You know it’s been a great year of music releases when the sheer volume of excellent EPs alone necessitates its own list.
When Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s editorial team gathered to compile our Best of 2024 lists for Australia and New Zealand, it immediately became clear that restricting each list to full LPs would mean the exclusion of some dazzling EPs.
From an ARIA-winning singer-songwriter expanding on her acclaimed album, to a famous pop band member proving his prowess as a solo artist, so many EPs dropped this year that weren’t any less impactful for their shorter length.
So without further ado, we present to you our 15 favourite Australian EPs of 2024, ranked. And keep an eye out for our Best Albums of 2024 lists arriving later this week.
15. Hugo Basclain – freeway flowers
A singer blessed with a caramel-coated voice, Hugo Basclain built on his standout song “Right Now”, which landed on the latest Scream film soundtrack, with his new EP. The LA-based, Central Coast-raised rising star offers sultry vocals and emotive R&B-meets-pop rhythms on freeway flowers, a five-track collection that bodes well for his forthcoming debut album.
Read our recent interview with Basclain here.
14. Bean Magazine – In the Shade
With Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack helping out on production duties, Brisbane indie rock trio Bean Magazine show plenty of promise on their new EP. The musicality is present, from the ’90s-indebted opener “The Weather” to the insanely catchy “Don’t You Die”. It’ll be fascinating to see how Bean Magazine expand their growing sound into a full-length album. But there’s a reason Ball Park Music, The Rubens, and Rum Jungle have all previously asked the trio to support them at live shows.
13. What So Not – Motions
What So Not’s “love letter to dance music” is ably boosted by collaborators like Lucy Lucy and MNDR, but the success of Motions is really down to the Australian DJ and producer. What So Not’s EP highlights why he’s one of this country’s most in-demand names in the global electronic music scene. At once emotive and euphoric, these four tracks are the sound of a producer at the peak of his powers.
12. CLAMM – Disembodiment
CLAMM have always been one of Melbourne music’s most formidable forces of nature, and their power is undiminished on their new EP. Led by the searing opener “Change Enough”, Disembodiment rails against the woes of today’s world with lacerating precision, taking on masculinity, the cost of living crisis, first world country privileges, and more. Disembodiment re-establishes CLAMM’s status as one of Australia’s very best punk bands.
11. Alex the Astronaut – Rage and All Its Friends
A superb solo singer-songwriter in her own right, Alex the Astronaut invited collaborators into her process for the first time on her latest EP, without reducing the quality in any significant way. Her follow-up to How to Grow a Sunflower Underwater features co-writes and assistance from some famous friends, including Paul Kelly, Gordi, and Benjamin Francis Leftwich, but Alex’s relatable presence remains at the beating heart of the lyrics.
10. Emmanuel Kelly – No Zodiac
At Coldplay’s recent Australian and New Zealand shows, fans were given an exclusive opportunity to pre-order Emmanuel Kelly’s new EP on vinyl. They’d have been fools not to take up the offer, because Kelly’s music shares the same beautifully positive DNA as late-period Coldplay.
On the highly personal project, Kelly explores the fact “that I was born without a birth certificate… I have no zodiac or anything that defines my character or my future… I am able to define myself how I choose.” No Zodiac goes out on a high with “My Sky”, which was one of the top 30 most streamed songs by an Australian artist on Spotify in 2024.
9. Keli Holiday – JESTERMAN
Adam Hyde, the man behind the Keli Holiday moniker, might be more famous these days for his highly publicised relationship with Abbie Chatfield, but to focus on that romance would be to lose sight of the charms of his solo project.
His latest release as Holiday is sexy in a Britpop kind of way, sleazy in a Noughties disco kind of way, the five tracks propelled by the artist’s sizzling charisma. But there’s a lot going on underneath the flamboyant surface of JESTERMAN, Holiday exploring the turbulence of toxic relationships with honesty and wit.
8. Forest Claudette – Jupiter
Forest Claudette is cool. Achingly cool. End of review. Australia’s answer to Frank Ocean is magnetic on Jupiter, singing of love and longing with smooth intensity. Claudette’s EP was rightly nominated for Best Soul / R&B Release at the 2024 ARIA Awards – that they also released this year an equally stunning EP, & Between, is testament to their talent.
7. Barkaa – Big Tidda
Big Tidda is a BIG celebration of Blak joy and love. Barkaa proudly reflects on the journey from her childhood in Sydney to the top of Australian music, which includes winning Artist of the Year at this year’s NIMAs.
“I’m going to big-note myself today. I’m going to be confident today,” Barkaa said when her EP was released, and this confidence shines through her unapologetic storytelling on Big Tidda.
6. Oliver Cronin – Halfway to Paradise
Oliver Cronin showed why Purple Sneakers hailed him as “one of Australia’s most exciting future global exports” on his new EP.
Not yet ready to unveil a full-length album, Halfway to Paradise is, as the title suggests, a snapshot of Cronin’s music at the halfway mark, an encapsulation of where he’s at as an artist. If these pure pop gems are his current level, just imagine how Cronin’s full LP is going to sound when it finally arrives.
5. Luke Hemmings – boy
When you’re in one of the biggest pop bands of a generation, any solo project is going to be a precarious endeavour, but Luke Hemmings has handled it with aplomb.
The 5 Seconds of Summer singer’s second solo EP finds him reuniting with producer Sammy Witte, the pair drawing on influences from a diverse range of artists including LCD Soundsystem and The Verve. Hemmings’ EP is an emotionally charged listen, reflecting on the impending challenges of fatherhood with lyrical maturity.
4. Radio Free Alice – Polyester
Radio Free Alice only formed in 2020 but have quickly risen to become one of the most talked-about guitar bands in Australian music.
They followed their AIR-nominated self-titled debut EP this year with Polyester, an EP that captures the raw live energy that fans have come to expect from the post-punk outfit. Led from the front by the captivating Noah Learmonth, Radio Free Alice could be Australia’s next big guitar band export following Royel Otis.
3. Kobie Dee – Chapter 26
There’s a reason Kobie Dee features in Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s first-ever Musicians on Musicians series. He proves himself to be a rap lyricist at the top of his game on Chapter 26 – his delivery is visceral because it needs to be, his words are vulnerable because he wants them to be. Dee explores his various roles in life – man and father, artist and role model – with compassion, giving a lot of himself to listeners.
Chapter 26 earned Dee a nomination for Best Hip Hop / Rap Release at the 2024 ARIA Awards. Read his Musicians on Musicians interview with friend and collaborator Stan Walker online later this week.
2. Miss Kaninna – KANINNA
What do you do when you release one of the best debut singles in Australian music in recent memory? You casually drop one of the best debut EPs this country’s ever heard.
The single in question, “Blak Britney”, confidently opens Miss Kaninna’s first EP, and she keeps the momentum going on fierce tracks like “Dawg in Me” and “Push Up”. The EP showcases the music Miss Kaninna grew up listening to and loving, from hip-hop to rap, R&B to pop, with flourishes of Afrobeats, Amapiano, and more global musical influences thrown in for good measure. A superstar in the making.
1. Angie McMahon – Light Sides
On her 2023 album Light, Dark, Light Again (which deservedly won Best Independent Release at the 2024 ARIA Awards), Angie McMahon confirmed herself as a special artist who makes you feel less alone in the world.
Her words are just as meaningful on her new EP, and any one of these excellent songs, written at the same time as Light, Dark, Light Again, could have belonged on that album.
