Albums that introduced us to new sounds, stories and musical movements.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains images and voices of people who have died.
Sometimes it feels like you’ve heard everything you’ll ever want to hear.
You’ve done it all: decades of obsessive listening, thousands of dollars spent on CDs, tickets and merch, piles of discarded festival wristbands and shaky-but-fond memories of yesteryear’s mosh pits.
Sometimes it feels like it’s over. That there’s nothing new out there for you.
Then you hear it. A new voice, a new sound, a new perspective. Songs that borrow from the music you already love, or maybe songs that sound like nothing you’ve heard before.
Hearing a brilliant new artist for the first time may be the purest musical experience we have. Hearing their life to this point – musical and otherwise – distilled onto their first album is like meeting a new friend for the first time.
Many great Australian artists have made incredible debut albums. To trim this list to just 50 records was a heartbreaking, frustrating, painstaking and, altogether difficult experience.
But every record below has a spark that made Australia’s ears prick up. It established careers, inspired more great art, and gave us reason to keep searching for that next great new discovery, even when we think we’ve heard it all.
– Dan Condon, Music Editor
Hear the 50 Best Australian Debut Albums on Double J, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September from midday.
Image:
50. Hiatus Kaiyote – Tawk Tomahawk
It’s rare to be able to pinpoint the moment the sound of a country starts to shift. In 2012, Australian music had been dominated largely by rock and was ripe for change. Enter Hiatus Kaiyote.
It’s no exaggeration to say that when Tawk Tomahawk dropped, it created a ripple still being felt today. It was a fresh breath of the most soulful air and won accolades from some of the best to do it, like Prince, Erykah Badu and Questlove.
It set the bar high and no single Australian artist in soul, jazz or funk has topped it since. – Stephen Goodhew
Image:
49. Middle Kids – Lost Friends
Solo projects, chance meetings, collaborations, and love. It was an unorthodox path that led to Lost Friends, but a journey that resulted in one of the best debut albums in recent memory.
Its 12 songs traverse passion, honesty, longing, and vulnerability, but are all united by heart. Hannah Joy’s voice is the not so secret weapon and when she teams up with Tim and Harry, it’s an undeniable combo.
These personal songs feel like they were written for you and because of that, you feel a deep connection to each.
Forget middle child syndrome, it was impossible to ignore these Middle Kids on Lost Friends. – Declan Byrne
Image:
48. D.D. Dumbo – Utopia Defeated
D.D. Dumbo‘s debut album hit like a semi-trailer driven by a pro racer, stacked to the brim with precise instrumentation and arrangements.
Oliver Perry’s voice soars above 12-string guitar lines, delivering stories of sub-spirituality and visceral landscapes you can almost touch.
The record cemented its place in Australian music canon and now, four years later, we’re still waiting for that next record.
Perry has lived an isolationist lifestyle long before COVID-19 forced the rest of us into it, so we simply must wait until he comes out of hiding with whatever grand imagining he has next.
I’m sure, like Utopia Defeated, it’ll sound like no-one else. – Tommy Faith
Image:
47. Katalyst – Manipulating Agent
Katalyst‘s skilful, thoughtful debut came out in 2002, but it could’ve been released yesterday.
Sydney producer Ashley Anderson’s love of hip hop and the art of sampling saw him seamlessly weave together vintage funk, jazz, soul and 70s cinema-indebted cuts into a sound that feels as fresh today as it did when it was first released.
Throw in deft handiwork from DJ Leeroy Brown on tracks like ‘Break Up’ and ‘LB On The Cut’ and you have a blast of boss grooves, irresistible soul party throwdowns and a testament to world class craftsmanship. – Caz Tran
Image:
46. A.B. Original – Reclaim Australia
Flanked by the soul-stirring voices of Uncle Archie Roach and Gurrumul, Reclaim Australia‘s deep bloodlines are drawn equally from the songbooks of these revered troubadours and the revolutionary politicking of agitators like N.W.A. and Public Enemy.
As solo artists, it takes a nation of millions to hold Briggs and Trials back; as A.B. Original, these Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri men are indomitable.
From the title down, their incendiary debut raises a black fist at institutionalised racism, flag-waving nationalism and police brutality, pulling no punches as it chants down Babylon over West Coast-flavoured boom bap.
Too black, too strong. – Sam Wicks
Image:
45. george – Polyserena
Brisbane band george soared onto the Australian musical landscape in 2002, with their first album debuting at number one on the ARIA charts.
