The Underground Stage

The Underground Stage 📸 Photography and reviews from Sydney's new music underground

._ roll and bubble like liquid, but float and drift like smoke, easy to drown in but impossible to grab a solid hold of....
03/06/2026

._ roll and bubble like liquid, but float and drift like smoke, easy to drown in but impossible to grab a solid hold of. Dark and rich and decidedly off-kilter, a sharp blast of something intangible.

.grove are a band that routinely play in and with shadows, but tonight they’re as bright as I’ve ever heard them. The me...
03/06/2026

.grove are a band that routinely play in and with shadows, but tonight they’re as bright as I’ve ever heard them. The menace still lurks in the corners, no doubt, but where before the darkness was all-encompassing, tonight the light they emit is truly blinding. A wonderful set of inventive, jagged, and radiant song.

’s electro stomp underpins the primal wail of vocal and guitar, barrelled along by some truly fearsome basslines. Wonky ...
03/06/2026

’s electro stomp underpins the primal wail of vocal and guitar, barrelled along by some truly fearsome basslines. Wonky with joy but cut through with knife-edge peril, it’s enough to rattle bones and wrack nerves.

🎟️ Glorious sights and sounds on offer in Sydney this week featuring emerging, independent, and DIY artists, including:🎶...
02/06/2026

🎟️ Glorious sights and sounds on offer in Sydney this week featuring emerging, independent, and DIY artists, including:

🎶 Metro A.I.R is back with gratis gigs each week, this week featuring Rain Dogs, Bennetts Grove, and Ponzi Scheme (Weds, free)
🎶binsad headline at the Chippo, with Cherry Rype & Fawn, and Club Halifax (Sat, cover slide)
🎶 Since it’s a Bank Hol weekend there’s a decent sprinkling of stuff on Sunday night too this week

Check the last slides for the full week’s list of gigs that I think look fun, and link in bio to the Sydney Gig Guide for more shows next week and beyond.

If you’re only listening to one or two New Music Fridays, it’s easy to miss the bigger picture.If you look at *all* of t...
01/06/2026

If you’re only listening to one or two New Music Fridays, it’s easy to miss the bigger picture.

If you look at *all* of them though, you can see both who’s winning AND who’s most likely to break into the big(ger) time. This stuff highlights five from each of those categories.

I’ve been using this for a few weeks now, and it’s actually really helped me stay on top of what’s being released, what’s being picked up and backed, and it’s highlighted some breaking global acts that were totally worth the time.

Hope you get something useful out of it too.

The only problem with everyone releasing so much music is that everyone’s releasing so much music.(btw You can get all t...
31/05/2026

The only problem with everyone releasing so much music is that everyone’s releasing so much music.

(btw You can get all this on Sunday if you sign up to the Substack via the linkinbio)

If you’re looking for a quick summary of which artists are making moves right now, this is a data-driven summary of who’s popping on the best Australian playlists this week.

These are the artists that jump out at me as must-follows this week based on how their new releases are being received:

Best-performing AU
→ Mulga Bore Hard Rock
→ Lottie McLeod
→ DC Maxwell (2nd wk running!)

Best in AU & around world
→ Swapmeet
→ Mia Wray
→ Le Shiv
→ Bjéar
→ Suzi
→ Olivia Escuyos
→ PASH

——
How does this work?

What I’ve done is take all the artists that have been added to about 400 playlists globally - all credible, all focussed on new music, and (for the ones based in Australia) focussed on Australian artists.

From that I’ve then applied some hairy maths to weight the no. of appearances against the follower size of the artist so it takes away the ‘size’ argument, and makes it a level playing field for emerging artists even against the biggest artists in the world.

What I get out of it is a really clear list of which artists are punching above their weight this week, the artists that playlisters across Australia and around the world are placing their bets on.

🖐️ my fav 5 tracks this week from the best of Australia’s DIY, independent, and emerging artists:→ Bigredcap, DJ Begzy→ ...
30/05/2026

🖐️ my fav 5 tracks this week from the best of Australia’s DIY, independent, and emerging artists:

→ Bigredcap, DJ Begzy
→ FANGZ
→ Fragile Animals
→ FVNERAL, Bukowski
→ Sonic Reducer

Also out this week are albums from:

→ CHRISTOS
→ Deadshowws
→ Mulga Bore Hard Rock
→ Quiet as a Mouse

Listen to just-dropped new music from Australia’s best new artists on the playlist linkinbio x

’s full and throaty blast is always a joy, a string of rough gems, delivered with exuberance and enthusiasm. Sharp obser...
30/05/2026

’s full and throaty blast is always a joy, a string of rough gems, delivered with exuberance and enthusiasm. Sharp observations and lyrical wit, raucous and cheerfully rowdy, a very physical pleasure.

🏋️‍♀️ Full strength new music on the playlist now featuring this week’s new releases by emerging, independent, and DIY A...
30/05/2026

🏋️‍♀️ Full strength new music on the playlist now featuring this week’s new releases by emerging, independent, and DIY Australian artists.

FVNERAL are this week’s cover stars (whose new track also features Bukowski), while the pics here are of those artists I’ve shot live and who released stuff this week. Every track is added because it’s fabulous in every way, and the full list this week is on the last slides.

It’s updated in a world-class temper every week, playlist link in bioxoxo

have a smooth surface, glassy and shiny with twang and jangle. It’s not uniform though, the more jagged moments adding ...
29/05/2026

have a smooth surface, glassy and shiny with twang and jangle. It’s not uniform though, the more jagged moments adding both texture and teeth.

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