This is it, music lovers – the final episode of The Sound for 2021!
And have we got a massive line-up to celebrate. Thank you for watching us these last few weeks – we’ve enjoyed sharing every minute. Tune in 5.30pm Sunday on ABC TV or ABC iview because this is one episode you don’t want to miss.
THE SOUND
SEASON 3
EPISODE 6
SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER, 5.30PM
ON ABC TV AND ABC
GANG OF YOUTHS, BRIGGS &
TROY-CASSAR-DALEY, KYE, FLOWERKID
+ DELTA GOODREM & JOSH TESKEY PAY TRIBUTE TO INXS
WITH SPECIAL GUEST HOST ZAN ROWE
Gang Of Youths filmed live in London: With the band’s third album, angel in realtime, releasing February 25 2022 and global tour dates booked from March to September, we’re thrilled to showcase two amazing performances from the now London-based outfit. An absolute must-see live, Gang of Youths hit your screens this Sunday on The Sound.
Born and raised in the floodplains of VIC’s North East rivers, Yorta Yorta man Briggs has taken his hometown of Shepparton to the world. Don’t miss a powerful live performance of his single ‘Shadows’ feat. Troy Cassar-Daley – himself a proud Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung man. The single is an adaptation of Cassar-Daley’s 2018 song ‘Shadows On The Hill’, and picks up where the original track left off, reflecting on massacres which have been carried out since colonisation. You may have heard the song on ABC series Going Country.
Celebrating INXS for this week’s ‘Tribute’ with a performance of ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ is the incredible Delta Goodrem – the multi-Platinum selling artist with nine #1 singles, five #1 albums, 17 top 10 hits, 12 ARIA Awards, a Silver Logie Award & three World Music Awards to her name and kicking off her highly anticipated Bridge Over Troubled Dreams national arena tour in March 2022 – alongside vocal extraordinaire Josh Teskey (The Teskey Brothers).
She just nailed her first ever festival appearance at Melbourne’s Ability Fest, and recently delivered her smashingly good debut EP, Good Company. Zimbabwe-born, UK-raised KYE has collaborated with the likes of Sampa The Great, Jerome Farah, Genesis Owusu and Touch Sensitive (who appears with her in this week’s clip), her defiant, danceable music a testament to her exceptional talents.
Appearing this week with a performance of single ‘Vodka Orange Juice’ is flowerkid, aka 20-year-old Flynn Sant, who hails from western Sydney. The track has garnered richly deserved acclaim from triple j, BBC Radio 1 and Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. With debut EP Everyone Has A Breaking Point out now, flowerkid is fully on the rise!
Lastly, our special guest host is Zan Rowe. The ABC’s National Music Correspondent, Zan is the host of Double J Mornings and the Take 5 podcast, and co-host of the Bang On podcast with Myf Warhurst. She also co-hosts ABC TV’s New Year’s Eve broadcast.
Friends, it’s almost Christmas. There’s just one more episode to go for 2021… and it’s going to be huge! Get festive this weekend and tune into The Sound! Until next time…
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1 December 2021
Holy moly, it’s December. Time to celebrate! We’ve got just two Eps left for The Sound in 2021 – tune in this Sunday 5 December at 5.30pm on ABC TV or ABC iview for your weekly delivery of hot live Aussie music. This Sunday, we’ve got icons, we’ve got newcomers… drumroll, please. Performing on Episode 5 is:
THE SOUND
SEASON 3
EPISODE 5
SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER, 5.30PM
ON ABC TV AND ABC
TINA ARENA, COURTNEY BARNETT, BUDJERAH, WILSN
+ SAN CISCO, STELLA DONNELLY AND KATY STEELE
WITH SPECIAL GUEST HOST JOEL CREASEY
Tina Arena AM: Iconic singer-songwriter, record producer, actress and performing artist, Tina Arena’s powerful voice remains unparalleled after 40 years in the industry. With 10 million records sold worldwide across 12 studio albums, Tina is the only Australian artist to have earned Gold or Platinum album releases in every decade since the 1970s! Filmed at Pt. Leo Estate on VIC’s Mornington Peninsula, we’re thrilled to showcase a very special performance.
Our special guest host this week is one of Australia’s most-popular and charmingly controversial stand-up comedians, a radio host on the Nova network, and co-host of SBS’s Eurovision Song Contest: Joel Creasey.
Filmed at the legendary Pappy + Harriet’s in Pioneertown, California, Courtney Barnett has again taken the music world by storm, this time with her most thoughtful and meditative album yet. Things Take Time, Take Time is her third record, receiving rave reviews from critics and fans alike. With an AU tour scheduled for March 2022, we’re stoked to have the 4x ARIA winner and Grammy and Brit Award nominee performing this week.
