The Veronicas, Violent Soho, Jade MacRae: Australia's best new music for December

Jade MacRae – My Fathers House

For fans of: Marcia Hines, Vika and Linda, Aretha Franklin

MacRae’s soulful new single is one of two she has released in the last half of this year – the first music to come out under her name since 2008. This deeply personal song is the perfect comeback vehicle, and showcases her still-impressive range, with a subtle 60s-leaning backing track giving her breathing space to command such a weighty song. Lyrically, MacRae speaks of allowing a new lover into your family home – literally and metaphorically. “Maybe this time around,” she sings hopefully, over a swinging soul backing, “maybe I got it right.”

For more: Listen to MacRae’s other new single, Up Above Your Head.

Sunnyboys – Can’t You Stop

For fans of: The Saints (mid-80s version), Richard Clapton, The Raspberries

It’s only the slight rasp in Jeremy Oxley’s voice – which speaks of thousands of cigarettes and decades of hard living – that betrays the fact that this song wasn’t recorded in 1981 with the rest of the classic debut album that launched the Sunnyboys into legendary status. Oxley’s schizophrenia, and the drugs and drink he used to deal with it, split the band apart in 1984 and this is their first single since. Thankfully, not a lot has changed: the guitars still ring out, the band’s harmonies are as sunny and lazy as ever, and the production shows no signs of the modern era. This is Aussie radio rock, the type of tune that echoed around surf clubs and RSLs back when a cloud of cigarette smoke stained every ceiling, beers were as cheap as a Sunnyboy ice block, and there was a band on every corner.

For more: The career-spanning compilation Sunnyboys 40 is out now; the band will be touring the east coast in February 2020.

Stella Donnelly – Season’s Greetings

For fans of: Frente, C86, Sarah Records

An aptly titled single to ring in the silly season, this song – like the regrettably relatable video clip that accompanies it – is the perfect summation of an Australian Christmas lunch spent with parents who don’t understand and “all your idiot cousins” (in this case, ones that worship Donnelly’s mother over the other aunties because she was a punk when younger). Musically, it is spritely and breezy, the opposite of the heavy, meat-filled meal it chronicles and the arguments that arise when brandy slides into beer into wine. A fitting sleigh bell solo jingles in, before the judgmental words “fuck up your life” ring over and over as the song fades out. Ah, Christmas.

For more: Check out Donnelly’s debut album, Beware Of The Dogs, and catch her at Laneway festival this summer.

Danny McDonald – Cordyline

For fans of: Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, the Stems

A lot can happen in 70 seconds, as this bright blast of pop aptly demonstrates. Danny McDonald is one of the finest purveyors of sunny Australian power pop, replete with jangling Rickenbackers, references to beaches and suburban pursuits, and the chronicling of an endless summer while basking in small, special details – it’s psycho-geography in song. Cordylines are a common feature of the Australian garden, complementary to palm trees and other tropical plants but tolerant of the cold and shade. It’s an apt metaphor for the sunshine that McDonald spins out of chilly Melbourne winters, one eye looking back longingly at a past of milk bars and P76s, the other firmly fixed on the horizon, where there’s always another summer on its way and another song to soundtrack it.

For more: Danny McDonald’s Modern Architecture EP is out February 2020.

Stevan – Warm

For fans of: Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, Rex Orange County

A shimmering song from this young Wollongong artist, Warm does exactly what it says on the tin, wrapping the listener in blankets of cosy harmonies and reassuring sentiments. Wispy synths blow through like clouds, the track marching along to a distorted shuffle beat. It’s a beautiful tune: tender, non-cynical and simple. As Stevan explains, “Warm is basically about wanting to keep my loved ones safe and secure.” It’s a timeless sentiment that is largely missing from popular music – with Animal Collective’s My Girls being one of the only recent, prominent songs to traverse similar terrain.

