The RadMix100 for 2018 is here!

2018 is done and it’s been one crazy set of 365!

Even though we are surrounded by the turmoil of political upheaval, environment disaster, ignorance and violence, rays of light often poke through the clouds to give us hope, inspiration and confidence that maybe – just maybe – things will be OK.

I set myself a goal this year, to listen to more new music, particularly Australian music, than I ever have before and thanks to you, this blog and the amazing artists in this country (and abroad), I achieved something that I didn’t think I could – maintained a weekly playlist of songs that rotated each week for 50 weeks.

I then made it my mission to compile my own list of 100 songs for this year, perhaps in a little retaliation to another certain 100 list that has become less relevant to my tastes over the years.

After much to-ing and fro-ing, moments of stress, clarity and excitement, I have settled on my list, which admittedly has been manipulated right up until the final day of the year. There are plenty of tracks that were on there and have moved off, but obviously I can’t fit everyone, but I really wanted a wide representation or the music that I’ve loved this year.

The Australian music family should be so proud of what they’ve achieved this year. The scene has diversified more than ever and the collaboration between genres and the proliferation of non-male music has grown more than I can remember – it’s a very exciting time to witness the changes in the local scene.

If you’ve been following my playlist throughout the year, you would have seen that 90-100% of them contain all-Australian artists and, to be honest, this has meant that I haven’t listened to as many international artists as I may have wanted. Whilst I am not sad too about this, I’ve certainly come to the realisation that I am somewhat out-of-touch with some of the overseas scenes. The ones that I have included in the list, though, are the gems that have really caught my ear.

The Breakdown:

81% of the list is Australian, which is actually a little lower than I would have expected. Ultimately, there are always going to be those huge worldwide hits that wriggle into our periphery. I admittedly won’t feature an international artist in my weekly playlist that already has significant coverage. They don’t need it!

I have included Riton and Kah-Lo as English, even though Kah-Lo is from Nigeria. Parcels, having moved from Byron Bay to Berlin, come under Germany.

Artists by Country

When we look at the Australian artists by state, NSW come out on top with over half. This is probably quite swayed by me living in that state, but it’s fair to note that 11 of my top 20 are from VIC, who are the second most represented artists. ACT and QLD coming in next, whilst SA and WA have, sadly, zero representation. I will have to make it a mission to find more artists from these states! (Sorry West Thebarton and Good Doogs, I was very close to including you!)

Australian Artists by State

As I mentioned earlier, the huge number of non-male artists making amazing music in this country is growing year on year. 62% of my list contains at least one non-male artist. This includes groups that may feature a female artist in their track (Space Invadas, REMI, Cookin’ on 3 Burners) even if they are an all-male group usually. It really is such a positive thing to see the amount of up-and-coming non-male artists, but traditionally, the numbers seem to drop with age. Here’s hoping that THAT trend changes as well.


All Male v At Least One Non-Male Member

The List:

When it came to picking the songs for the list, 90% of it came together really fast as I had been accumulating playlists throughout the year, but then there were those 20 odd tracks that I really wanted to include, but couldn’t fit. Songs from West Thebarton, Washington, Lisa Caruso, BOAT SHOW, Caiti Baker and Rackett all just missed out, but were in there at one point.

Just five artists feature twice in the list. Camp Cope, Christine and the Queens, Joyride, Julia Jacklin and The Presets. This usually happened when I just couldn’t decide which one to include and barring Julia (whose apparently awesome album comes early in 2019), they all have had big albums this year.

I was thinking about writing up a wrap about every song, but damn, who wants to sit at a computer at this time of year! The list is below, followed by a link to the Spotify playlist which is can put on repeat until new music from 2019 starts coming in!

