gnarly. (Chris Cobcroft)

Alpine: Yuck (Ivy League / Mushroom)

- The Melbourne synth-pop kids with those blissful vocals have put together a sophomore that carefully builds on the success of their first; maybe it's a little too careful. There's lots to commend the deepening of their song-writing, but it feels like they could have gone just a tiny bit further. Still plenty to like in the continuous bliss-out that is the Alpine sound. (Chris Cobcroft)

Bachelor Pad: Ever Get The Feeling? (Single) (Swol)

- An engagingly unlikely mixture of garage, synth-pop, post-punk and powerpop with all the over-the-top bravado of an inspirational '80's pop anthem. Pump that fist. (Chris Cobcroft)

Beast & Flood: Abie Poe (Single) (No Safe Place)

- Sonic Youth on a summer vacation. This Sydney trio twist and turn their way through this enticing selection from upcoming studio album, Lanugo. (Rob Steel)

Ben Browning: Turns (Yellowyear / Redeye)

- Be charmed by the marriage of club-ready EDM and bedroom dwelling indie-pop. Recorded by the Cut Copy man himself in studios in both Melbourne and Washington DC, you won't be able to tell the difference, but it's a cool little fact you can impress your friends with. (Rob Steel)

Broozer: II (Grindhead)

- Sludgier than a tar pit in a field of mud, but still retaining the punchy energy of hardcore and the rhythmic complexity of the tech-metallers they are. Melbourne trio deliver a brutal, yet lyrical adventure. (Rob Steel)

Burn Antares: Fur Coat & The Peaceboat (Indie)

- An impressive evocation of the psychedelic blues tradition. It's made all the more interesting by frontwoman Grace Farriss' smoothly powerful vocals. From charming psych-pop ditties to long tracts of space-rocking awe, there's an impressive amount stuffed into this EP and heaps to recommend it. (Chris Cobcroft)

David Evans: Transitions (3LEAVES)

- Melbourne sound artist David Evans has lashed together an album of 'urban field recordings'. The hisses, drones and chattering of machinery make for an album of dark ambient that has a pleasing level of movement and structure. Literally industrial. (Chris Cobcroft)

Elizabeth Rose: Division (Single) (Inertia)

- The R'n'B/house diva gives marriage equality a pretty decent anthem. Splendid chorus that... unexpectedly... has all the fuzzy fire of School Of Seven Bells in full flight. (Chris Cobcroft)

Golden Features: No One (ft. Thelma Plum) (Single) (Indie / Warner Music)

- Electronic Next Big Thing Golden Features teams up with Thelma Plum to deliver No One - a deeply chilled song with some killer beats that’s either going to put you right to sleep or get you moving. (Hamish Deeth)

Good Morning: A Vessel / Radiovoice (Single) (Solitaire)

- When you're talking ultimate slacker records, you better lazily slip this into your list. The Melbourne psych duo deliver up a dreamy taste of life under the influence of boredom, or sleepy inspiration. (Rob Steel)

Jess Ribeiro: Kill It Yourself (Single) (Remote Control)

- Surely the message of this track is taking DIY to the next level? No? Country-tinged singer-songwriter Ribeiro's newest single is an ominous affair, packed to the rafters with ghoulish atmospheres and sweet delicate tones. (Rob Steel)

Kakakiro: 1999 (Indie / Hive Minds)

- This EP is made up of some deeply bizarre excursions into an ugly-beautiful synth-dominated party world that you get the feeling not many people have made it out of alive. Kakakiro have taken a bit of a left turn from the sound of their previous singles, but still, they don’t disappoint. Apparently inspired by partying in Berlin and India respectively, 1999 is a fiercely original little collection that aims not for immediate catchiness, but for an extreme, slightly disturbing kind of bubblegum-rave atmosphere. It's a lot of fun. (Joe Saxby)

Kucka: Flux 98 (Single) (Inertia)

- Grimes floundered with her last release, and so God gave us Perth's finest, Kucka. Even better. (Rob Steel)

Methyl Ethel: Oh Inhuman Spectacle (Dot Dash / Remote Control)

- In the unassuming guise of a Perth guitar-pop three-piece, Methyl Ethel break out a cornucopia of psychedelic art-pop with such rapacious experimentation that it'll nearly do your head in. That's not enough to stop this being a really exciting record that raises the bar much higher for all those other psychedelic West Australians. (Chris Cobcroft)

Orpheus Omega: Beacons (Single) (Kolony)

- There's melodic death metal, for sure, but how many bands can really make that work? Vibrantly, melodically brutal is a properly apt description of the Melbourne group's debut single. (Rob Steel)