It achieved gold record status within ten days and became a double platinum record by the end of the year. They were set to be darlings of the Australian music industry from day one.
The unique vocals of siblings Tyrone and Katie Noonan set them apart from their indie rock counterparts at the time and has since led the way for their solo work beyond George.
Six songs from the album have featured in triple j’s Hottest 100, including ‘Special Ones’, ‘Breaking It Slowly’ and ‘Release’. – Sarah Howells
Image:
44. Ball Park Music – Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs
The music scene in Brisbane in the 2010s was fun, sweaty, and full of guitar-driven indie pop. Ball Park Music led the charge with their high-energy songs and raucous live shows.
After a string of sunny EPs and singles, their debut album arrived in the spring of 2011, showcasing a band who could do everything from joyous guitar-pop, to moody piano ballads, and sprawling rock belters.
Sam Cromack’s lyrics were vivid, relatable, and fun to sing along to.
Combine that with handclaps, wild keys, and a good dose of woodblock, and this album had the crowd in pieces every single time. – Gab Burke
Image:
43. Ruby Hunter – Thoughts Within
The opening lines of ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ on the debut album by Ruby Hunter, Thoughts Within takes my breath away every time I hear them.
Her voice rumbles into the silence: ‘Black Woman, black life, domestic Violence, what a life, a change is gonna come my way,’ and then the band kicks in.
Ruby Hunter, a Ngarrindjeri woman, was the first Indigenous woman signed to a major label.
This is one of the greatest debut albums this country has ever seen; criminally underrated and difficult to find, it gives a voice to the life and love to this tremendous artist. – Jacinta Parsons
Image:
42. Gang Of Youths – The Positions
Gang Of Youths 2015 debut made it clear that they were destined for great things.
The record instantly takes you on an emotional journey across its 10 stirring tracks. Dave Le’aupepe’s rumbling vocals and heartfelt storytelling – across swelling moods, soaring, stadium-sized anthems and heart-thumping ballads – leaves you feeling hopeful and empowered to take on life.
The Positions is a triumphant first release; a record that offers you a little more every time you come back to it. – Luanne Shneier
Image:
41. Pendulum – Hold Your Colour
These West Australians had us holdin’ on like hell as their surging synths, warping bass and frenetic body pounding beats dropped like a ten-tonne bomb on their 2005 debut.
Hold Your Colour lit up raves around the world, changed the course of drum’n’bass, and set Pendulum on a path to stardom.
Informed by their backgrounds in rock, metal and punk, they brought their passion for extreme music and the energy of a live show to one of the most extreme forms of dance music and have not looked back. – Caz Tran
Image:
40. Falling Joys – Wish List
The origins of Falling Joys trace back to mid-‘80s Canberra, when Suzie Higgie and Stuart Robertson formed the band. Moving to Sydney, they soon fell in with like-minded acts such as The Hummingbirds and Clouds.
These indie groups were all soon penetrating the charts, signalling a changing music tide soon to be a tsunami.
Higgie’s vocal appeal cut through across a setlist that easily ranged from the sweetly melodic to the muscular, the dreamy shoegaze to the very direct.
The hit single ‘Lock It’ was the album’s cornerstone, but other standouts included ‘Jennifer’ (dedicated to Higgie’s sister), opener ‘Shot In Europe’ and early fave ‘Nearly A Sin’. – Richard Kingsmill
Image:
39. Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Eddy Current Suppression Ring
This is the best margarita pizza in the world. This is beyond arguments about pineapple. This is the album you read about in Lonely Planet. This is the album everyone needs to eat.
This was your favourite album before you even heard it. Remember that obscure garage punk album you bought based only on the 10/10 review that didn’t live up to how you imagined it would sound? This is what that should have sounded like.
This is what you fell in love with on the page. This is 11/10. This is what every other pizza will be compared to. But you got to eat it first. And enjoy some Cool Ice Cream for dessert. – Ryan Egan
Image:
38. Thelma Plum – Better In Blak
A deeply personal album for Thelma, Better In Blak was also important for Aboriginal women around the country, for it was filled with songs and experiences many could relate to.
At its heart, it told of Thelma’s experiences growing up as an Aboriginal woman and of her resilience as a bravely outspoken artist and staunch advocate for our people. It has powerful songs about identity and pride, truth-telling, self-love and representation, and importantly, healing.
