Sunday, October 25, 2026

Album of the year update!

So this year things gonna be slightly different.....

Every feature album from 2026 is up for the Album of 2026. From The Kid Laroi's, Before I Forget, right up until Chase & Status, Generic Everything.

There will also be a Friday Flash(back) of 2026. So a second album of the year. So of season one's albums Friday Flash(back)'s arrived in 2025, so some may not make the short like. For example Lily Allen's West End Girl.

A short list for both the Album of 2026 and Friday Flash(back), will come in December. The biggest 200 songs will also be back for 2026 later this year/early next.

I've also like Matt Corby. It's a rainy morning in Melbourne. So Matt seems the perfect act to chill to on a cool October morning. Look out for the short lists soon.

Friday, October 23, 2026

Friday Flash(back) - The Avalanches — No Bad Memories

No Bad Memories is the fourth studio album from Australian electronic group the Avalanches.

Released last Friday through Modular Recordings. The album features guest appearances from artists including Rivers Cuomo, Panda Bear, Haruomi Hosono, Jessy Lanza, Karen O, Erick the Architect, Jamie xx, Ryoji Ikeda, Suzanne Ciani, Haley Joel Osment, Mike Patton and Carly Simon. What a dream line up.

In the second to last Friday Flash(back) for 2026, it's time to shine the spotlight on some Aussie legends!

The Avalanches formed in Melbourne in 1997. They have released four studio albums, Since I Left You (2000), Wildflower (2016), We Will Always Love You (2020), and No Bad Memories. They perform a hybrid live show that also incorporates elements of DJing. The group currently consists of co-founding members Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi, as well as multi-instrumentalist Andy Szekeres.

The band is an exponent of the plunderphonics genre, and their first album, Since I Left You, has been recognised by many critics as the most important example of the genre.

Whilst there is usually a wee bit of time between records, the group is much loved, multi award winning and a great way to see out 2026 and the second season of the Friday Flash(back).

With one last group or artist to score the spotlight next week, who will it be?

Come back next week to find out. Now I'm off to the home of the Avalanches, Melbourne. Come back for a new feature record on Monday. Laters!


Friday, October 16, 2026

Friday Flash(back) - Troye Sivan - She's the Best

Troye Sivan Mellet (or just Troye Sivan) is singer-songwriter/actor local superstar.

After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013. 

He earned early recognition for his extended plays (EPs) TRXYE (2014) and Wild (2015); the former peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, while his debut single, Happy Little Pill, reached the Top 10 on Australian music charts. As of 2024, Sivan has sold 10 million albums worldwide.

In 2015, Sivan released his first full-length album, Blue Neighbourhood, featuring the multi-platinum single Youth, which became his first Top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100.

His second studio album, Bloom (2018), charted near the top in Australia and the US, while its lead single, My My My!, became Sivan's second number-one single on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.

His third studio album, Something to Give Each Other (2023), topped the ARIA Albums chart. It produced the singles Rush & Got Me Started, which earned him three Grammy Award nominations. His fourth album (which landed last Friday), She's the Best (2026), was lead by its title track.

As an actor, Sivan portrayed the younger Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and starred as the title character in the Spud film trilogy (2010–2014). In 2017, he became the youngest recipient of the GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award.

In 2018, he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for Revelation, from the film Boy Erased, in which he also had a supporting acting role. He has since starred in the film Three Months (2022) and the HBO series The Idol (2023). In 2020, Rolling Stone Australia named him one of the country's 50 greatest artists of all time.

Ahead of She's the Best landing, Sivan began teasing new music on 6 August in a series of cryptic social media posts, a headshot photo of him wearing theatrical makeup, updates to his official website, a video of posters with the initials "STB", and a series of pictures of Sivan and Addison Rae in elaborate wigs with a caption of the same initials, leading to speculation that a new album was on the way. The album, She's the Best, was officially announced on 13 August, along with the reveal of the cover art.

Discussing his headspace going into the project, Sivan explained, “my last album was this hypersexual, super-connected album that I wrote when I was feeling very much like a citizen of the world, at some point along the way, a disconnect started to form where I was going home to the hotel by myself, and I actually was feeling deeply lonely a lot of the time.” He felt that this duality is reflected in She's the Best, stating, “there is this high-octane side to the album that feels really bombastic, and then there are the songs that feel like the interior of my mind,” and expressing that it is the most honest album of his career so far. 

His sonic influences for the album included Madonna, Kylie Minogue, The Avalanches, and King Krule, while the work of French author Annie Ernaux also inspired him lyrically, with Sivan noting that all of the album's songs were written between 2025 and 2026 due to his inability to write while on tour. He described Love So Big It Hurts & Cowboy as his favourite songs on the album.

Sivan revealed the full track list on 1 October and released a snippet of unreleased track Canada Dry. The following day, he performed Party live for the first time and debuted the unreleased song Le Boy during a guest appearance in Charli XCX's set at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Time to stream the new record now. We are on the countdown for the final Friday Flash(back)'s of 2026!