Retiree: Heard You're Doing Well (Single) (Rhythm Section / Plastic World)

- At first I thought this sounded too much like some kind of weak Arthur Russell imitation, but as it progressed, these really smooth textures (which, BTW, include synth-sax) started ever so shyly introducing themselves, and revealed the real cleverness behind it all. It’s a song about regret and “feel(ing) bad”, but it’s underscored by that inimitable brand of white-boy funk that sort of makes sure no one’s feeling too sorry for themselves. A seriously great single that’s left me itching to hear more. (Joe Saxby)

Sui Zhen: Take It All Back (Single) (Dot Dash / Remote Control)

- Sui Zhen’s new single is pop gold. Like a Blondie cut reinvented by Grimes, with a definite nice slice of Melbourne electro in there, it melds these stiff, melancholy synth textures with Sui Zhen's devastatingly matter-of-fact ruminations on the age-old practice of being an ass to someone who doesn’t deserve it. The seeming banality of some of its lines ("I could have cleaned up the house for us / I could have made us food that night") serve to kind of catalyse the universality, but repeat listens reveal their innate gut-wrenching candidness. Possibly the coolest tear-jerker I've heard in ages. (Joe Saxby)

Wireheads: Good Grief (Single) (Tenth Court)

- The new single from Adelaide's Wireheads makes me realise that the band's Dom Trimboli may well be the male version of Courtney Barnett: sung-spoken lyrics delivering a wryly funny slice-of-life over loping, ominous sounding rock. May well be as likeable as Barnett; make of that what you will. (Chris Cobcroft)

Overseas Artists:

Active Child: Mercy (Vagrant / Third Rock / Spunk)

- Some of the sickest, smoothest modern electronic R’n’B out there can be found right in here, on Active Child's new LP. The production is slicker than an eel wearing a leather jacket, and Pat Grossi's pipes float around with fluid, brisk dynamism, like silver balloons caught in the most sexual updraft ever to have sprung up out of nowhere. (Joe Saxby)

Beirut: No No No (Single) (Pompeii / Remote Control)

- I really would’ve thought that Beirut would just be a boring joke by now. Apparently not though. On No No No, all his best qualities - namely: understated, direct vocals, and relentlessly vintage horns - congeal into possibly his best work since Gulag Orkestar. A deeply promising single. (Joe Saxby)

Death And Vanilla: To Where The Wild Things AreÖ (Fire)

- This is a really interesting new LP from this unshakeably consistent couple of experimental Swedes, out on the always great Fire Records. From the cartoonishly mysterious opening moments of Necessary Distortions, right through to the brittle, baroque swells of closer Something Unknown You Need To Know, it’s a really immersive experience. Kind of like Stereolab mucking about with Grizzly Bear in a cave owned and operated by Peaking Lights. (Joe Saxby)

Briana Marela: Surrender (Single) (Jagjaguwar / Inertia)

- The Washington singer-songwriter teams up with Sigur Ros producer Alex Somers and comes up with something that splits the difference between Purity Ring's blinding pop and the bliss of Orbital's Halcyon. (Chris Cobcroft)

Christopher Owens: Selfish Feelings (Single) (Turnstile / Caroline / Universal)

- Pop hooks a-la late '70's new wave, and lo-fi, wigged-out, lovesick tendencies a la Girls. (Rob Steel)

Dam-Funk:STFU (Stones Throw)

- When he isn't performing with the likes of Todd Rundgren or George Clinton, Dam-Funk releases a constant stream of recorded material. This has taken the guise of old and new tracks in the past, usually surfacing on his Soundcloud page. This time around, Stones Throw have released an EP of new material from Dam entitled STFU, free to download on their website. All the songs are instrumentals, giving space to exhibit Dam-Funk's signature bounce. Thoroughly feel-good electro-funk of the highest quality. (Hill Folk)

Destroyer: Dream Lover (Single) (Dead Oceans / Merge / Inertia)

- Dan Bejar's Destroyer, always excellent fusionists, have really grasped the concept for the appropriate use of horn sections and tambourines, and they display their knowledge with gusto and enthusiasm in their latest indie pop-rock romp song of love. (Rob Steel)

DRINKS: Hermits On A Holiday (Single) (Heavenly / Mushroom)

- As one commenter on YouTube so delicately points out, "this sounds like Deerhoof." Hermits On Holiday is a largely disorienting, dubiously catchy track full of clicks, clocks, plinks, plucks, and abstruse adult nursery rhyme-type lyrical excursions. Sound like a lot to deal with? It really is! (Joe Saxby)