As a Gamilaroi woman from Moree – the same town as Thelma’s family, I felt a great sense of connection to this and still do. It’s a powerful reminder of the strength and resilience of the Aboriginal women in my life, and seeing our traditional Gamilaraay words on a tracklist, gives me an overwhelming feeling of pride. – Karla Ranby
Image:
37. The Presets – Beams
Beams catapulted The Presets from grungy Kings Cross club residencies to the front-and-centre of a bustling global electronic scene.
Julian Hamilton’s lyrics sit in the heart of this album, surrounded by shimmering synths, chattering snares, and throbbing bass beats.
It was an assault on our senses at the time, a mashup of 80s synth beats with heavy bass dance beats and indie punk deep vocals.
This debut album, for me, is synonymous with my teenage years and the clubbing scene in Sydney; filled with sticky, sweaty, energetic dance floors that pulsed with life. A scene since obliterated by lockout laws that have eaten away at the city’s once thriving clubs. – Phoebe Bennett
Image:
36. Flowers – Icehouse
Few artists had synths in the late 1970s. Too cumbersome, too expensive, too risky. Flowers frontman Iva Davies did, and his fastidious manipulation of its capabilities – and love of the new wave sound thriving overseas – produced a record that helped Australian pop sound different.
Its four mammoth singles still loom large; the hooks in ‘Can’t Help Myself’ and ‘We Can’t Get Together’ and the cold atmosphere of ‘Walls’ and ‘Icehouse’ have lost no power. But Icehouse is packed with hooky post-punk ripe for rediscovery if you never got past the hits.
Technically, any youngster could now make Icehouse in their bedroom for a couple of hundred bucks. But it takes something special to marry astute pop songcraft and emotional sincerity with this kind of creative ambition. That can’t be easily replicated. – Dan Condon
Image:
35. Regurgitator – Tu-Plang
Regurgitator ducked a lot of jocks to get where they are (shout-out Alan Jones), but it was their opening salvo that instantly endeared them to Australia, bagging two Hottest 100 spots and ARIAs apiece.
The Brisbane trio decamped to Bangkok to record their debut in the unruly surrounds of Center Stage Studios. Taking its name from the Thai for ‘jukebox’, Tu Plang laid the roadmap for the Gurge’s thrilling attention-deficiencies, using all 14 tracks to pogo between power pop and punk, hip hop and rock, surf guitar and lounge vibes.
Never has a local debut been bolder, or more batshit. – Sam Wicks
Image:
34. The Sleepy Jackson – Lovers
For many music lovers, this was our introduction to one of today’s most fascinating musicians: Luke Steele. An eccentric, elusive genius raised in the hills of Perth by a blues musician father, but whose own music has never been bound by genre.
I love this album from the euphoric opening chords of ‘Good Dancers’ through to that final minute of rain on the last song. The melodies, the twang, Steele’s falsetto, that weird spoken word track – it sounded like nothing else at the time, or since.
Lovers was a beautiful record on its own, but in hindsight was also an exciting intro to what would come next: exquisite follow-up Personality – One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird and the opulent pop fantasy of Empire of the Sun. – Caitlin Nienaber
Image:
33. Christine Anu – Stylin’ Up
National treasure Christine Anu‘s joyful debut dived straight into the hearts of so many Australians back in 1995, and has remained there ever since.
Brand new to living Down Under, Stylin’ Up was more than just a good record to me: its stories, language and bright, breezy tunes struck a chord and opened the door to learning more about the enduring strength of Indigenous culture and language.
More than two decades on, iconic tunes like ‘Island Home’, ‘Monkey & The Turtle’ and the anthemic ‘Party’ still take me back to high school days, sitting in the sunshine at recess in what was a carefree, innocent time. – Luanne Shneier
Image:
32. Baby Animals – Baby Animals
Suze DeMarchi arrived just as Chrissy Amphlett was hitting her commercial peak, and the world was all the better for having two female rock stars dominate.
With a deep, sexy, lived in voice, and a commanding presence, DeMarchi was a born frontperson.
Her bandmates set the foundation with hard edged, melodic rock lines running through killer singles like ‘One Word’ and ‘Early Warning’. But it was clear what (actually, who) made them unique.
