As promised, here are three tracks to serve as accompanying samplers to our Top Ten Australian Artists You Need To Hear Now. Hopefully they’ll inspire you to seek out further songs, singles and albums, or—in the case of Dallas Crane and Bird Blobs—check them out on their next OS jaunt (Mia Dyson is planning to tour at the end of the year). If swamp blues, country-tinged roots or soaring rock’n’roll are your thing, you might find a new favourite artist here. If great music is your thing, you’re sure to.

Dallas Crane- Wrong Party

Having hit a brick-wall when it came to choosing the definitive Dallas Crane song, I canvassed a cross-section of friends, fans and music experts. The results? It’s impossible to pick just one song out of their grab-bag of gems; each person seemingly settling on one favourite… Then remembering five others. But when it comes to a currently definitive track, “Wrong Party” is hard to ignore. Currently the band’s preferred set-closer, its aching build and final explosive climax brings the house down every time. It’s one of those songs that constantly reminds you why you love this particular band quite so much; there’s nothing quite like seeing a room—or a festival—full of ecstatic bodies flinging themselves around yelling, “I’ll see you in hell” as merrily as “Happy Birthday”. See you in heaven, more like.

[buy things here]

Bird Blobs- My Last Gold Dollar

The lascivious stomp of “My Last Gold Dollar” showcases the Bird Blobs in a relatively “mellow” mood, built upon layers of otherworldly guitar skronk and Jordan’s almost dub-ish bassline and rich with foreboding and portent. Never forsaking their murderous intent and love of atmosphere in favour of easier melodies or catchy choruses, Bird Blobs make “uncompromising” their middle name and create an aural fug that leaves you seemingly coated in scum, itching all over - and ready to do it all again.

[buy things here]

Mia Dyson- Parking Lots

The title track from her stunning sophomore album, “Parking Lots” is Mia Dyson at her battered, beleaguered best. Serving up her tale of a fiery relationship with a weariness that belies her youth and betrays a good-humoured knowingness, Dyson weaves a sleepily sexy mood—helped, as usual, by her near horizontal guitar-slinging that recalls everyone from Keith Richards to Bonnie Raitt and Ry Cooder (she’s a fan of them all) but, most importantly, comes out sounding just like Mia Dyson.

[buy things here]