DJ Moopie's Charmingly Moody Experimental Compilations along with This Week's Top Fresh Releases
Based in Melbourne
Recommended if you like the C86 compilation, Australian and New Zealand guitar pop, atmospheric pop
Latest release Going Back to Sleep out now
Matthew Xue, who performs under the moniker DJ Moopie in Melbourne, is renowned for deeply absorbing musical journeys that can run the gamut from gelid ambient music to pulsating breakbeats and beyond. He is also the founder of A Colourful Storm – a fantastic indie label that delivers far beyond its size when it comes to putting out charmingly moody experimental pop music, with contributors ranging from London-based percussionist Valentina Magaletti, the dub-infused sounds of Hobart pair Troth, and renowned underground polymath Simon Fisher Turner.
The label's 2017 release was I Won’t Have to Think About You, an assortment of charming guitar-pop reminiscent of the C86 era. More recently, it has issued Going Back to Sleep, a quasi-sequel to that record which simultaneously serves as a carefully curated roadmap to a selection of top-notch twee-pop acts making music now. Sydney band Daily Toll, their 2025 first record A Profound Non-Event being a hidden jewel from this year, offer Time, a sprawling, seven-minute meditation featuring melodica and guitar. The duo Chateau, comprising Al Montfort and Alex Macfarlane, venture into rhythmic, trippy lounge music on How Long on the Platform, and the band Who Cares?, blend influences from the styles of Hope Sandoval and Eartheater on Wax and Wane.
On other parts of the compilation, Going Back to Sleep showcases songs by the enduring San Francisco indie group the Reds, Pinks and Purples; minimalist Sydney group the Lewers; and sun-dappled folk-pop from Dutch duo the Hobknobs. It stands as a humble compilation that’s likely to grow into well-loved and frequently referenced for aficionados of all things delicate and deeply felt.
This Week’s Best New Tracks
Flea – A Plea
A rare solo track from the RHCP bass player, and it is superbly executed: rhythmically forward-moving but adventurous jazz-soul where Flea pleads for harmony and affection. “This isn't cliché – it's genuine!”
Daniel Blumberg and Amanda Seyfried – Clothed By the Sun
After securing this year's Oscar for Best Original Score, you can imagine Blumberg winning the Best Original Song award in 2026 for this stunning Seyfried duet featured on the soundtrack he composed for The Testament of Ann Lee.
Jana Horn – All in Bet
Jana Horn, an artist based in Texas depicts all the nuances of melancholy on this deeply gloomy comeback, in which minimal hints of keys and wind instruments shade her exhausted letdown.
Umor Rex – Lo Animal
You could easily imagine this Madrid-based cellist’s dark, gothic composition touched by industrial music featured in a Dune soundtrack, due to its seismic drum work, screeching metallic sounds, spooky vocal harmonies and apocalyptic grandeur.
Zora Jones x DJ Polo – Hoes Link Up
Imaginative Austrian producer-vocalist teams up with Bristolian UK bass producer DJ Polo for some slamming ghettotech: the drums could knock you flat although the tune is nearly dream-pop in nature.
Jawnino and Surf Gang – Hit Again
Included on the latest mixtape, Amnesia, British MC Jawnino rolls over an assortment of cloud-rap instrumentals from Surf Gang, and this is one of its peaks, Jawnino alert and locked in while he examines the drug trade.
Annabelle Chairlegs – Heavy Sleeper
Produced by Ty Segall, this garagey number moves forward stubbornly on its own schedule, transitioning from a freight-train momentum to the Austin musician’s dazed reverie about how “the moon returns the spirit to me”.