You caught him last Sunday collaborating on an amazing tribute to The Temper Trap, as well as taking home the ‘Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist’ 2021 ARIA Award! This Sunday, we welcome back the incredible Budjerah, who performs one of his own full songs this time ‘round – his amazing track ‘Talk’. As the Sydney Morning Herald puts it, Budjerah possesses a “Shining voice of a star in waiting.”
With her soulful, knockout voice, fast-rising Melbourne artist WILSN joins us to perform her single ‘You Know Better’. Raised in Geelong, now living in Melbourne after a few years honing her songcraft with writing sessions over in Nashville, WILSN’s stunning voice sits right alongside the likes of Amy Winehouse and other vocal greats. You heard her on The Sound first!
Finally – don’t miss a special ‘Tribute’ collaboration celebrating The Sleepy Jackson, starring three incredible WA artists: ARIA nominated singer-songwriter and Little Birdy frontwoman Katy Steele (who we reckon knows a thing about this week’s track, given that Luke Steele is her brother); Stella Donnelly, who will take her one-of-a-kind lyrical missives to fans in the UK and Ireland next May/June 2022; Fremantle indie pop three-piece San Cisco, who know all about innocence and heartbreak, after releasing album #4 Between You and Me late 2020
The Sound – Ep 5 S airing Sunday 5 December at 5.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
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24 November 2021
Prepare yourself music lovers: we’ve upped the ante.
Tune into The Sound this Sunday 28 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV or ABC iview for our biggest line-up yet: 2021 ARIA nominees + some of the hottest names in the land.
THE SOUND
SEASON 3
EPISODE 4
SUNDAY 28 NOVEMBER, 5.30PM
ON ABC TV AND ABC
MIDNIGHT OIL, JACK RIVER, GENESIS OWUSU, ELECTRIC FIELDS,
BUDJERAH, GRETTA RAY & NGAIIRE
+ SPECIAL GUEST HOST CRAIG REUCASSEL
With their proud history of anthems from ‘US Forces’ through ‘Blue Sky Mine’ to their recent APRA Song Of The Year collaboration, ‘Gadigal Land’ (featuring Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs & Bunna Lawrie)’, Midnight Oil deliver their provocative new single ‘Rising Seas’. Filmed on the beach at Coalcliff, NSW, the uncompromising track dropped on the eve of the recent United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26) adds the band’s unique voice to billions of others around the world seeking a safe, habitable, and fair future for our planet. The band and First Nations collaborators are up for multiple ARIAs, including Best Group, Album of the Year, Best Rock Album, Best Video, and Best Australian Live Act.
Paying homage to the forebears of what Jack River terms “political pop” is the singer’s latest single ‘We Are The Youth’. The striking track draws from Holly Rankin’s long-held passion for climate and environmental movements and puts young activists front and centre. With 66 million+ streams and accolades aplenty, Rankin recently spearheaded the ‘Our Soundtrack Our Stories’ initiative – posting a viral call-to-arms for Aussie businesses to get behind homegrown music as it struggles under the pressure of COVID.
Scoring ‘Australian Album of the Year’ in the 2021 J Awards and 6 x ARIA nominations with debut Smiling With No Teeth is the incredible Genesis Owusu, who performs single ‘Waitin’ On Ya’. An artistic triumph, Smiling… has proved a runaway success in AU and abroad, with its creator, 23-year-old Kofi Owusu-Ansah – who immigrated to Canberra from Ghana as a child – exploring themes of race, identity, and belonging. Surpassing genre and disrupting boundaries, the music of Genesis Owusu is in a league of his own.
Don’t miss Adelaide’s Electric Fields performing their ebullient new single ‘Gold Energy’. With lyrics inspired by “the shared spirit between people or animals or any living thing,” the kinetic future soul duo – members Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross – embrace their queerness and share Zaachariaha’s Anangu languages, and are also exploring an evolving sonic shift in this galvanizing new track. With a tour set for April 2022, get a taste of them live this week on The Sound!
Our special guest host this week is acclaimed TV star, writer and comedian Craig Reucassel, best known for being a co-founder of The Chaser and for helping to save the planet via his book Fight For Planet A and ABC TV series The War on Waste.
Finally – don’t miss a special ‘Tribute’ to The Temper Trap, starring 3 x 2021 ARIA nominees:
Budjerah: the fast-rising NSW star will soon drop his new single ‘Wash My Sorrows Away’ and scored 5 x ARIA noms this year plus a win for New Talent of the Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards Gretta Ray: performing at the ARIAs today in celebration of her incredible debut, Begin to Look Around Papua New Guinea star Ngaiire, whose third full-length 3 sees her nominated for the ARIA for Best Artist + more.
