- The progress of Emma Kelly’s career as Happy Axe has been one of increasing complexity, until now. Her 2015 full-length This Topia used live looping to forge basic building blocks of sound. Snatches of vocal, saw or violin turned into both harmonic and rhythmic foundations over which she improvised solos -using the same elements- creating edifices of surpassing, lonely sweetness.

- As the decade comes to an end there’s a necessary interrogation of just what music is, what it’s becoming. What are the implications of Spotify’s calculated playlists and Facebook’s paid advertisements? What are the effects of investing so much time, money and trust into streaming and Silicon Valley? The business interests and the technology they bring blur the line between art as catharsis and art created to monetize. Unfortunately, sometimes, money and technology seem to trump all other concerns. Thus, it is so wonderfully refreshing to hear a record that captures the ugly self.

<p><span><span>- Emerging from Britain's club scene at last decade's turn, Lee Gamble has proven himself an artist in constant transition. Early explorations on Berlin's avant-electronic label <strong>PAN</strong> showed rare aesthetic confidence as Lee moulded lost jungle and techno into atmospheric collage, preserving genre roots within a sound all his own.

<p><span><span>- Melbourne's trolley-pushing, bedroom-tinkering, DIY emo-pop darling is back. Not that he's ever gone for very long - one of the things I really like about <strong>Callum Newton</strong>, the man behind the Candy project, is the frequency of his musical output. Two EPs in 2016, an album last year, and last week, the release of <em>Everything in Motion</em>.

- Music is a beacon in times of darkness. It’s a truism eminently demonstrated by Noah Slee, the light touch of his effortless soul and his new EP, Twice. It’s been a little difficult to find the points of light, metaphorical or real, through the haze of recent events, but Slee cuts through. Neither his baggage or mine can really weigh down the uplifting qualities of his performance here. I gotta say, this week? I needed this.