Best of all, she inspired girls to pick up a guitar and play. Fun fact: this album kept Nevermind off the top of the charts. – Dorothy Markek
Image:
31. Skyhooks – Living In The ’70s
In the ’70s, Australian music focused firmly overseas for its cues. Singing about Californian beaches, even if you’d never left these shores, was fine. Songs about our own environment were discouraged. There was nothing romantic about our own surrounds. Well, that was exactly where Skyhooks focused.
They may have dressed glam rock, but there was nothing glamorous about Skyhooks’ songs. Fake food, fake friends, bad news, bad sex – they held a mirror up to it all. References to places like Carlton and Balwyn finally put our suburbs on the musical map.
It was a huge album, but the breaking down of our cultural cringe is its greatest achievement. – Richard Kingsmill
Image:
30. PNAU – Sambanova
I remember when I first heard this album. I was 21, the French house scene was firing, and these two Australians debuted this immersive, sample heavy, dance trance of an album that invited me in and did not let me go.
From ‘Journey Agent’ to winding down at ‘Arthur’s Pizza’, PNAU‘s debut was the soundtrack to a halcyon day and night, and it made me so proud of the incredible dance scene in my own backyard. ‘Need Your Lovin’ Baby’ remains to this day, a pulsing banger.
The psych-pop technicolour brilliance of the career that followed is all laid out here on Sambanova. – Zan Rowe
Image:
29. Sarah Blasko – The Overture & the Underscore
After years spent going nowhere with the band Acquiesce (and a subsequent short-lived duo called Sorija), Sarah Blasko turned to a solo career to try her luck. It quickly paid off.
Writing songs like ‘Don’t U Eva’ and ‘Perfect Now’ with new collaborator Robert Cranny, Blasko headed to Hollywood to spend six weeks making her debut album with producer Wally Gagel.
Striving for a classic and uncluttered sound, the songs shone through, allowing Blasko’s voice to become the star of the show.
Four ARIA nominations followed, the LP went platinum, and one of Australia’s best artists of the 2000s was finally on her way. – Richard Kingsmill
Image:
28. Radio Birdman – Radios Appear
Blasting from the Australian underground in 1977, Radios Appear opens with a scream of ‘Looooooooord‘, before launching into a breakneck version of The Stooges’ ‘TV Eye’, immediately proving Radio Birdman‘s Detroit rock chops (via American born guitarist, Deniz Tek).
Radios Appear is a fast, loud and uniquely Australian take on punk rock’n’roll that went on to influence scuzzy, long-haired rock bands for the next two decades. It straddles nihilistic themes with straight up boogie, taking you on a ‘Descent Into The Maelstrom’ then asking you to ‘Do The Pop’.
It closes with ‘New Race’, an anthem for the new punk generation, where the kids are going to punch you out while saying ‘yeah hup!”. – Chris Scaddan
Image:
27. Warumpi Band – Big Name, No Blankets
I first heard Warumpi Band‘s debut at a triple j music meeting in 1985. We were blown away by the new sounds we were hearing.
From opener ‘Fire’, sung in language, we knew this was special. Anthemic second track ‘Blackfella/Whitefella’ confirmed this was something very new in Australian music.
The Butcher brothers, George Burarrwanga and Victorian schoolteacher Neil Murray combined traditional country rock and blues with sounds of the bush, the didge and clap sticks.
Even the cover, with its red dirt road, laden ute and scrub, indicated this was a game-changer.
My standout is the atmospheric ‘Animal Song’ that starts with didge and bird noises and builds and builds til frogs and birds transport us from the Darlinghurst offices of triple j (or wherever you’re listening) to Papunya in the Northern Territory. – Simon Marnie
Image:
26. Washington – I Believe You Liar
On the same day Megan Washington released her debut album, she also tore up the stage in the GW McLennan tent at her very first Splendour In the Grass.
There was already buzz thanks to her earlier EPs and catchy new single ‘Rich Kids’, but on that dusty and hot afternoon, the atmosphere in the crowd was electric. The set was filled with the album’s piano-driven pop hits which felt right at home on a festival stage. Washington stood at her piano, jumping up and down, smashing the keys and belting out the songs with her gloriously smooth vocals.
It might have been the adrenalin, or it might have been the hype around her new album, either way, Washington absolutely blew the roof off. – Gab Burke
Image:
25. Grinspoon – Guide To Better Living
In 1997, there wasn’t a teenager in the country who didn’t have Grinspoon on their home stereo rotation. At least that’s how it felt. A coming of age record for our youth, and a big step forward for the Lismore band, who had met at an open mic night at local pub The Gollan in 1995.