Don’t miss The Sound this week – Ep 4 S3 airing Sunday 28 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
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17 November 2021
Listen up music lovers! This week’s episode of The Sound is killer… who’s ready for a party? Grab your dancing shoes and get ready: Ep 3 airs Sunday 21 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV or ABC iview.
THE SOUND
SEASON 3
EPISODE 3
SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER, 5.30PM
ON ABC TV AND ABC
BAKER BOY, JESSICA MAUBOY, CONFIDENCE MAN, THOMAS HEADON AND MORE!
+ SPECIAL GUEST HOST UNCLE JACK CHARLES
Our special guest host this week is Indigenous elder, actor, author, musician, and activist Uncle Jack Charles, a proud Boon Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta man who established Melbourne’s first Indigenous theatre group back in 1971 and whose screen credits include classics such as The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith, Blackfellas, Pan, TV’s Mystery Road, Wolf Creek and more. In 2019 Uncle Jack released his memoir Born Again Blakfella.
The entirety of Baker Boy’s (aka Danzal Baker) art – from his infectious flow to his modern-throwback production to the jaw-dropping dance moves perfected as part of the Djuki Mala troupe – connects instantly. His blistering debut album Gela was released in October to huge acclaim, he just won ‘Film Clip of the Year at the NIMAs’, and he’s earned over 48 million streams to date. With two amazing performances in this Ep, 2019’s ‘Young Australian of the Year’ and 6 x ARIA nominee, Baker Boy is going to blow the roof off The Sound!
One of our most celebrated and loved entertainers, multiple ARIA winner, coach on “The Voice” and proud Kuku Yalanji and Wakaman woman Jessica Mauboy recently dropped her brand new single, ‘Glow’ – the first track since her 2019 #1 album Hilda. A reintroduction of sorts of to the best-selling, R&B-pop artist, it’s also a shimmering declaration that she’s through playing it safe. The track captures memories of watching her mum dance around the kitchen to Donna Summer, Diana Ross, and Cher… Watch Jess perform the track live on The Sound this Sunday!
In this world, nothing is certain except taxes, death and Confidence Man. Not even a global pandemic could stop members Janet, Sugar, Reggie and Clarence from fashioning a 12-track album so fierce, flirty and full of anthems that you might need to sit down before you hit play. Confidence Man have amassed over 43 million streams and played at some of the biggest festivals in the world. Performing their new single ‘Holiday’ on this week’s Ep, it’s the first taste of the band’s upcoming album TILT released Friday 1 April.
Born in London and raised in Melbourne, Thomas Headon sure knows how to build an incredibly loyal fanbase and community. Blowing up on TikTok with 14.7M likes and 400K+ followers to date plus 100k+ on Instagram, the 21-year-old playful alternative pop act has been embraced by fans and critics alike worldwide. Performing new single ‘Nobody Has To Know’ live on the show this week with our clip filmed in the UK, where he’s currently on a 17-date tour – Headon’s forthcoming EP, Victoria, is released 11 March 2022.
Do we have a ‘Tribute’ collaboration for you! Celebrating Empire Of The Sun, aka Nick Littlemore (PNAU) and Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson), is a trio of talented Aussies this week: Holy Holy (whose latest album Hello My Beautiful World debuted at #4 and is currently nominated for ARIA’s Rock Album of the Year); incredible singer Hayley Mary (who’ll tour with her famous band, The Jezabels, in June 2022 to mark 10 years since Prisoner ); together with up and comer Tia Gostelow (whose album debut CHRYSALIS is in the running for Brisbane venue The Triffid’s Album of The Year).
Tune in for The Sound – Ep 3 S3 airing Sunday 21 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
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10 November 2021
Do you love live music? Then look no further… The Sound is back!
Tune in Sunday 14 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV or ABC iview for exclusive performances, collaborations and interviews from some of our nation’s finest musical talent.
THE SOUND
SEASON 3
EPISODE 2
SUNDAY 14 NOVEMBER, 5.30PM
ON ABC TV AND ABC
Missy Higgins needs little introduction. The award-winning singer/songwriter delivers a stunning performance this week, filmed at the beautiful Peninsula Hot Springs on VIC’s Mornington Peninsula. It includes her new single, ‘Edge Of Something’, which was written for ABC TV’s acclaimed drama Total Control. With tour dates coming in thick and fast such as Feb 2022’s Summer Salt festival and the all-female Wildflower line-up, don’t miss this set.
You’ve seen her in productions such as Six Feet Under, The Rookie, Ride Like A Girl, Hilary & Jackie, My Best Friend’s Wedding… and, of course, her incredible debut in the iconic Muriel’s Wedding. Our Guest Host this week is Academy Award nominee and award-winning actor and content maker Rachel Griffiths AM.
