Mojo Juju tops the community radio charts
Community radio shows a huge amount of support for Australian music, with almost 40% of music played coming from local artists. Taste-making presenters excel at giving airtime to an incredible spread of what Aussie artists have to offer. The Amrap Metro and Amrap Regional Charts provide insight into what’s getting airplay and attention on community radio each week. Here’s the lowdown on some tunes charting this week.
Mojo Juju – #1 Amrap Metro and #1 Amrap Regional (pictured above)
One of the most exciting Australian artists around, Mojo Juju has made an art form out of redefining her sound. The title track from her third album, Native Tongue features superb production from Joelistics, providing a stark and tingling backdrop for Mojo Juju’s ever-towering presence on anything she records, backed by the ghostly Pasefika Vitoria Choir. It’s undeniably powerful and the response from community radio has been massive, with Native Tongue now at the top of both Amrap charts. Edge Radio in Hobart, 2BBB in NSDW’s Bellingen, Sydney’s Koori Radio and Melbourne’s 3RRR are a very small handful of community stations making Mojo Juju charge straight to a double #1 this week. Major song, major feat.
Rainbow Chan – #3 Amrap Metro
The Sydney based Rainbow Chan has offered up a sweet sample of what to expect from her next album, due in 2019. A song about not finding yourself where you think you should be, Promises is irresistible stuff, coasting along on dreamy synth melodies before leaping into a massive chorus to make for yet another immaculate pop production. FBi Radio in Sydney were the first station to really pick up on Rainbow Chan and they lead the way in airplay for promises from community radio, along with Brisbane’s 4ZZZ FM, Radio Adelaide and Melbourne’s 3RRR.
Waak Waak Djungi – #7 Amrap Regional
Melbourne label Efficient Space have made a mission of unearthing lost gems of Australian music, from Andy Rantzen’s digi-dub excursions to compilations of 80s DIY obscurities. Their latest is their most significant. Waak Waak Djungi’s Waak Waak ga Min Min features the recordings of three Yolngu songwriters from Northeast Arnhem Land – Bobby Bunnungurr, Jimmy Djamunba and Peter Milaynga (d. 2007) in collaboration with exploratory Victorian musician Peter Mumme. Described as a coming together of existing ideas in the creation of a new sound, these songs are ones of story and ceremony, reimagining traditional tales of the land from the voices of black crows and white cockatoos, the spirits of creation and country, and the meaning of home. This is a very special kind of fieldwork. The stunning tribute to Mother Earth, Mother, I’m Going is being played on regional community stations such as Western Australia’s Rox FM, Queensland’s Fraser Coast Community Radio and Bay FM on the NSW North Coast.
Cry Club – #9 Amrap Metro
Sounding like Future of The Left on a goth-pop bender, Cry Club’s Walk Away is a storming tune from the duo out of the NSW South Coast that’s hard, fast and no mess in sound and sentiment. Clocking in at under two-and-a-half minutes, it’s an extremely defiant slab of noise with some underlying melodic smarts to suck you in to their particular kind of thrash n’ burn. Already slated for a showcase spot at September’s Bigsound, Cry Club is feedbacking loud and clear on Brisbane’s 4ZZZ FM, Canberra’s 2XX, Perth’s 6RTR FM and a load more.
New War – #6 Amrap Regional
Drilling their way into the Amrap Regional Chart after a stint in the Metropolitan Top 10, Melbourne’s New War are back with their unrelenting, politicised post-punk, courtesy of the typically gnarly Get In The Boot. As John Lydon once said upfront of Public Image Ltd, ‘anger is an energy’, surely somewhat of a mantra for New War as well. Well-directed with a sense of social justice, New War are well described by UK mag The Quietus as ‘controlled chaos’. Community radio likes a little agitation in its airplay. The latest station to get on board with New War’s ways include NSW’s Yass FM, Victoria’s 3WAY FM and 2BOB on the North Coast of NSW.
See the full Amrap Charts at www.airit.org.au.
The Amrap Charts show the top ten tracks ordered for airplay by community broadcasters through the Amrap’s AirIt music distribution service. Amrap is an initiative of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia which distributes new Australian music to community radio stations nationwide & empowers broadcasters to promote new Australian music on air & online.