By the time Guide To Better Living was released, Grinspoon had won the first ever triple j Unearthed competition, been added to the Homebake line-up, and released their EP Licker Bottle Cozy.
Momentum was building, but this album really solidified their place in Australian music history, winning the 1998 ARIA Music Award in the ‘Breakthrough Artist – Album’ category, and the hearts of Australia’s youth. – Sarah Howells
Image:
24. The Cat Empire – The Cat Empire
Melbourne jazz cats The Cat Empire embody the spirit of every gang of young, hot blooded males – drink, sing and make merry.
Any envy is misplaced as the band welcomes us into their strange world. A world where fusion is a marker of skill rather than a burden.
Where shameless fun and loud noise is encouraged and Latin rhythms, ska and gyspy jazz duck and weave to prevent stillness of any kind. It’s about celebrating the good times and using music as a weapon to break down barriers.
Where music is the language of us all, and a breath of fresh air. – Dorothy Markek
Image:
23. Kev Carmody – Pillars Of Society
Poetry, history, social commentary: lofty concepts in most hands, impenetrable in the wrong ones. Pillars Of Society tore up all of what makes political and social discourse feel out of reach and calmly but firmly asserted the plain truth of this country’s modern injustice straight to our faces.
Its songs remain too relevant three decades on. ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’, ‘Attack Attack’ and ‘Black Deaths In Custody’ shine light on white Australia’s hypocrisy in a way that invites critical self-analysis. Kev Carmody doesn’t want you to feel guilty, he wants you to understand.
This country has few more powerful artefacts than Pillars Of Society. It’s raw, unapologetic, accessible and ready for you to listen, to learn and to love. Let it make you angry, let it make you change. – Dan Condon
Image:
22. Jet – Get Born
At one point in time, Jet were everywhere; from iPod ads, to ARIA awards, to The O.C. soundtrack, to the top of the Hottest 100. It all came together on Get Born, a debut record that slotted right into the 2000s guitar rock revival happening around the world.
The album leant on influence from the classics, but, just as the best artists do, Jet twisted and shaped the old into new, irresistible songs. Get Born overflows with energising and emotional songwriting and saw the Melbourne band at the peak of their powers.
Put on Get Born today and you’ll probably find the words to more than a few songs still stored in your memory. – Declan Byrne
Image:
21. Augie March – Sunset Studies
If you know, you know. Shepparton exports Augie March are understated – and still underrated – but nonetheless inspire cultish devotion from their true believers.
Anyone who’d followed them from one Melbourne pub to the next was blown away by their debut. A 76-minute feast, full of intimate moments, bursts of bombast, and consistently ambitious musicianship.
Glenn Richards arrives fully-formed as a story-teller of the highest order: from simple moments like ‘There Is No Such Place’ to vast cinematic epics like fan-favourite ‘Owen’s Lament’. It’s not too late to join the cult of Augie March. Start here. – Tim Shiel
Image:
20. Sunnyboys – Sunnyboys
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Sunnyboys‘ flawless debut album is that there’s nothing that remarkable about it at all. There are no gimmicks. Sunnyboys didn’t usher in a new movement. They were just better than just about everyone else.
Jeremy Oxley wrote perfect guitar pop songs, borrowing from surf rock, post-punk, and Australia’s rapidly swelling pub rock scene.
The energy in its arrangements, its dextrous but tasteful guitar lines and the spacious atmosphere of the record are untouchable.
Not a note or emotion is misguided, as Oxley’s post-teen ruminations on love and loneliness add emotional weight to this perfect pop. ‘Alone With You’ may be an anthem, but there’s not a skippable moment on Sunnyboys’ debut. – Dan Condon
Image:
19. Julia Jacklin – Don’t Let The Kids Win
This list features some of the greatest albums ever made by Australian artists. Despite it only being barely four years old, Don’t Let The Kids Win by Julia Jacklin was a no-brainer. Some artists work their whole lives and never come close to achieving what Jacklin did here; a near perfect album.
She shows off an uncommon ability to find bittersweet beauty in the mundane. Whether singing at the top of her voice or in a whispered hush, these songs hit with an intensity and force that only something this authentic can do.
