I don’t trust the Spotify algorithm to suggest music to me very often. I make a quick pass through my Discovery Weekly and Release Radar playlists each week, but I will generally only find a song or two that are new to me and fit my tastes. Last week, though, the Discovery playlist spit out a different version of an artist I really like (Julia Jacklin). After listening to her side project’s entire album, I let Spotify suggest music to me for about an hour. It was almost all glorious Australian indie-pop. Just about all of this week’s songs are ones I discovered during that span. This is another of my occasional All-Aussie PL’s.

“Bad Timing” – Phantastic Ferniture
Before Jacklin made it as a solo artist, she was a member of this band. After the success of her debut album Don’t Let the Kids Win in 2016, she got the group back together to record an album. She said it was a break from writing “songs that make people sad.” I wish I had heard this sooner. It is really fun.

“Drive Me Home” – The Buoys
These ladies from Sydney don’t sound overtly Australian, but you can hear the Aussie pop influence in there if you dig deep enough. I love the brightness of this track.

“Fem Chem” – Nice Biscuit
This Brisbane band also diverts from classic Aussie pop, taking it in a more psychedelic/surf rock direction.

“Waste Our Breath” – Something For Kate
I listened to SFK a little bit a year or two back, after I saw lead singer Paul Dempsey’s cover of Middle Kids’ “Edge of Town.” A couple songs from their most recent album, 2020’s The Modern Medieval popped up in that hour of Aussie music. I spent most of the rest of that day listening to their album, which is absolutely great. This is one of many standout tracks.

“Now We’re Getting Somewhere” – Crowded House
The algorithm threw in a few classics, too, including this from CH’s debut album. I’ve thought for years that I needed to write something about side one of that album, which is one of the great debuts ever made.

“Quicksand” – Hatchie
Big news late last year as Harriette Pilbeam signed with Bloomington, IN label Secretly Canadian. Perhaps this is the first step to the kind of success former SC band The War on Drugs has found? I don’t love this song the way I loved her 2019 music, but I do like her new, glammed up look.