Soundscape is a weekly look at local and international releases making an impression on our musical radar. The list offers a cross section of EPs and albums arriving at the station.

We have been busily scouring the Soundscape! Check out some of our favourite finds for this week 26 August 2019'

Rapsody - Eve (Universal)**Album of the Week

The North Carolina MC names every song on her new album for an inspirational woman of colour; Aaliya, Nina, Oprah, Michelle... Using these women’s stories as a springboard for her natural story-telling and wit and insight, Rapsody explores themes of struggle, self-belief and success.

HTRK - Venus in Leo (Mistletone)

The first HTRK album in five years - recorded in the band’s home studio in the Dandenong Ranges - combines toned backed arrangements with the sounds of the band’s underground rock heritage and the variety of a modern mixtape.

Jay Som - Anak Ko (Pod / Inertia Music)

Bay area singer-songwriter Melina Duterte, AKA Jay Som, wrote most of the music for new album Anak Ko in a burst of creativity during a week-long solo retreat to Joshua Tree National Park. The result is a disarmingly present, slickly produced, and deeply collaborative album of dream-pop, shoegaze and lush 80s new-wave.

Various Artists - Stylin' 900 (Heard and Felt)

Celebrating the 900th episode of the much loved 3RRR show Stylin’ (over an impressive 18 years!), presenter Ennio Styles displays his practiced record digging craft with Stylin’ 900. Featuring the music of those who could be categorised under the wide spectrum of underground soul music, Styles has curated a vast and influential line-up of artists including those who have collaborated with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Pharrell, Kendrick Lamar, Fatima, and many more.

Tropical Fuck Storm - Braindrops (Flightless Recordings)

The Australian four-piece release their second album, a berserk, psych-punk mosaic of ecological disaster, social decay and mind control. Layering off-kilter guitars with rollicking drums and fitful lyrics, TFS have produced a sound for the chaos of our times.

Broads - Stay Connected (Heapsaflash)

Stay Connected is the second release by “Melbourne Queens of indie-noir.” Deeply reflective and haunting, the inviting and mesmerising vocal crooning is disguised behind layers of fuzz, nostalgia and misdirection, like the score to a David Lynch dream sequence.

Maria Usbeck - Envejeciendo (Cascine/Redeye Distribution)

The former frontwoman of Selebrities utilises her solo-project to capture her childhood in South America and her desire to compose in Spanish. Second release Envejeciendo is a synth-pop exploration of childhood and aging as a continuum of death and regeneration, breaking through forests of synths with indigenous ecuadorian instruments and deeply personal vocals.

Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold (Milk! Records/Remote Control Records)

Sleater-Kinney’s ninth album feels comfortably recognisable; bold, loud, direct and economical. Yet the production elements, overseen by St. Vincent, are especially sleek and streamlined on The Center Won’t Hold. The album is an observation of the world as it stands today, a political reaction to hyper-partisanism, while not losing sight of the intimate and personal pictures of lives affected by these politics.

Marie Davidson - Chasing The Light (Ninja Tune/Inertia)

The Quebecois producer channels ‘90s-era Trance on her new EP. Composed for her Working Class Woman Tour, the title track is backed with remixes of Work It and Lara by Soulwaz and Daniel Avery respectively.

City Calm Down - Television ( I OH YOU/Mushroom Group)

The Melbourne quartet release their third album in the last five years with Television. With inspiration from the likes of T.Rex, The Smiths, and Talking Heads, the band asks the listener to face up to the fact that “the world is happening to you.”