Australian Music Is Bloody Great: Catherine Traicos

Where do you hear great new Australian music these days? Community radio is one crucial outlet and Amrap – the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project - offers Australian musicians a pathway to airplay from the hundreds of community stations to a weekly listenership of nearly 6,000,000 people. Go to amrap.org.au to get your music to thousands of presenters using the site each month to find new Australian music. If you haven’t got your music on Amrap, what are you waiting for? Community radio uses Amrap to source Australian music for airplay. You can discover all the great Australian music championed by community radio on the Community Radio Plus App, featuring the diverse range of community radio stations nationwide in one handy spot!

Amrap’s national radio show Australian Music Is Bloody Great features Australian artists presenting their favourite recent Australian music. Australian Music Is Bloody Great’s previous hosts range from Dune Rats to Sampa The Great to Phil Jameison.

We’re proud to team up with Amrap to bring you Australian Music Is Bloody Great as a Pilerats feature!
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This article originally appeared on amrap.org.au
Written by Cameron Menegoni

Catherine Traicos was born in Zimbabwe but has called Perth home for the past 25 years. With a diverse back catalogue of singer-songwrter based releases, Catherine has gone back to basics with her latest, The Nashville Album. A collection of delicate yet defiant songs made across two cities, Perth and Nashville, these whimsical alt-country numbers also take in chamber-pop while still in homage to Southern gospel and blues. Catherine shares with us some recent Australian favourites.

Joan & The Giants - Sleep Alone

Joan and the Giants are hot stuff In the Perth music scene at the moment and you’ll be able to hear why on this track, with its classic vocals, pulsing guitar and overall great production. The lyrics on this song are what captured me at first. They are simple yet completely on point and relatable which is a mighty feat in songwriting. I love this track and I’m sure you will too.

Jaguar Jonze - LITTLE FIRES

Jaguar Jonze is an aspiring artist on so many levels. Her dedication to the craft of songwriting is stunning. As well as this, her live performances are epic. She recently put on a spectacular show at the Sydney Opera House complete with music, film and shibari rope art. This is Jaguar’s Eurovision song and I adore it. I’m a huge fan of pop-rock and this piece is cleverly formed, catchy and executed with perfect emotion.

Anna Schneider - Whole

Anna Schnieider has the ability to create a whole new world you feel you can step inside. Like going through into another realm when she plays live. I’m happy to hear that vibe amazingly captured on this track. Anna and I recently played together at RTRFM's radiothon, supporting our community radio station here in Perth. Go community radio!

SnarskiCircusLindyBand - Since I Slept With You, Everybody Wants To Sleep With Me

This is a supergroup of Australian greats. Including Lindy Morrison of the Go-Betweens. ‘Evil’ Graham Lee of The Triffids, Shane O’Mara from Rebecca’s Empire and Rob Snarski, formerly of Chad’s Tree, The Black Eyed Susans and The Triffids and who also now has a stellar solo career under his own name. I’ve been lucky enough to support Rob on several occasions, notably when he was last in Western Australia with Lindy and those gigs were an experience I will treasure all my life. SnarskiCircusLindyBand is not only a fantastic band name but their record is pretty great sounding too as it would be with those legends on board. Lovely to her Shane O’Mara on lead vocals on this, and also Rob’s classic approach to songwriting shining through.

8 Ball Aitken - The Friends We Make

The bluesy sound on this track is killer and I can see why it’s been topping the Amrap Charts lately. 8 Ball Aitken and I played the Bluebird Café in Nashville together way back in 2012 at the Americana Festival, sharing a car ride across town and it’s great to hear what he’s been making these days. I love the clever lyrics, the sweet backing vocals and the tinkering piano. The production on this track is timeless and reminds me of The Greatest by Cat Power.

The Little Lord Street Band - Maybe I'm Just In Love

The Little Lord Street Band are WA legends and everyone likes to say how they knew them when they actually lived on Lord Street. The joyful alt-country vibe of this track will have you dancing along wherever you are.

Catherine Traicos - Butterfly

Let’s roll on out with my latest single. A song recorded partly in Peth, Western Australia and partly in Nashville, Tennessee. This is Butterfly. Australian Music Is Bloody Great!