Welcome to the Australian Art Music playlist! A monthly playlist of classical, jazz, experimental and electronic music focused on contemporary Australian composers, musicians and sound artists.
Musicians need support to keep creating the music you love. So, moving forward I’ll be hosting the playlist on Bandcamp and BuyMusic.Club where you can listen to and buy digital or physical copies of your favourites each month. I’m buying a digital copy of every album featured and I invite you all to join me!
Drift is a fun word. Generally referring to being moved by a fluid (water, air and the like), it has gained multitudes as we’ve extrapolated over the centuries. Easy calm movement (drifting down the river), objects moved by currents (both snow drifts and driftwood), the changing of ideas (you catch my drift?), the high-powered slides to make corners at speed (drifting on the race track), even the gradual move away from expected outcomes (genetic drift).
The music here captures multiple of these definitions, from calm to high intensity changes, coalesced sound to expected developments, but each feels fluid to me, harnessing momentum as a major element- even if only to set an expectation to later subvert.
Some personal highlights include the smooth inevitability of Tessie Overmyer’s Why Does the Water Sparkle So?, the richness and variety of Tristan Baker’s Twelve Harmonicities (I’ve featured two of them this month), and the way sound is drawn together in Benjamin Skepper’s Praeludium y Fuga.
As always please feel free to pitch your music to aussieartmusic@gmail.com and let us know your favourite tracks from this month on socials.
And, if you’d like to support the playlist, please join the Australian Art Music playlist Patreon to suggest and vote on future themes, and get some behind the scenes posts and perks.
Track by Track
- Why Does the Water Sparkle So? by Tessie Overmyer | performed by Tessie Overmyer, Tom Avgenicos, Sandy Evans, Harley Coleman, Kevin Hunt, Jonathan Zwartz, & George Greenhill
- “A Distant Voice” for viola by Romano Crivici | performed by Virginia Comerford & Romano Crivici
- night pay window by Annwen Roberts | performed by Annwen Roberts, Jack Dobson, Caleb Wilson, Elijah Davies, & Alex Siderov
- Starry Night by Alisha Redmond
- Harmonicity No. 9 by Tristan Baker
- Astral Coffee by Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross
- Katabasis I by Scott Buckley & Amanda Buckley
- Maelstrom by Timothy Franklin | performed by Timothy Franklin, Joseph O’Connor, Miranda Hill, & Maddison Carter
- Praeludium y Fuga: Side A by Benjamin Skepper
- Drifting, Fleeting by Ruby Lulham (Clariloops)
- Harmonicity No. 7 by Tristan Baker
- The Messengers of Awe to Come by The Amplified Elephants (Esther Tuddenham, Daniel Munnery, Robyn McGrath, Steven Hagiliassis, & Jay Euesden)
- Never to Touch by Paige Duggan | performed by Paige Duggan, Robbie Melville, Zoe Frater, Maddison Carter, & Gideon Brazil
If you’re wanting more music to explore, check out previous playlists from this year here. We’ve also launched the 2026 Guide to Australian Art Music, so go listen to over 700 tracks there and vote for your favourites until the end of the month.
Otherwise, I’d always recommend the Australian Art Music Archive, with all 1,759 previously featured Spotify tracks (roughly 178 hours of music), and my 2024 community listening project: 1,000 Curious Ears – all 12 monthly editions of that series can be found here.
Until next month, may you drift towards your greatest desire,
-Cameron
Listen on Bandcamp or BuyMusicClub
Listen natively on Bandcamp with your fan account here.
Otherwise listen on desktop at BuyMusic.Club below:
This playlist is updated monthly. Explore previous months’ playlists on our website and listen to the archive playlist (2019-2025) on Spotify.
Contact Cameron Lam on his website or via direct email: aussieartmusic@gmail.com to recommend tracks for the Australian Art Music playlist.
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