Triple j. You’ve probably heard of it. It’s either the best radio station on your dial or the Australian music behemoth that rules all of our lives.
But over the past few years, alongside the rise of digital radio, we’ve seen Australia’s biggest youth station spread its wings a little. It’s been capturing the hearts of oldies (and everyone who says triple j was better back when they were young) with Double J. But that’s not all – for years triple j Unearthed has been on the scene, and it too now has received the digital radio treatment, playing Unearthed tunes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Admittedly, I’ve spent some time in the past few months being a Super User on Unearthed. I crawl around the website looking for new uploads and great songs, and in return I hear some great new acts and get a shiny badge next to my name. It’s definitely turned around some of the preconceptions I had about the website.
In my teenage years (when I thought rock music was good, and everything that wasn’t rock music wasn’t good), I would have told you that Unearthed is just filled to the brim with bad indie bands and skip hop. But in the past few months my Facebook feed has been exploding with local bands from all around the country, as I can’t stop liking pages I find on Unearthed. It’s no surprise that people are talented, and Unearthed is a great platform for up-and-coming musos to get their stuff out there.
The Long History Of Triple J Unearthed Winners
Since its inception all the way back in 1995, Unearthed has gone through a lot of different stages; from a regional competition, to a MySpace-esque music exploring website, to a 24/7 digital radio station. And over those 20 years, it’s brought to the fore a tonne of great music. The list of bands that have been given a leg-up through Unearthed is enormous. Grinspoon, Missy Higgins and Oh Mercy are all amongst those who have won various Unearthed competitions over the years.
Finding The Good Stuff
“Triple j Unearthed is great, but I don’t want to spend hours listening to dodgy rock bands trying to find good songs.” It’s a fair point. It’s hard to keep up with everything that’s happening on a website that sees plenty of new uploads every day. But if you want to stay on top of it all, check out Tops, which brings you the best songs uploaded to the site each day, and the Monthly Mixtape.
The Next Big Things On Unearthed Right Now
In a year that’s seen new releases from the likes of Drake, Kendrick Lamar and ASAP Rocky, there have also been impressive releases from local Aussies, although the best may be yet to come with the anticipation of Samuel Dobson (formerly Shazza T)’s new album. His track ‘Coda’ was put onto Unearthed and serves as the first taste of a concept album that follows the final 24 hours of a drug addict. The track features some members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and leaves you wanting the whole record right bloody now.
Brisbanite Conner Brooker is popping up all over triple j Unearthed recently, not only as the frontman for Pro Vita, but under his own project entitled Bugs. Fans of Violent Soho, Ball Park Music and The Smithies can find something to love here. There’s those emo-y lyrics wrapped up in super catchy hooks, and bouncing indie/punk tracks.
Black Summer is a name you’ve probably seen by now. If you haven’t heard the story, the Canberra producer uploaded some tracks to Unearthed, only to be quickly uncovered as his story spread across the world. The push in popularity landed him over 22,000 Facebook fans, which is pretty impressive for someone who is 11. Years. Old.
Recently picked by triple j Unearthed to open up Splendour In The Grass in the coming weeks, Tired Lion have been spreading the love all over the place this past year. They joined Luca Brasi and Gnarwolves on a massive Australian tour, and the WA four-piece were also nominated for Most Popular Live Act at the 2014 WAM Awards. Musically, it’s some great ’90s-influenced indie rock with the passionate energy of musos who’ve just been unleashed from high school.
The Tasmanian-born, Adelaide-living DENNI is this week’s feature artist on Unearthed, which is fitting considering it’s NAIDOC Week across the country. The proud Palawa woman has been crafting intense and immersive electronic-influences folk songs. She has an amazing voice, which the spacious compositions really flesh out, and she’s already supported big names like Archie Roach and Xavier Rudd.