Duct: Losing Anchor (Shades)

- I didn't think it possible to still hear jungle that doesn't make you cringe and feel stressed out, but instead make you do exactly what jungle originally intended: go bananas and dance around like a hooligan on every kind of pill. Duct's latest is a sleek, rabid slice of vintage, yet extremely modern jungle experimentation that takes its sweet time to build all of its sonic foundations, but goes extremely hard and fast when it needs to. (Joe Saxby)

Felix Laband: Deaf Safari (Compost)

- The new Felix Laband record is really hard to describe, but from my perspective, that’s just one of the strongest reasons you should listen to it. The South African electronic provocateur seems to go from strength to strength across Deaf Safari’s nine soundscapes - sometimes menacing and dystopian (The Savage Bush Hotel, Squeeze The Trigger), others, zany and mesmerising (Ding Dong Thing, Pietermaritzburg).

Girlpool: Before The World Was Big (Wichita Recordings / Mushroom)

- LA's Girlpool probably do aim for a very specific kind of tweeness - witness their album’s cover and its title - but it's a tweeness that's never overpowering. The music feels so natural that I’m starting to doubt whether it even is twee. Who knows? Maybe twee’s just a word. Whatever mang. What is important is that this is an extremely nice album. Sincere lyrics, really attention-snaring, unpredictable arrangements - the whole shebang. (Joe Saxby)

Glass Vaults: Sacred Heart (Single) (Indie)

- The sound of reckless abandon is palpable. The New Zealand duo take full advantage of modern recording technology and drench this little album teaser in lush indie-pop musings. (Rob Steel)

Hudson Mohawke: Lantern (Warp / Inertia)

- If you asked me, the bass-heavy trap-dance that Hudmo has had such a hand in creating is a sound that's pretty played out by now. Still it packs the punters in and artists who have formerly thrilled me -like Rustie and Hermitude- are happy to keep pumping it out. Hudmo is kinda doing the same, but -with a style of music that's all about maximum excitement- I thought it was structurally impossible to squeeze more out of it and yet he's doing it. Previously all about strangely inappropriate noises and loose ends which only just hold together as dance bangers, on Lantern he's had the double audacity to tidy up all that mess and at the same time find new and interesting things to say. Entirely, unexpectedly excellent. (Chris Cobcroft)

Institute: Catharsis (Sacred Bones / Rocket)

- Brilliant, sick garage rock styles from within the craggiest crevices of Austin's punk scene. Institute are the kind of band that regard shitty yet commonplace things like self-loathing and crankiness as necessary stepping stones, to be obliterated on the way to full, balls-out enlightenment. Pounce on this if you’re in a bad mood. You won’t feel better as such, but you’ll at least feel somewhat vindicated. (Joe Saxby)

Jaakko Eino Kalevi: Jaakko Eino Kalevi (Weird World / Domino / EMI)

- You never quite know what's going to come out of a new release by someone like Jaakko Eino Kalevi. His previous work has explored pretty wide terrain, from outsider-flavoured quasi-disco, to schizoid sonic ramblings of the most lo-fi order. On his last effort, the 2013 EP Dreamzone, it cleaned itself up in a major way, but maintained the inventiveness and infectiousness that has always defined it. This new self-titled effort seems to be a perfect extension of what he was going for back then. It’s a really wonderful, succinct document of a deeply talented, fearlessly creative individual. Also, as an added bonus, you can feel the magic touch of Nicolas Vernhes all through the mixes. Listen to it on headphones while traipsing the city at night. (Joe Saxby)

Jaga Jazzist: Starfire (Smalltown Supersound / Ninja Tune / Inertia)

- What with their greatest hits and collaborations with orchestras, the Norwegian jazz fusionists seemed like a band drooping into senility. Then this! Starfire brings all the urgency of their best material and works in beats and synths to produce filigrees of kraut, prog and even idm. So good to hear them back at the top of their game. (Chris Cobcroft)

Jenny Hval: Apocalypse, girl (Sacred Bones / Rocket)

- Experimental timbres like these penetrate your soul in a very real way. Without even asking first. There's something hypnotising about Hval’s possessed murmuring, and the way it’s stacked up against these vast backdrops of noise that almost seem to breathe along with her. All you can do is just sit there and be swept away, trying desperately to not start losing the plot. The ten-minute centrepiece Holy Land is, in particular, a masterstroke that defies rationalisation. (Joe Saxby)

Little Simz: AGE 101: DROP 4 (Indie)