It may only be four years old, but we reckon we’ll be coming back to it for a good while yet. – Stephen Goodhew
Image:
18. Jebediah – Slightly Odway
Slightly Odway is the sound from behind the closed door of my sister’s room. The sound then echoed on my (smaller and cheaper) CD player after stealing her copy. It’s the sound of aspiration: if a band that grew up down the street from me can make music as good as this, then anything is possible for me as well.
It bottles the energy of a young band, songs hastily written and recorded, lyrics nutted out on stage. It’s the beginning of a five-album legacy and helped define the sound of Australian music in the late ’90s.
‘Harpoon’, ‘Benedict’ and ‘Teflon’ stand out with their catchy choruses and clean-cut distortion but it’s hard to top opening track ‘Leaving Home’. – Stacy Gougoulis
Image:
17. Hoodoo Gurus – Stoneage Romeos
Exuberant and loaded with incredibly catchy songs, Stoneage Romeos brought a ton of fun to Australian rock in the mid-80s.
Opening with ‘Let’s All Turn On’, the band shout out their heroes from rockabilly, garage and punk.
Their enthusiasm for bouncy primitive beats with huge melodic hooks and killer riffage is played out over 11 impressively diverse songs.
Cyclones (‘Tojo’), necrophilia (‘Dig It Up’) kamikaze pilots (‘I Was A Kamikaze Pilot’), volcanoes (‘Leilani’) and lost love (‘My Girl’) make for great stories we never get sick of dancing to, and all delivered in a thoroughly unpretentious style.
Oomgawa! – Karen Leng
Image:
16. Archie Roach – Charcoal Lane
Charcoal Lane is as profound and powerful today as when it was recorded 30 years ago.
With a slight rasp to his voice that never rises to anger, each word Archie Roach sings is clear and pure.
There’s integrity and grace throughout, remarkable in the light of the hardship and loss described in ‘Took The Children Away’ and ‘Down City Streets’.
Let’s be grateful the reluctant musician was encouraged to share his story.
The least we can do with this gift is keep his wisdom alive for future generations. I suggest delving into our Classic Album as a starting point. – Dorothy Markek
Image:
15. Kasey Chambers – The Captain
The Captain still sounds as revolutionary as it did when it was birthed over 20 years ago.
It is uncommon for a female Australian country artist to cut through to a mainstream audience like Kasey Chambers did with this album and has continued to since.
The Captain is a rare and perfect synthesis of raw, honest, self-depreciating yet bold and progressive lyrical poise, married with the sounds of Appalachian folk, bluegrass, gospel and ’90s roots rock.
Paired with Kasey’s unmistakable vocals, it makes The Captain a triumph that endures today. – Katherine Devaney
Image:
14. Wolfmother – Wolfmother
It’s easy to focus on the headlines and mini memes that still echo some 15 years after Wolfmother’s debut album and categorise it as a loud rock album with big hair and bigger riffs.
But in 2005, indie-electro was popping off (The Presets, Cut Copy, Justice) and Australian hip hop’s first wave was peaking.
It’s remarkable to think this collection of overpowered ‘70s inspired psych jams about unicorns and monoliths connected so intensely with listeners.
It was the very first J Award winner and Wolfmother still hold the record for most entries in a single Hottest 100 with six tracks entering the countdown in 2005. – Dave Ruby Howe
Image:
13. Flume – Flume
I remember seeing Harley Streten, aka Flume, play a small club show at BIGSOUND in 2012.
He had already pricked the ears of triple j and triplejunearthed.com that year with his debut singles, but it was at this gig that I knew the young producer from Sydney’s Northern Beaches was going to be nothing less than a superstar.
When he dropped his self-titled album a few months later, that prediction was all but cemented.
Overflowing with futuristic bass and glitchy electro that sounded like no other, Flume had crafted a sound that was unique to him and that countless producers would try to match for the next decade. – Nick Findlay
Image:
12. Divinyls – Desperate
I’m in awe of this album, one of the greatest Australian rock debuts from one of our greatest bands ever.
Fronted by the legendary Chrissy Amphlett, with writing partner Mark McEntee on guitar, it features a sensational selection of songs like ‘Science Fiction’, ‘Ring Me Up’ and ‘Siren’. Plus, a brilliant version of The Easybeats ‘I’ll Make You Happy’.
Divinyls seem fully-formed already with this debut, a confident and tight outfit bursting with energy, ready to conquer the world.
