A local DJ’s exciting new mix and indie pop’s best-kept secret: Aussie music to try this month

Logic1000’s DJ-Kicks: lights off and headphones recommended.Credit: K7 Records

Logic1000, DJ-Kicks

Big, brash Australian dance music is having a moment (Dom Dolla and Fisher just got paid millions to DJ a Saudi golf tournament). But there’s another strain making its way around the world – more mercurial, subtle, at times austere, but rung through with emotion and the community spirit inherent to underground dance floors.

Leading that pack is Logic1000, the Sydney-born DJ-producer Samantha Poulter who now calls Berlin home. On her forthcoming entry for the storied DJ-Kicks compilation series (out March 28), Poulter steps outside the nightclub’s restrictive parameters, fully leaning into her most contemplative impulses.

While the mix is largely comprised of international artists, Poulter brings along Australians including her partner Big Ever, friend DJ Plead and fellow expats a.s.o. (the pairing of Tornado Wallace and Alia Seror-O’Neill) – artists from her own support network who have been crucial to her journey.

Poulter has spoken transparently about her struggles with mental health, schizophrenia diagnosis and the postpartum challenges of young motherhood. The mix submerges itself into the resurgence of trip-hop, downbeat and dub. It feels nurturing, be that for oneself or another, and suitable for deep, private reflection. Lights off and headphones on recommended. Nick Buckley

Egoism, So I Heard

Egoism might just be one of Australia’s best-kept secrets – although the Sydney trio are hardly a secret to their growing legion of fans, who have fallen in love with their bittersweet and reflective indie pop. They came out of the gates with 2020 EP On Our Minds, and in the years since they have dropped a stream of excellent singles (2021’s Lonely But Not Alone is particularly deserving of attention).

So I Heard is their first piece of new music for the year, and it’s another home run – a gorgeously painted break-up song that takes inspiration from the 1975’s beloved Somebody Else. It’s a perfect start to the year for the trio (surely an album is on its way?), who are currently winding their way along the east coast on their 2008 Honda Civic Tour. Jules LeFevre

Geoffrey O’Connor’s I Love What We Do: melt into its languid mood. Credit: Dinosaur City Records

Geoffrey O’Connor, I Love What We Do

If Geoffrey O’Connor isn’t a national treasure to you, then I can’t be with you. The former frontman of beloved indie pop band the Crayon Fields could turn any philistine into a believer in the sanctity of the classic pop song – three-minute symphonies that build their own mini-worlds through piercing storytelling and melancholy moods. He’s done it again on his swooning new solo album, I Love What We Do.

O’Connor’s penchant for ’80s synth-pop gets a technicolour rendering; he’s like a cut-price Bacharach or Pino Donaggio in the way he gets these songs billowing with strings, woodwinds and choral harmonies. The effect is all atmosphere, such as with the lilting Balearic exotica of With You I Have Time, or the evocative songwriting on the title track, where he sings lines such as: “I’ve been a midday movie, a passing of time, a cosmopolitan, a vodka and lime”.

It’s all underlined by a sticky rainscape, the sound effects of a tropical thunderstorm passing through each song. Sip an espresso, watch the wet reflect across the grey city, and melt into its languid mood. Robert Moran

Gordi, Peripheral Lover

Gordi has one of the most glorious, and underrated, voices in Australian music. With two dreamy folk-pop albums under her belt, the artist born Sophie Payten returns with a new pair of synth-heavy singles. Peripheral Lover and Alien Cowboy both offer a slice of queer life, while experimenting with sound and texture.

The first takes a leaf out of Chappell Roan’s book, like a localised version of Good Luck Babe! – a plea to a new partner to openly celebrate queer love. Against a pulsing, shimmering backdrop, Gordi makes her wishes plainly clear: “I want it all right now!” It’s smart pop songwriting, with hooks and emotions in spades.

In stark contrast, Alien Cowboy takes more of an unusual route by distorting the singer’s voice with effects to create a strange and compelling soundscape. Its narrative is equally intriguing, centring a speculative queer utopia that is also a state of mind.

Both singles are a taste of Gordi’s upcoming third album, Like Plasticine (out May 30). I’ll be waiting to hear it in full – these are two very different songs, tied together by that voice and a knack for the eccentric, so it will be fascinating to hear what she’s come up with. Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

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