Performing her latest explosive power pop single ‘Spike The Punch’ is Melbourne deadset legend Alex Lahey, who says the new song is about “the fun that comes with self-sabotage and reckless abandon.” One of the country’s most respected indie artists, Alex has a new album in the works. Her global appeal has seen her music covered by Pitchfork, The Guardian, Stereogum and The Line Of Best Fit, and appear on cult games including Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
For the past two years Isabella Manfredi – songwriter and frontwoman for The Preatures – has been working on her debut solo album, writing in Sydney, LA, Nashville, NYC, London, Paris, and Berlin. This week, she performs new single ‘One Hit Wonder’ – the follow-up to ‘Jealously’ (which featured Kirin J Callinan, Michael Di Francesco and Stella Mozgawa). A strong advocate for artists and women alike, we can’t wait to hear more from Isabella!
It’s been a busy couple of years for Fergus James, who recently featured on Bliss N Eso’s hit single ‘Know Yourself’. Earning over 23 million streams to date, his latest offering is ‘Fall Short’ – the follow-up to ‘Backseat’ and ‘Slow Separation’. James first broke out via debut single ‘Golden Age’, later winning triple j Unearthed’s Splendour competition in 2019, and supporting Ed Sheeran on the AU leg of his mammoth Divide tour.
Finally, this week we pay ‘Tribute’ to the one and only Gotye, aka Wally De Backer. Tune in to catch a very special collaboration between two of Australia’s hottest rising talents. Mansionair’s Jack Froggatt is busy as the trio gear up to kick off a mega North American tour in January 2022. He teams up with Sydney-based ‘Winnie Crush’ breakout star, merci, mercy, who recently signed with Capitol Records US and EMI UK.
Tune in for The Sound – Episode 2 S3 airing Sunday 14 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
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4 November 2021
Missing live Aussie music? Set your reminders: The Sound is back on your screens this Sunday, and we’ve got a huge line-up you don’t want to miss! Catch Episode 1 of The Sound Season 3 airing this Sunday 7 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV or ABC iview.
THE SOUND
SEASON 3
EPISODE 1
SUNDAY 7 NOVEMBER, 5.30PM
ON ABC TV AND ABC
Produced by Mushroom Studios, Season 3 is sharper and shorter. Less talk, more music. Live filmed performances fans have come to love, with a special, big-name guest dropping by each week to chat with one of the featured acts. This Sunday, that guest is one of Australia’s most loved comedians, podcasters, radio and television stars: Andy Lee.
Now for the music… With 5 x ARIA nominations in 2021 – Best Artist, Best Pop Release, Song of the Year, Best Independent Release and Best Video – Vance Joy is one of Australia’s biggest-selling acts. He’s earned over 3.2 billion streams worldwide with massive hits such as ‘Riptide’, ‘Mess is Mine, ‘Georgia’, ‘Fire and the Flood’… plus his latest single, the gorgeous ‘Missing Piece’. Don’t miss Vance Joy on The Sound, captured live at Barcelona’s stunning La Paloma Dance Hall.
Speaking of iconic locations, they don’t get any more special than Sydney Harbour. Tune in for an incredible performance by multi-Platinum ARIA nominee and APRA winner Vera Blue (real name Celia Pavey), who returns to The Sound this week with a performance of her just-released new single, ‘Temper’. The singer/songwriter is back in 2021 with an ecstatic, fresh new feel, arguably her most clarified statement to date.
West Australian four-piece Spacey Jane exploded onto the scene with 2020 debut album Sunlight, landing four singles in triple j’s Hottest 100, including #2 voted ‘Booster Seat’. Caleb Harper, Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu, Peppa Lane, and Kieran Lama are working on their hotly anticipated second album. This Sunday, we broadcast a killer performance of the band’s latest single, ‘Lunchtime’, filmed in WA carbon negative venue Red Hill Auditorium.
It was just 12 months ago that surf-rockers King Stingray – who hail from Yirrkala, North-East Arnhem Land, and have family blood with the iconic Yothu Yindi – premiered their debut single, ‘Hey Wanhaka’, on triple j. With lyrics written in both English and Yolnu Matha, it quickly became an instant classic. On Episode 1 we catch up with the playful, yet powerful four-piece during their current QLD tour, filming a live performance on the Gold Coast.
Want more? The Sound’s ‘Tribute’ section is back, only this time ‘round some of our finest musical talents will be paying respect to living artists. First up: in a Tribute to country great Kasey Chambers, tune in to catch a very special collaboration by Kevin Mitchell (Bob Evans, Jebediah), Charlie Collins, Lisa Mitchell with Sam Teskey (The Teskey Brothers).
Across Season 1 and 2, The Sound broadcast 165 artists performing in 149 spectacular locations right across the country… and there’s plenty more performances to come!
Tune in for The Sound during Ausmusic Month – Sunday 7 November at 5.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.