Compilation NWA025

Fifteen years ago, we were just getting started. We knew we wanted to see a better representation of Australian artists working in the margins, and we had a few sketchy ideas of how to go about it. Early on, we weren’t so sure - could we find enough artists to make the whole thing worthwhile?

It seems so. Since then, New Weird Australia has released 32 compilations and 51 artist albums and EPs, amassing a catalogue of 800 tracks that now document fifteen years at the fringes of Australian music. We’ve also produced over 120 podcast interviews with Australian artists, produced radio shows for FBi in Sydney and Resonance FM in London, and staged dozens of events around the country. We’re not grandstanding, just counting the receipts to make sure they add up.

To celebrate fifteen years in the game, we tapped label friends and family to select their personal favourites from the catalogue. Their impeccable selections have been curated into a new compilation titled New Weird Australia, An Index Of The Modern Era 2009​-​2024. Their 29-track selections run the gamut from the first compilation released in 2009 to the most recent collection from ‘transient ambient’ group Worlds Only.

Tracklisting.

1. Del Lumanta & Eunice Andrada – Nature Is Healing (02:29)
2. Tralala Blip – nowy (06:19)
3. Holy Balm – Hand Over Fire (04:59)
4. Bum Creek – Bollywood (04:24)
5. Erasers – Lost///Found (04:26)
6. Jacob Silver – Ambulacra (03:34)
7. SCRAPS – Peculiar Radio (02:24)
8. Megan Alice Clune – Cut Space (03:35)
9. James Rushford/Joe Talia – Harker (03:38)
10. Shoeb Ahmad – Double Checks Against The Corner (d) (Peter Knight Version) (05:39)
11. Ambrose Chapel – Undead (07:36)
12. Rites Wild – Rites Wild Theme (04:06)
13. Jonny Telafone – Stardate 2012.1221 (03:34)
14. ///▲▲▲\\ – Spit Shine (02:00)
15. Thomas William vs Scissor Lock – Cadillic (05:13)
16. Wytchings – Crop Circles (03:53)
17. kyü – Sunny In Splodges (05:19)
18. Rabbit Island – My Own Private (06:05)
19. amby downs – southern sahul (union song) (08:56)
20. Scattered Order – At Last You Have One (05:17)
21. Pimmon – On The Other Hand This Carbon Fire Is (Flammable) (04:36)
22. Sumn Conduit – What Energy (07:11)
23. Underlapper – Elephant Shoe (02:51)
24. Drill Folly – Bittersweet Escape (05:28)
25. FM Raster – Pattern 1 (03:45)
26. Machines Of Indeterminate Origin – Fatigue (04:51)
27. Nina Buchanan – Special K (04:38)
28. Bonnie Mercer – Bad Astrology (05:18)
29. Anonymeye – If At First You Don’t Secede… (05:31)

Curated by Sia Ahmad, Angus Andrew, Stuart Buchanan, Alyx Dennison, Tim Dwyer, Lawrence English, Kimberley Galceran, Alister Hill, Peter Hollo, Danny Jumpertz, Kris Keogh, Tahlia Palmer (amby downs), JW Paton, Sam Price, Gail Priest, Camryn Rothenbury, Rowan Savage (salllvage), Tom Smith (T.Morimoto), Mat Spisbah, Jenny Trinh (Wytchings), Innez Tulloch, Andrew Tuttle, Anna Vo, Marcus Whale, Becki Whitton.

Artwork by Heath Killen.

Released December 11, 2024