Launched in March 2023, Brisbane Powerhouse’s first ΩHM Festival of Other Music made an irrefutable argument for landmark contemporary and experimental acts to undertake a tour stop in Queensland. The program included Canadian pop sensation Peaches, English maximalist avant-prog-rock band black midi and the Australian premiere of Robin Fox’s audiovisual extravaganza Triptych. It was a daring pursuit, but it paid off richly.

Boris. Photo supplied

“The first [festival] was a new thing for Brisbane,” says Powerhouse Arts Program Director and festival co-curator Brad Spolding.

“We’re a huge city. We’ve got a really great, dynamic, up-for-it music audience, but a lot of the bigger shows don’t come here unless there’s a context and a presenter prepared to take a risk on it. We hoped that it would go well; it went really, really well, so we’re excited to [present] the second edition.”

In 2024, ΩHM hits even harder. Top of the bill is the pioneering Yothu Yindi – a “total musical bucket list item” for Spolding. Other Australian acts include The Necks, Topology and Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra, while post-genre concert series Dots+Loops offers a free...