Another week, another chance to dive into the depths of New Music Friday.
Friday has done what Friday does and dumped another fairly ridiculous amount of new music into the world.
This week has a bit of everything: Australian post-punk bands making serious moves overseas, long-awaited album announcements, new projects from artists coming back into their own, and enough tour dates to cause some damage to the bank account.
Here’s what landed on our radar this New Music Friday.
TOURS
Large Mirage – ‘Wildfire’ Tour
Large Mirage are taking ‘Wildfire’ straight onto the road. The Sydney rockers’ new single was recorded with Michael Badger and draws on frontman Kolya Chan’s memories of the Black Summer bushfires, but the bigger story here might be just how busy the band have become.
Their new tour starts at BIGSOUND on September 3, moves through Queensland and NSW, hits Rock The Boat and Crafted Festival, then eventually lands at Bonfest in Scotland next April.
sweetie – Dogtooth Tour
Sydney trio sweetie are heading around the East Coast behind forthcoming debut album Dogtooth, due September 25 via Blossom Rot Records.
Before that arrives, they’ve dropped ‘Pay Rise’, a wiry new single about corporate routine, consumerism and the dreaded girlboss, complete with a self-directed video set in a tiny cardboard city.
The album tour kicks off in Brisbane on October 30 before hitting Port Kembla, Melbourne and Sydney through November.
Sex Mask – EU/UK Tour
Melbourne post-punk trio Sex Mask are currently tearing through Europe and the UK behind new single ‘Lockjaw’ and their self-titled EP.
‘Lockjaw’ is short, tense and built around the slightly doomed idea of loving someone you probably shouldn’t be with.
Their live calendar is considerably less restrained, with dates across Dublin, London, Berlin, Copenhagen and a stack of festivals before the band return for Yours & Owls, then head back overseas for Pitchfork Paris and Athens in November.
ALBUMS & EPS
Radio Free Alice – What’s In Between
Radio Free Alice are finally putting a date on album number one. What’s In Between arrives October 30 via Atlantic Records, with new single ‘Crying With You’ giving us the latest look at what they’ve been building.
Written during a Joshua Tree session and produced across several international collaborations, the record arrives while the Melbourne post-punk band are in the middle of a huge overseas run covering Reading, Riot Fest, Austin City Limits and a new UK/European tour.
Jonathan Bree – Don’t Call It Love
Jonathan Bree has gone all in on album six. Don’t Call It Love is a 17-track double record exploring sex, intimacy and all the weird emotional territory that comes with both.
Released through Lil’ Chief Records, it pulls together collaborators including Princess Chelsea, Adah Dylan, Rachel Clarke and Eloïse Labarbe-Lafon, while Bree’s orchestral tendencies get pushed into darker, more guitar-led territory.
Even Bree has suggested his mum might want to skip this one.
Juice Webster – Kind of Fantasy
Juice Webster will release her second album Kind of Fantasy on October 30 through COHORT, with the title track marking a darker, rockier turn.
Produced and mixed by Simon Lam, the nine-track record pulls Webster’s songwriting towards heavier indie territory, with Wolf Alice, Slow Pulp and Beabadoobee sitting among the obvious touchstones.
The new material follows her debut JULIA and arrives as Webster heads into an East Coast run and four BIGSOUND showcases.
Jaguar Jonze – BEASTMASTER
Jaguar Jonze has announced BEASTMASTER, her first album since stepping away from music for two years.
Due January 29, 2027 through Nettwerk, the record grew out of a period of major personal change and finds Deena Lynch moving through pop, electronics and more experimental sounds without worrying too much about fitting any one version of herself.
Lead single ‘Kawasaki Ninja’ turns her love of motorcycles, and the freedom they represent, into something loud, fast and properly fun.
Gretta Ray – Heartsong
Gretta Ray is returning to her folkier roots on Heartsong, her new album arriving October 30 through EMI Music Australia.
Co-produced by Matt Corby and Gab Strum, the record follows a major health scare and tackles grief, loss, recovery and the slightly strange process of figuring yourself out again after everything changes.
The Matt Corby co-written title track is out now, pairing piano and gospel-like warmth with some much heavier subject matter underneath.
Lucy Gray – Break it
Aotearoa artist Lucy Gray has announced debut full-length mixtape Break it, arriving October 30.
The 10-track project continues Gray’s shift from indie and alternative rock into a much more electronic, hyperpop-adjacent space, drawing inspiration from artists including underscores and Oklou.
At just 19, Gray has already clocked up half a million streams and a decent run of supports, and will take Break it around New Zealand and Australia across November and December.
SINGLES
Mariae Cassandra – ‘Splinters’
Boorloo singer-songwriter Mariae Cassandra is back with her first single of 2026, ‘Splinters’.
After winning triple j Unearthed High in 2024 with ‘Million Billion Trillion’, Cassandra has spent the past couple of years quietly building a serious live following, including sold-out Australian headline dates and her first international headline show in London.
‘Splinters’ turns that momentum inward, tackling self-sabotage and the question of whether you’re actually worthy of being loved.
Becca Hatch – ‘Black Flower’
Becca Hatch opens a new chapter with ‘Black Flower’, the title track from her newly announced Black Flower project.
Sitting somewhere between soulful R&B, electronic production and alternative pop, the track digs into identity, growth, womanhood and love through Hatch’s Kamilaroi and Samoan heritage.
It follows a stacked year that has included Spilt Milk, charting singles and an appearance on Disney’s Moana: Voices Across The Ocean project.
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