You would have caught Yasmina Sadiki’s neo-soul and jazz patchwork of alongside the Beat Kitchen crew at Yulli’s Brews, or improvising alongside her live band at Lazybones over the year. Though she finds it hard to define her genre, Yasmina has been holding it down for Sydney’s jazz fusion scene, bringing silky vocals and introspective lyricism, to what would have been an average night Thursday night at the pub, playing an integral part in this city’s comeback of live music.

It’s the rotating dynamic of an xmunashe performance that has been known to leave his audience utterly captivated. Joined by multi-instrumentalists who alternate from microphones to synths to drums, xmunashe has humbly led the trio through a number of unhurried, body-melting sets this year. These much-hyped, intimate, interactive shows in their private studio, open-air spaces and across the country have placed xmunashe as a permanent fixture in the local live scene.

Everyone who’s experienced a live set from Vv Pete would have to agree: Vv Pete has mastered the art of the crowd hype. Her genre-bending spin on rap permeates through sharp, tail-spinning bars – riling up her audience is no difficult task. It’s an impressive move with only a handful of releases, but true to her unstoppable nature, this year’s seen Vv Pete support Denzel Curry around the country, and represent Western Sydney in Acclaim Magazine’s All-Stars Cypher.

Appearing in at least 8-or-so DIY punk bands, it would be fair to dub Ishka Edmeades as one of Sydney’s most hard-working musicians, but it’s his prolific live shows for his solo project Tee Vee Repairmann that have landed him a reputation as one of this city’s most captivating live acts. His debut album ‘What’s On TV?’ is soaked in giddy hooks that have shaken, rattled and rolled during his abundance of 2023 gigs from New York City to all over this country.

Parasol aka Chuyi Wang has delivered his distinctive brand of hyper-nostalgic, auditory overload to all sorts of clubs and spaces across the city. His live appearances embody his devotion to the MIDI, dominating dancefloors with instrumental trance frequencies and orchestrating flashes of chaos amidst sweating, euphoric party-goers.

For what can only be due to popular demand, Loose Fit have cast a wide and wonderful net over the plethora of this city’s music venues and beyond. Their formidable, seemingly non-stop shows pair precarious stage-stomping with raucous saxophone harmonies and have seen them grace festival stages, support slots and headline sets alike.