Desperate still sounds amazing thanks to production by Mark Opitz and mix engineer Bob Clearmountain, and there ain’t a dud song on it. – Phil McKellar
Image:
11. Silverchair – Frogstomp
Before moving to Australia in the late 90s as a pre-teen, everything I knew about country was based on koalas, 1980s Neighbours re-runs and Silverchair.
From the first notes of Frogstomp‘s opener ‘Israel’s Son’, I was hooked. Through angsty tracks like ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Faultline’ and ‘Pure Massacre’, and the haunting and heartfelt ‘Suicidal Dream’ and ‘Shade’, every song spoke to me. If you loved Frogstomp as a teenager, you know how that feels.
The record taught me it was okay to be a little different and that I wasn’t alone. Safe to say, it wasn’t long before posters of a scruffy-haired Daniel Johns took the space on my wall where the Spice Girls and 5ive once lived. – Luanne Shneier
Image:
10. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Gurrumul
Listening to Dr G Yunupingu’s debut solo album is something else altogether. In his voice and his songs are the songlines and sounds of tens and thousands of years of his native Yolngu language and culture.
He sings of his experience growing up blind, finding purpose in travelling the world as a musician, his father’s death and his deep, spiritual connection to the land and his ancestors. You can hear and feel it all.
His voice is the most unique ever recorded in our country and the album’s quiet, emotional punch is extraordinary. It is a gift that will forever move anyone who listens and shape our understanding of our nation’s deep history and culture. – Meagan Loader
Image:
9. Clouds – Penny Century
I’d fallen for ‘Hieronymus’ on rage, so I took Clouds’ debut Penny Century from my local library back to my teenage bedroom for two weeks.
Two weeks to drown in it, wonder about it. Binge on it. Be confused and beguiled by it. Two weeks to fall in love with the harmonies, the spiky indie guitars. To fall in love with Trish and Jodi’s songwriting.
Two weeks to answer all my questions. What was this cool adult world they wrote about? This sensual, feminine place of ‘Souleater’s, ‘Immorta’s and ‘Little Death’s? I needed more than two weeks. I need more than 29 years. – Ryan Egan
Image:
8. Sampa the Great – The Return
I’ll always remember the moment I heard ‘Final Form’ for the first time: that iconic sample, the punch of her rhymes, the chant of ‘Black power‘ and the magnificent video. I’d loved everything Sampa The Great had done up to that point, but this truly felt like her arrival.
Despite already winning the Australian Music Prize for her 2017 Mixtape Birds and the BEE9, Sampa considers The Return to be her debut album.
It saw her level up to be more vital and visible than ever, proudly proclaiming her identity as an African woman strongly connected to family and culture and an uncompromising artist with a hugely exciting future. – Caitlin Nienaber
Image:
7. The Saints – (I’m) Stranded
Few Australian albums have had as seismic an impact on music as The Saints’ debut.
Exploding like a grenade on conservative Brisbane, first single ‘(I’m) Stranded’ arrived months earlier – a primitive blast of anger and alienation, pure punk energy and buzzy guitars.
The single ricocheted around the world, instantly hailed as a classic and pegging The Saints as one of punk’s essential torchbearers. But it was just a taste of the brilliance to come.
The band rampaged through a cluster of raw and propulsive punk rock on their wild debut. ‘Erotic Neurotic’, with Ed Kuepper’s blistering lead guitar, ‘One Way Street’ with its Stooges stamp, and the fuzzy joyride of ‘No Time’ are exhilarating. ‘Messin’ With The Kid’ sees The Saints in a more reflective mode, proving they’re just as thrilling in lower gear.
What a racket. What a ride. – Karen Leng
Image:
6. The Living End – The Living End
Everyone remembers where they were when they first clapped ears on the ‘Second Solution’/’Prisoner of Society’ double A-side. We’d never heard an Aussie take on rockabilly and punk rock that was quite so rowdy, so electrifying, so enjoyably shoutable as these duelling spitfire anthems.
Together with other bulletproof songs on their debut like ‘Save The Day’, ‘Monday’, ‘Have They Forgotten’, ‘West End Riot’, and the sneering lament ‘All Torn Down’, The Living End‘s debut was a searing indictment on a variety of societal ills that leapt out of the blocks in 1998.
