Viral Wreckage, the incendiary debut record by Nigerian rapper Aunty Rayzor, is one of the most intoxicating hip hop records of the year. With her impressive diversity of flows at the center, Viral Wreckage is a breathless blend of sounds and subgenres from all over the digital and physical world.

The album features an array of collaborators from East African label, Hakuna Kalula, and it’s sister label Nyege Nyege. Tracks produced by Debmaster and Scotch Rolex (themselves producing much of MC Yallah’s superb album earlier this year) combine trap and grime with meticulously detailed electronic production, and are blitzed by Aunty Rayzor with head-spinning, rapid-fire delivery. 

Across the album’s other tracks is where Aunty Rayzor showcases her versatility. She glides effortlessly over clubbier beats with influences ranging from baile funk, gqom and afrobeats. Other collaborations with label partners KABEAUSHÉ and Titi Bakorta lead to exciting sonic deviations, whether it be synth-laden RnB duets, or Aunty Rayzor rapping over highlife instrumentals.

Viral Wreckage is a confidently assured debut record, with Aunty Rayzor in complete command throughout the record’s exhilarating left-turns. It may well be the sound of the future- or, more accurately, a showcase of the artists on the cutting edge of music today.

26 Minutes of Music is the debut album from Sydney’s 198archie. On it, producer and artist Archie Smartt remains nonchalant and DIY. 26 Minutes of Music is the project chronicling the past three years of living and process of creating for no apparent reason other than self-fulfilment– in his own words, “This is about everything i’ve been up to , had heaps of fun making it and i hope you enjoy it too.”

The album blankets listeners in abrasive synthesiser and vocalisation not heard in its prefacing singles, before breaking into crisp beats, sleek bass and cruising vocals. ‘Make the Most’ is the first collaborative track, and includes an eerie sample of Fleetwood Mac flickering in the background of the vocals. Other tracks like ‘Cellophane’, ‘No Data Izmir’ and a punch-drunk cover of Peter Bjorn and John’s 2006 dueting classic ‘Young Folks’ provide breathing room for moments where Archie dips into funky trip-hop. ‘Spawn 2 Track 1’ is steeped in nostalgia– a thrashing imagination of a sequel soundtrack to the 1997 film.

Including recurring features from Lottie World, Apollo64 and more, 26 minutes of music leans into collaboration to create a multifaceted exploration of 90s UK dance. Drawing influence from the likes of Sneaker Pimps, Moby, and Beck, the final result is a record that feels like a natural step forward, webbing together nostalgic references in a promising new sound.

We frequently reach into the past when trying to describe contemporary artists. ‘Art-pop’ is a genre tag often thrown around, drawing comparisons to trailblazing musicians like Kate Bush, Bjork, and Prince. Sometimes it can feel like an unearned or lazy comparison- but Oakland, California artist SPELLLING is one who truly lives up to the high conceptuality and ambition of such contemporaries.

Each SPELLLING song is a journey, sometimes mysterious and haunting, other times heroically extravagant. At the center is her uniquely expressive voice. It gives the impression of someone singing with their whole soul; curling around words and phrases with spellbinding range. 

SPELLLING’s newest record is an encapsulation of her fascinating musical journey- a re-interpretation of old material, now with her live band, ‘The Mystery School.’ Some tracks are complete reinventions, turning minimal, brooding synth-soul songs from the earliest days in her career into thrillingly theatrical prog-rock epics. Other tracks, like that from her masterful 2021 record, The Turning Wheel, itself already ambitious in scope and instrumentation, are less radically different, but carry the confidence of an artist and band in total musical sync.

SPELLLING & the Mystery School is more than just a greatest hits or live album placeholder, but a fully realised world of its own. Much like dusting off an old songbook, or running through old jazz standards, SPELLLING has infused her own folklore with a magical new energy.

Anyone following Canberra artist Genesis Owusu since the earliest days of his musical career knows he was posited for superstardom. On STRUGGLER, his newest record, he’s undoubtedly arrived there.

On it, the brilliantly inventive, impossible to pin down formula of his debut record, Smiling With No Teeth, has been alchemised into an even more perfect encapsulation of his artistry. Capturing the high octane, bottomless energy of his live performances, Genesis barrels through countless genre mashups and tempo changes; everything from grungy hip hop, to funk jams and soulful ballads. It’s all centered around Genesis’ distinctive vocal performance, his rawest emotions on show whether in high falsetto, or gritty, mantra-like rapping.

Yet on STRUGGLER, he turns outwards, channeling his own personal battles into a thematic conduit of himself as ‘The Roach’- a universal expression of resilience against all the shit that everyone’s been dealing with recent chaotic years. Inspiration from existentialist and absurdist authors like Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett informed Genesis’ ‘Roachhood’ mindset – not one of dispassionate, who-cares nihilism, but teeth-gritted, smiling through the pain strength. It’s an ethos that reflects what makes Genesis Owusu so special- inviting a kindredness and relatability with his listeners, yet never compromising what makes him authentically unique.

Noname has always been an artist that moves comfortably at her own pace. On Sundial, she slips comfortably back into the nostalgically tinged hip hop that she’s perfected ever since her debut mixtape, Telefone. 

