The Big Read

Baker Boy: “I wanna show little kids they can be a voice for their community all around Australia – even the world”

On his debut album ‘Gela’, Yolngu hip-hop phenomenon Danzal Baker continues to tread his path of positivity – even as he delivers some of his most pointedly political songs yet

Lorde: “I feel like I can see my world and myself a lot clearer now”

How Ella Yelich-O’Connor stripped away the digital noise to find solace in nature, a journey that birthed her bright, blissed-out third album ‘Solar Power’

Youngn Lipz: “I’m very proud of where I’m from and will always represent”

The sky’s the limit for Australia’s new R&B star Youngn Lipz, who flies the flag for South-West Sydney on his debut album ‘Area Baby’

Hiatus Kaiyote: “Art isn’t perfect, it’s about the energy”

After Nai Palm’s cancer battle and amid a global pandemic, the genre-fluid mavericks from Melbourne return with a record that celebrates life

Tkay Maidza: “This whole journey has just been about finding myself and owning my power”

Adelaide’s pride and joy, chameleonic artist, ambitious visual auteur, eclectic outsider – Tkay Maidza is all these things and more

Julia Stone: “I’ve been amazed over the years how some people really don’t like finding out who I am”

Julia Stone is ready to be free. On her new solo record ‘Sixty Summers’, the singer-songwriter dials back the folk-pop to reveal the many different versions of herself

Skegss: “We’re stoked we live in Australia – we’re keen to grab the bull by the horns”

The Byron Bay trio’s new album may be titled ‘Rehearsal’, but as their raucous gig at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl showed, they’re more than ready for the big time

Jaguar Jonze: “Fear and I are redefining our relationship with each other”

After a whirlwind 2020, Brisbane’s Eastern-cowgirl rock star emerges stronger than ever as the ‘Antihero’ Australia needs

The Avalanches: “Now we’re just a regular band instead of the band who made an amazing debut”

Two decades after breaking new ground with ‘Since I Left You’, The Avalanches have their sights set on the stars. Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi tell NME about their sprawling, big-hearted new album ‘We Will Always Love You’

Ruel: “I was listening to a lot of sad music, thinking, ‘What am I even doing?’ I felt a bit useless”

Australia’s youngest global pop star leaps into adulthood with his bold new EP, ‘Bright Lights, Red Eyes’