- The London MC releases a final EP before her debut full-length and proves that she's getting better and better. Her snappy, sharp delivery has a gangsta fierceness, though she's also capable of showing vulnerability and is at heart a conscious rapper. Complimenting her skill on the mic., Simz is stylistically free-wheeling, spanning trap, to r'n'b to even vaporwave with a refreshing ease. Kendrick Lamar recently gave her the big-up, so you don't have to take my word for it. Well worth hearing. (Chris Cobcroft)

Mac Demarco: The Way Youíd Love Her (Single) (Spunk / Captured Tracks)

- Some people are incurably susceptible to Mac, and some find him straight-up insufferable. Both are justifiable points of view, but I’m in the former camp. This is such a lovely new single, and it marries his wiser, more serious lyrical deviations (see Passing Out Pieces and Chamber Of Reflection) with his trademark doofus-tier bangers (Rock'n'Roll Nightclub, Freaking Out The Neighbourhood). It's even got what I'm feeling is an Imagine (album)-era John Lennon type thing happening - it’s gentle, considered, and totally swoon-worthy. (Joe Saxby)

Maribou State: Wallflower (Single) (Counter/ Inertia)

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- Electronic, experimental dance a la Four Tet or Caribou and laden with some seriously soulful vocals. Plenty of catchy hooks and throbbing to get you moving. (Rob Steel)

Part Time: Virgo's Maze (Burger / Red Eye World Wide)

- Part Time's latest album Virgo's Maze really sketches out some kind of maze in your MIND. There’s such an insanely diverse range of genres on offer here. It really opens your MIND to a bunch of new experiences, and an array of well-produced experimental sounds. (Hamish Deeth)

Robin Gibb: Saved By The Bell (Single) (Rhino / Control)

- This is the lead single from a new 3CD collection of forgotten-until-now solo material by the late Bee Gee, recorded during a well-documented break from the band. I haven't heard the rest of the collection, but this song is an example of some of the most idiosyncratic, singular pop music I've ever heard. The way the drum machine clicks away against that mournful, lugubrious string arrangement, while Robin pretty much sobs his way through the tune, is unforgettable. (Joe Saxby)

Sharon Van Etten: I Don't Want To Let You Down EP (Jagjaguwar)

- What, another EP, so soon? You will not know the hour but Sharon Van Etten will re-enter your life and rake your soul, every time. Lush, even roaring folk rock accompanied by Van Etten's dragging, devastating tones. (Chris Cobcroft)

Smokey: How Far Will You Go? (Chapter)

- This is something straight out the 1970s, yet still, somehow, searingly fresh. Smokey was a very gay dude who used to hang around with John Waters, Bowie, and Iggy, and do really risqué stuff back in the day. His music, which is needless to say, phenomenal, never really found a big audience, because the various record execs his music was shopped around to couldn’t bring themselves to put out a “gay record”. How Far Will You Go? compiles his choicest cuts - and it’s an amazing document of a supremely talented, yet tragically overlooked artist. It has all the qualities and vibes of Bowie, Iggy, and Lou Reed’s early-to-mid 70s output, but with these almost indescribable extra elements of furious, creeping sexuality, and relentless authenticity. (Joe Saxby)

Valet: Nature (Kranky)

- Honey Owen's shoegazers out of Portland shy away from looming walls of guitar fuzz, opting instead for finely worked dreampop. It's slow and contemplative and carries you away. (Chris Cobcroft)

Veruca Salt: Laughing In The Sugar Bowl (Single) (El Camino)

- Bratty attitude intact, the '90's alternative funsters are back with their original line-up and some delectably fuzzy guitar licks in tow. (Rob Steel)

The Weather Station: Shy Women (Single) (Paradise Of Bachelors / Spunk)

- Drifting and beautiful folk-rock from the Canadians. It's easy to be captured by Tamara Lindeman's lilting, Joni Mitchell-esque voice and miss that the rest of what the band do is folk-rock of a pretty impressive calibre. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Weeknd: Canít Feel My Face (Single) (Universal)

- Straight off the bat, Can't Feel My Face is easily recognisable for the soulful vocals of Abel Tesfaye. He layers them over a quietly droning electro instrumental, inviting the listener into the song, but it’s not easy to anticipate the sheer funk and R’n’B vibes that materialise on the first chorus, where finger-clicking turns to clapping, and the mood is set for the rest of the song. Definitely a tune worth boogying to; it’ll lift moods higher than Tesfaye’s angelic upper register. (Gracie Murrell-Clarke)