From Melbourne
Recommended if you like the C86 compilation, AU/NZ jangle-pop, Mess Esque
Up next Going Back to Sleep out now
Melbourne-based DJ Moopie, AKA Matthew Xue, is renowned for engrossing, wide-ranging sets that can run the gamut from gelid ambient music to churning drum’n’bass and beyond. He also runs A Colourful Storm – a fantastic indie label that massively punches above its weight when it comes to putting out charmingly moody experimental pop music, from artists as disparate as London-based percussionist Valentina Magaletti, dubby Hobart duo Troth, and renowned underground polymath Simon Fisher Turner.
In 2017, the label released I Won’t Have to Think About You, a compilation of winsome, C86-ish indie pop. Earlier this year, it put out Going Back to Sleep, a quasi-sequel to that record which also functions as a neatly drawn guide to some of the best twee-pop groups currently working. Sydney band Daily Toll, whose 2025 debut A Profound Non-Event is one of the year’s underrated gems, contribute Time, a seven-minute melodica-and-guitar reverie. Chateau, the duo of Al Montfort (Terry, Total Control) and Alex Macfarlane (the Stevens, Twerps), push into percussive, psychedelic lounge pop on How Long on the Platform, while Who Cares?, one of Melbourne’s best new bands, channel equal parts Hope Sandoval and Eartheater on Wax and Wane.
Elsewhere, Going Back to Sleep features tracks from San Francisco indie stalwarts the Reds, Pinks and Purples; minimalist Sydney group the Lewers; and sun-dappled folk-pop from Dutch duo the Hobknobs. It’s an unassuming compilation that’s almost certain to become well-loved and frequently referenced among connoisseurs of all things delicate and deeply felt. Shaad D’Souza
This week’s best new tracks
Flea – A Plea
A rare solo track from the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, and a magnificently realised one: propulsive but exploratory soul-jazz with Flea calling for peace and love. “I’m not being corny – this shit is real!” BBT
Daniel Blumberg and Amanda Seyfried – Clothed By the Sun
Having won this year’s best original score Oscar, you can imagine Blumberg winning best original song in 2026 for this stunning Seyfried duet taken from his soundtrack to The Testament of Ann Lee. BBT
Jana Horn – All in Bet
The Texan songwriter paints in every shade of a sigh on this richly despondent return, where the slightest touches of piano and woodwind colour her weary disappointment. LS
Yamila – Sin Desarraigo
You could easily imagine this Madrid-based cellist’s industrial-tinged gothic opus on the soundtrack to Dune, with its thundering drums, metallic shrieks, eerie chorals and end-times grandeur. LS
Zora Jones x DJ Polo – Hoes Link Up
Imaginative Austrian producer-vocalist Zora Jones teams up with Bristolian UK bass producer DJ Polo for some slamming ghettotech: the drums could knock you flat but the melody is almost dream-pop. BBT
Jawnino and Surf Gang – Hit Again
On new mixtape Amnesia, UK rapper Jawnino rolls over varied cloud-rap beats from Surf Gang, and this is one of its peaks, Jawnino alert and locked in as he surveys the drug trade. BBT
Annabelle Chairlegs – Heavy Sleeper
Produced by Ty Segall, this garagey number chugs along entirely at its own pace, from runaway truck to the Austin musician’s dazed reverie about how “the moon returns the spirit to me”. LS
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