1Tell Them Where to Go – Cable Ties
2Formaldehyde – Didirri
3Labrador – WAAX
4Good – Moaning Lisa
5Molotov – Kira Puru
6Stupid World (ft. Bibi Bourelly) – Hermitude
7Native Tongue (ft. Pasefika Vitoria Choir) – Mojo Juju
8Light Me on Fire – Regurgitator
9Girls on the TV – Laura Jean
10No Cowards – HANDSOME
11Lotus Eaters – Odette
12The Omen – Camp Cope
13Alchemy – Slowly Slowly
14Martini – The Presets
15Head Alone – Julia Jacklin
166am – Joyride
17OG Luv Kush pt.2 – Kaiit
18Doesn’t Matter – Christine and the Queens
19Chasing Stars (ft. Bertie Blackman) – Alice Ivy
20Missing Me – Angie McMahon
21Suburbia – Press Club
22Fuckin ‘n’ Rollin – Phantastic Ferniture
23Transient – Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird
24I’m Good – Wafia
25Jupiter – Haiku Hands
26For Your Love – Montaigne
27Alien – E^ST
28Clumsy Love – Thelma Plum
29The Key – B Wise
30swell – imbi the girl
31My Pelopolees – Tasman Keith
32Like People – DZ Deathrays
33Mistake – Middle Kids
34All Your Love (ft. Dustin Tebbutt) – Flight Facilities
35Hospital Hill (ft. Gus Gardiner) – Jack Carty
36Lightenup – Parcels
3714U+14ME – The Presets
38Night Time – Superorganism
39Adjacent Heart – Obongjayar
40Vague Utopia – Tia Gostelow
41All The Stars (ft. SZA) – Kendrick Lamar
42No Ordinary Life – Matt Corby
43Girlfriend (ft. Dâm-Funk) – Christine and the Queens
44City Looks Pretty – Courtney Barnett
45Lay Low – Dominic Breen
46Energy (ft. Nadeem Din-Gabisi) – Sampa the Great
47How to Socialise & Make Friends – Camp Cope
48Future Me Hates Me – The Beths
49Time – Rachel Maria Cox
50Exactly How You Are – Ball Park Music
51Big God – Florence + The Machine
52Origami – Woodes
53My Mind – DOBBY
54Fade – Annie Hamilton
55Turning Circle – Urthboy
56Beyond – Leon Bridges
57Groceries – Mallrat
58Tarlo – Triple One
59This Is America – Childish Gambino
60Feelings – Bloods
61A Set of Reasons – Jack R. Reilly
62Woman In Charge (ft. Natalie Slade) – Space Invadas
63Lighter – Turquoise Prince
64Dilemma – Francesca Gonzales
65Djolin (Musical Instrument) – Gurrumul
66House In LA – Jungle
67Friends with Feelings – Alice Skye
68Blue Batmans – Joyride
69Tidal Fight – No Mono
70SUDS – RAAVE TAPES
7120 / 20 – OKENYO
72Hunnybee – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
73Limo Song – Jack River
74Let It Slip – Luca Brasi
75The End – DMA’s
76WOW – Kwame
77Tints (ft. Kendrick Lamar) – Anderson .Paak
78Fake ID – Riton & Kah-Lo
79The Deconstruction – Eels
80Futon Couch – Missy Higgins
81Fire – Peking Duk
82Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience – Parquet Courts
83My People (ft. thando) – REMI
84Electric Powerlines – leftprojects
85Wonderland (ft. Turquoise Prince) – Spit Syndicate
86Suddenly – A. Swayze & The Ghosts
87Warning (ft. Kaiit) – Cookin’ On 3 Burners
88Black Car – Beach House
89Love For Me – Coda Conduct
90Hold On – Mirrah
91Rubber Bullies – Tropical Fuck Storm
92Smogged Out – Skegss
93Leave A Light On – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
94Body – Julia Jacklin
95awomen amen – Genesis Owusu
96Too Long – Emma Davis
97The Policy – Glitoris
98Black Magic (ft. Dallas Woods) – Baker Boy
99Time – Gretta Ray
100Gonna Love Me – Teyana Taylor

The Playlist:

Links to the Spotify playlists are below. Choose your order!

5 years ago

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *