The Living End and Feels top 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. Tastemaking 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.
Feels – #1 Amrap Metro
The electronic percussion duo pair up with Stella Donnelly on They Need Us is an intricate piece of pop built on slimy, sexist lines copped by them and no doubt loads of other women working in music. The triumphant and defiant chorus is the perfect couplet to capture a turning tide in the industry and giving notice is how Feels are getting noticed. It’s not surprising They Need Us has leapt to the top of the Amrap Metro charts. Brisbane’s 4ZZZ FM, Radio Adelaide and hometown champions 6RTR FM in Perth are some of the stations spreading the word.
Sweater Curse – #10 Amrap Metro
Brisbane trio Sweater Curse come on loud and strong with their latest single Can’t See You Anymore, kicking hard with supreme melodic crunch courtesy of layered guitar fuzz and a thumping rhythm. Atop it all, singer Monica Sotille’s vocals glide glacially and gracefully as she paints a portrait of someone who doesn’t know where to turn next in the ups and downs of love. Touring Australia through July to support what’s only their second single, Sweater Curse have bobbed up into the top 190 of this week’s Amrap Metro Chart, gladly assisted by airplay from the likes of Sydney’s FBi Radio, Brisbane’s 4ZZZ FM and Radio Adelaide.
Tanaya Harper – #5 Amrap Regional
Stella Donnelly crops up yet again this week, with a lead guitar spot on Perth buddy Tanaya Harper’s stark The Well. The track does a whole lot with very little – an ambling guitar line, a little harmonising and Donnelly’s suitably soft-touch give Harper’s song of intimate reflection all it needs to stop you in your tracks. Harper’s raw and honest style has cut through on regional community radio with Mountain District Radio in Victoria and West Australia’s Voice of the Avon leading the way.
The Kite String Tangle – #4 Amrap Regional
Capable of penning big pop moments as well as any of the more noted big players in the Australian scene, The Kite String Tangle have taken their sound even further by collaborating with Aalias, the man behind Eminem and Rhianna’s worldwide smash The Monster. Give It Time is a subtler offering, led by a sweet harp introduction into a hypnotic production of gentle textures and groove. Injected with a rhythm to give it just the right kind of bounce, this one’s got regional community radio moving, with South Australia’s 5GTR, Bay FM on the NSW North Coast and Victoria’s North West FM all, erm, giving it time.
Cigars of the Pharaoh – #9 Amrap Regional
It’s practically impossible for us to do this week’s Chart Wrap without mentioning a band with name like Cigars of the Pharaoh. The cover for their new single Sincere Karma pictures the Sydney band at the famed Frankie’s Pizza, probably the best bedfellow the city can offer to match their unashamed rock pig tendencies. We are old enough here to recall Living Color with its huge, driving riffs and groove fusion. It’s a short one that packs a big punch – Queensland’s Fraser Coast Radio and Victoria’s 3WAY FM have lit up with this.
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.