Happy 15th birthday to us - new compilation out now
Listen to the 29-track compilation 'New Weird Australia, An Index Of The Modern Era 2009-2024'
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.
The 29-track selections run the gamut from the very first compilation released in 2009 to the most recent collection from 'transient ambient' group Worlds Only. The compilation features music by Del Lumanta & Eunice Andrada, Tralala Blip, Holy Balm, Bum Creek, Erasers, Jacob Silver, SCRAPS, Megan Alice Clune, James Rushford & Joe Talia, Shoeb Ahmad, Ambrose Chapel, Rites Wild, Jonny Telafone, ///▲▲▲\\\, Thomas William vs Scissor Lock, Wytchings, kyü, Rabbit Island, Amby Downs, Scattered Order, Pimmon, Sumn Conduit, Underlapper, Drill Folly, FM Raster, Machines Of Indeterminate Origin, Nina Buchanan, Bonnie Mercer and Anonymeye.
New Weird Australia, An Index Of The Modern Era 2009-2024 is co-curated by Sia Ahmad, Angus Andrew, Stuart Buchanan, Alyx Dennison, Tim Dwyer, Lawrence English, Kimberley Galceran, Alistair 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 and Becki Whitton, and features artwork from our dear friend and long-time collaborator, Heath Killen.
The compilation is available now, stream free, exclusively on Bandcamp.
Thanks to all the artists who have contributed to the label's releases over the last fifteen years; to the labels, promoters, press and supporters who helped us in many different ways; to the designers and creatives who shaped our undulating aesthetic; and, most importantly, to YOU - and everyone else who tuned into our wyrd frequencies.
Keep watching our socials over the holiday season as we flex with some flashbacks, clearing the deck for all-new future-facing projects in 2025.
And so it goes.
Love Stu x (the so-called “we” of NWA)