Its songs were inescapable over the ensuing summer, and still feel like a jolt of rebellion, straight to the jugular. – Caz Tran
Image:
5. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
The genius of Courtney Barnett is that she makes incredibly intricate, layered songwriting sound like the most effortless task in the world.
Her debut took us into a space that shared feelings while not fussing you with too many.
It pulled in and pushed back; ‘Pedestrian At Best’ is a song that never fails to make me feel ten feet tall every time I hear it.
There are scenes that splash in your mind with every one of these songs, and they never lose their spark, no matter how many times you hear them. What an entrance. – Zan Rowe
Image:
4. Crowded House – Crowded House
Could Split Enz’s younger Finn parlay his late-teen success into a new band? The thought of questioning that is laughable now. But Crowded House weren’t a sure thing in 1986.
Their debut is the starting point of the best Antipodean musical export of all time. But strip away all later successes – pretend this was their sole release – and it wouldn’t budge from the business end of this list.
Over half its tracks are legitimate classics – the timeless pop of ‘Mean To Me’ and ‘World Where You Live’, the truly iconic ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ and multifaceted genius of ‘Hole In The River’ – but there are no weak spots. Perfection ages gracefully. – Dan Condon
Image:
3. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Before becoming one of Australia’s most revered exports and sonic architects, Kevin Parker was still pretending Tame Impala was a band rather than a genius solo project. And he sounded like a young Lennon fronting a crunchy psych rock troupe while doing it.
Innerspeaker is a timeless album that still hits like a mind-melting sonic adventure from another era, drenching the neuroses rattling around Parker’s head in swirling riffage and hypnotic production.
‘You will never come close to how I feel’ he sings on ‘Solitude Is Bliss’, but in enveloping us with the vivid soundtrack of his musical mind, we kinda did. Self-doubt has rarely sounded so great. – Al Newstead
Image:
2. Missy Higgins – The Sound Of White
Missy Higgins was a bit of a quiet achiever at the start of her career, but wrote and performed with honesty and raw emotion.
Her 2004 debut album The Sound Of White showcased her authentic style: she sang in her own unique accent, and her songs were relatable, written about real things and real experiences we all faced.
It shows Higgins as one of Australia’s best songwriters, having written all 13 tracks on her debut, including ‘Scar’, ‘Ten Days’ and its brilliant title track.
It’s no wonder she has gone on to inspire many Australian artists like Gordi, Amy Shark, Gretta Ray and Alice Skye, to name but a few. – Wendy Saunders
Image:
1. The Avalanches – Since I Left You
Since I Left You is as pure a celebration of music as you will hear committed to record. It is an infectious love letter to music itself.
The product of giddy record nerds who collected, chopped, changed and re-framed an impossible number of their favourite sounds into a mix that sounds effortlessly joyous at every single moment.
Completely sidestepping the bombastic big beat sound of electronic music in the late 1990s, The Avalanches instead assembled one of the finest album-length examples of plunderphonics.
It’s a meticulously crafted and inspired collage that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with albums like DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing and Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions.
This album is an Australian album only in the sense that it was made by some Melbourne blokes. In truth, this album is a celebration of how music can transcend place, time, style, and fashion.
Robbie Chater told Pitchfork in 2001 that the album was initially conceived as “an international search for love from country to country”.
Though the narrative got a little obscured, the genre-hopping vibe remained: from 1950s Hawaiian music to 80s electro hip hop, the much-mythologised Madonna bass line (actually sampled from a dorky Dutch rap), cameos from Raekwon, Fela Kuti and Laurie Anderson, spaghetti western soundtracks and Sesame Street… we could be here all day.
The point is: no sound was safe, and everything was “cool”, as long as it felt good.
In this way, Since I Left You left behind for good the tribalism of 1990s alternative music scenes and subcultures and foreshadowed the genre-blending anything-goes mentality that would be cultivated in the digital era.
The result is an album that feels timeless in a way that few albums from 20 years ago do. It immediately captured hearts, not just in Australia but worldwide.
The influence and notoriety of this album only seemed to grow in the conspicuous absence of its creators.
It is a record that reminds you that music is a gorgeously knotty and rich fabric, that no song exists without relation to another, that all sound is mutable and mouldable.
If anything, this feels like the continuing mission of The Avalanches: to glue all of the world’s music together into one celebratory psychedelic mess, and, in doing so, remind us that we are all connected. – Tim Shiel
Hear the 50 Best Australian Debut Albums on Double J, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September from midday.