STACK #257 March 2026

FEATURE MUSIC

THIS MONTH? BIL Y’S PICK AUSSIE RELEASES

MELISSA ETHERIDGE Rise INERTIA

BLUEY Up Here ROCKET

PACIFIC AVENUE Lovesick Sentimental UNIVERSAL Pacific Avenue’s debut album, Flowers , hit number three in 2023 and was nominated for two ARIA Awards, so big things are tipped for the follow-up, Lovesick Sentimental . The rock band, from Gerringong in NSW, celebrated their roots in the record’s first single, Working Class Hero , a poignant track about growing up and moving on. “Now it’s been years since the last time I’ve seen you,” Harry O’Brien sings. “It always still kills me that we had to grow up.” Here We Go Again is a cruisy delight, and Things We Wanna Say is a frenetic rocker. Pacific Avenue are ready for the fast lane. XAVIER RUDD Freedom Sessions/Where To Now INERTIA Xavier Rudd, our most Now . Now he’s put the two EPs together on the one record. It’s a treat for fans as vinyl is perfect for Rudd’s raw and organic sound. And the opening tracks, World Orders Parts 1 & 2, still resonate. “The way that you tend to your garden may be the way that you treat other humans,” Rudd sings. “And the weeds you neglect through the seasons may resemble your own inner demons.” And the record finishes with Where To Now , with Rudd concluding: “If you find something to ground you or a deeper love to cling to, there’ll be nothing of more value to be found.” remarkable one-man band, released the EP Freedom Sessions in 2024. He followed it with another EP, 2025’s Where To

I n the annals of popular music Frank Zappa was unique, a one-off. A composer, arranger, guitarist and bandleader, he demonstrated a mastery of pop idioms, ranging from jazz to rock of every conceivable variety, while creating electronic and orchestral works. With more than 100 albums to his credit, he combined political satire with on-stage theatrics, and potential band members were required to pass his strict audition process before he’d hire them. And he testified in Congress against censorship. Any Frank Zappa reissue is a must buy. Bongo Fury , originally released in 1975, is now available as a 5-CD Blu Ray Super Deluxe Box Set of material (around 80 per cent unreleased) that includes studio outtakes and live tracks. It was the last album to feature members of his early ’70s band The Mothers Of Invention, who are joined by Zappa stalwart Captain Beefheart and his legendary sidemen that included drummers Terry Bozzio and Chester Thompson, saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock, keyboardist George Duke and trombonist Bruce Fowler. FRANK ZAPPA Bongo Fury UNIVERSAL

Nearly four decades after she broke big, Melissa Etheridge remains a captivating singer and songwriter. Rise , her

Bluey is like an Aussie superhero – and there’s nothing she can’t do. Last year, Bluey’s music hit one billion streams. The fourth Bluey album features

17th studio album – her first in five years – was co-produced by Waylon Jennings’ son Shooter. It includes Other Side Of Blue , a duet with country star Chris Stapleton, as well as Call You , a heartfelt tribute to Etheridge’s son Beckett, who battled a drug addiction and died, aged 21. And Matches reveals how Johnny Cash ignited Etheridge’s passion for music. “I was only eight years old when he rode into town,” she sings. “He’s like a preacher with the flames in his eyes. Mama, let me play with the matches, he lights up every inch of the sky.”

17 orchestral recordings from the hit TV series, which will introduce kids all over the world to the joys of classical music. The album features the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra – conducted by Joseph Twist. The Bluey composer Joff Bush says, “This is our most ambitious album yet, something we’ve dreamed of making for a long time. Orchestral music is so emotionally powerful, and introducing kids and families to it is a privilege I treasure. Hearing tracks like Sleepytime and The Sign in full orchestral glory had us reaching for tissues during mixing.”

SLIM DUSTY Gone Bush UNIVERSAL

VARIOUS ARTISTS Help(2) ROCKET

Slim Dusty loved Australia. He and his wife Joy McKean relentlessly toured, bringing their music to people all over the nation. Their annual

This is one of 2026’s most important albums. Help(2) is a compilation raising money for War Child, the charity that

Australian tour, in Slim’s 1971 Ford Fairlane known as “Old Purple”, was a 30,000-mile round trip. No Aussie artist clocked up more miles. This collection features gems such as Camooweal, Cunnamulla Fella, End Of The Bitumen, Australian Bushmen and the classic When The Rain Tumbles Down In July . Slim might have left us in 2003, and Joy passed in 2023, but their music will never die. Gone Bush is the latest thematic compilation from the Dusty pages, following 2021’s Gone Fishin’ and 2024’s Gone Truckin’ . We eagerly await Gone Drinkin’.

helps children living through war. Recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in November last year, this is a sequel to the landmark 1995 collection The Help Album , which raised more than £1 million. It’s a stellar line-up, including Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, Wet Leg, The Last Dinner Party, Depeche Mode and Foals. And Olivia Rodrigo’s cover of the Magnetic Fields’ The Book of Love , featuring Blur’s Graham Coxon on guitar, is a highlight. Coming in APRIL

THE AMITY AFFLICTION House of Cards (April 24)

CHARLEY The Chronicles Of A Serial Idealist (April 17)

PEACH PRC Porcelain (April 3)

Radio legend Billy Pinnell presents Billy Pinnell’s Musical Moments on YouTube.

HARRY STYLES Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. is the fourth studio album by Grammy-award winner Harry Styles. Out now.

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