Violent Soho - A-OK

For fans of: Neil Young, Nirvana, Will Oldham

We all know that Violent Soho can rock. But across four albums and a handful of standalone singles, they have rarely dialled it back from 11 – the result being that when they do, songs such as the tender Saramona Said are hailed as standouts. A-OK is another, a beautifully muted ballad built on an acoustic guitar and a countrified slide. The grunge acts of the early 90s that Violent Soho echo had a penchant for this type of acoustic excursion, so it makes sense that the Brisbane band is starting to pepper them through their catalogue. A-OK was released at the same time as the rockier Vacation Forever – and while the latter has received most of the attention, thanks to its prescient anti-boomer sentiment, A-OK is more exciting, opening the door to future unplugged possibilities.

For more: Violent Soho’s fifth album is due in early 2020.

Scott & Charlene’s Wedding – Back In The Corner

For fans of: Lower Plenty, Lou Reed, the Twerps

Related: The 20 best songs of 2019

There’s an overused quote most often ascribed to Brian Eno: only 1,000 people bought the first Velvet Underground album, but all 1,000 formed a band. Lou Reed and co’s influence shows no signs of slowing 52 years later , and Back In The Corner drips with Reed’s laconic attitude, and his reliance on a few chugged chords. The playing is the right side of loose, the production is suitably lo-fi but bright enough to jump out of the speakers, and like all the best rock’n’roll tunes, this could have been produced at any point in the last half-century and still command attention. It’s good to see Scott & Charlene’s Wedding back in the mix.

For more: Check out their new EP: When In Rome, Carpe Diem.

Kota Banks - Big Bucks

For fans of: Charli XCX, MØ

Kota Banks is “too fucking busy for a boyfriend” in this unashamed and playfully exaggerated ode to excessive wealth, based on “a daydream I had whilst in London about living luxe, wearing designer brands and staying in nice hotels”, as she explains in a press release. With thumping production from Melbourne’s Swick, and a string of world-class singles that sharpen with each release, this fantasy might become a reality soon for the 25-year-old Sydney artist. She has recently signed to Sony and pushed out another single this week – a one-two punch that bodes well for 2020.

For more: Listen to Feel Again, or her 2018 mixtape PRIZE.

The Veronicas – Ugly

For fans of: Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Paramore

So much to unpack here. Much like the tortured tales of betrayal Pete Doherty and Carl Barât flung at each other as the Libertines collapsed in a heap of heroin abuse and litigation, Ugly finds the Origliasso sisters trading not-at-all coded accusations about their own fractured relationship, raking over what went wrong. “How can you honestly say I don’t have your back,” asks Lisa of Jess. “You trade your diamonds for rubies” is a not-so-veiled reference to the public spate the twins had regarding Jess’s ex-partner Ruby Rose, who accused Lisa of homophobia. As the twins patched things up, Jess in turn accused Rose of “continued harassment” and has described their time together as “toxic”. This narrative carries over to the Veronicas’ new reality show which sees the twins constantly bickering like … well, twins. Not surprisingly, Ugly doubles as that show’s theme song: a hooky diary entry of a tune with the twin refrains, “how’d we get so ugly?” and the pleading, “you know blood is for life”.

For more: Tune into their MTV show The Veronicas: Blood is for Life.

Hachiku – Shark Attack

For fans of: Rachel Yamagata, Frankie Cosmos, Hatchie

Not a song about sex – despite there being a hair stuck in a throat, a smell that lingers, the licking of fingers, and a sexy swing that speaks of seduction despite the use of the decidedly un-sexy word “saliva”. It’s actually about the traumatic death of a dog, and its impact on a teenager who relied upon their shared love as a proxy for human connection. Singer Anika Ostendorf, 25, was born in America, grew up in Germany and eventually ending up interning at Milk! Records, where she fell in love with the label’s handmade quality and DIY ethos. There is nothing undercooked about this majestic piece of music, a haunting ethereal plod through raw emotion, with Ostendorf’s icy voice rhythmically plucking each syllable.

For more: Catch Hachiku at the Milk! Records Christmas party on 22 December at Northcote Social Club in Melbourne – or on three consecutive Sundays across January at the Retreat Hotel in Brunswick.