Noname’s poetic, effortless verses would often flow as if spilled from the most personal confessions of a diary. On Sundial, they’re no less dizzyingly impressive, but are more biting and grittier than ever. She floats confidently over a broad palette of live instrumental production, not only the joyful neo-soul that herself and her Chicago peers are best known for, but also gospel, bossa and afrobeats.

The record is a natural extension not only of Noname’s past music but of her work as a revolutionary community organiser. In the same way that a sundial clock marks the passage of time through shadows, on Sundial Noname signposts the highs and lows of the five years since her last album, tackling the violence of the American state, intersectional gender issues and the commodification of black trauma. 

In a way that few artists do, she impressively captures the totality of these experiences; the sometimes messy contradictions of resistance and liberation struggles, and the tension between hip-hop’s roots in radicalism and its subsumption within an exploitative music industry. Sundial is Noname basked in complete authenticity, refusing to be watered down, critical yet with an eye still on the importance of solidarity and love.

Melbourne group Too Birds have consistently made some of the most experimental and uniquely creative hip hop in the country. On Soul of Too Birds, they invite you back onto their carnivalesque, high octane ride. Prolific rapper Teether’s delivery is considered yet biting, paired perfectly alongside Realname and his densely packed and tongue and cheek lyrics. They’re underpinned by Mr Society, whose production lumbers and creeps until it dissolves into waves of deep fried distortion and industrial noise. It’s an exercise in tension and release, disorienting before snapping back with giddy, headbanging-worthy velocity. Soul of Too Birds maintains this impressive balancing act with a cheeky sense of humour, through each unexpected sample or helium-ballooned vocal delivery. If Too Birds are going to burn in an 8-bit, microwaved hell, they’ll be laughing the whole way down.

Few artists have soundtracked the last few years of Sydney more than Skeleten. The alias of Russell Fitzgibbon, one half of beloved group Fishing, the project was birthed as a freer sonic experiment.

His debut record Under Utopia is an exercise in considered groove; dance, electronica, and RnB. Atop these sonic textures, his vocals stream through, airy and spaciously-mixed. 

Skeleten faces a despairing, cynical world with transformative sincerity, meeting the uncertainty of it all with a sharp yet deliberate sense of joy. Written before and during lockdown, Under Utopia is not so much a rejection of the collective trauma of the pandemic as it is a calm acceptance of the struggles of the years past, and a gentle reminder that no matter what, at the end of it all, we still have each other. 

Under Utopia balances meticulous, satisfying production with top shelf songwriting. It’s a complex network of joy, acceptance, and beauty for Sydney dancefloors.

Paris Texas launch off on their new album, MID AIR. Playfully rearranging modern hip hop conventions, their giddy energy and offhand humour, whilst reminiscent of other LA groups like Odd Future and BROCKHAMPTON, is very much of their own unique personality. As is their incorporation of a wide variety of different genre sounds, including 90s post-hardcore rock, Lil-Peep era emo rap & even cheesy old-school electro. What makes Paris Texas stand out is how they thoughtfully incorporate these touchpoints into their music, not just as pastiche but in an organic and confident way, completely unconcerned with trends or expectations. As the title implies, MID AIR sits comfortably in these in-betweens; but also thrillingly, in a feeling of total suspension and intoxicating freedom.

On Lux Aeterna, Melbourne producer CORIN takes her unique intergalactic sound to dizzying new heights. A synthesis of her work across theatre, classical and dance music, Lux Aeterna is an exploration of ‘sound as a sentient being’. The tracks on the album cycle between mysterious ambient compositions, and percussive, more club-ready tracks. What both have in common is their unpredictable and ever shifting textures and rhythms, as if this ‘sentient sound’ is trying to escape the very confines of the music itself. CORIN was inspired by ‘micropolyphony’ – a sound technique developed by composer György Ligeti where different lines and parts of music move at different speeds, creating a dense, complex structure. Ligeti’s compositions for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey were also a touchpoint for the album, particularly the title Lux Aeterna, which translates to ‘eternal light’ in Latin. Perhaps a reference to this name, the apprehensive, distressed choral sounds throughout the record give the impression of rays of light, scattering and shimmering across the sky. Lux Aeterna is a captivating and striking musical creation from a distinctively original artist.

The future is now on EXTENDER, the collaborative album between Melbourne-based artists Ryan Fennis & Voidhood. Commanding in its intensity, and alluring in its rhythmic fluidity, it occupies a sound halfway between a dark club dancefloor and a car’s booming subwoofer. A reflection on the ‘age of overstimulation’, EXTENDER pulls you headfirst into its hyper-digital world. Stretching the limits of electronic hip-hop and industrial club sounds, it mirrors the ever-increasing rapidity of music culture, online worlds, and dystopic creep. Much as its penultimate track title implies, it feels like the end point of music, the mutant AI creation of a million online music forums and punk-raver aesthetics. Yet its endless imagination proves it could only have been made by humans; Ryan Fennis floating through aether between each highly-detailed piece of production, and Voidhood, lurking amongst the deepest sub basses, fighting with each percussive twist and turn. As much as EXTENDER is a struggle with a world slipping increasingly out of control, it is also a show of valiance, of extending beyond oneself to create something better.