Suitcase Records Open Voting For 2024 ‘Suitcase Showcase’ Compilation

Suitcase Records – a family-run vinyl pressing plant in Brisbane (Meanjin) – have announced the second edition of its annual Suitcase Showcase project, highlighting independent artists in the Australian music scene (and for a good cause, to boot).

• Behind The Scenes At Brisbane’s Suitcase Records

At the heart of the initiative is a compilation album comprised of ten songs from up-and-coming Aussie artists – they all submitted their tracks directly to Suitcase, and now fans get to vote for the songs that make it onto the final lacquers.

After it’s released, all proceeds earned from sales of the record are split between the ten winning artists and Australia’s premiere music industry charity, Support Act. On top of that, every fan that votes for their favourite artist’s song is entered into a competition to win a stacked prize pack from Suitcase.

As with last year’s competition, all of the artists in the running for the compilation have pressed with Suitcase Records over the last 12 months. They include trip-hop quartet Sky Eater, one-man punk band Melvic Centre, country duo Fallow Fields, indie band CLINT and psych-rockers Local Authority, among others – head here to see the full list (and vote for your own fave).

Copies of Suitcase Showcase Vol. 1 are still available via the plant’s webstore, with preorders for the impending follow-up also being launched this week. Artists featured on Vol. 1 include Vixens Of Fall (with Ain’t Going Home), Hayley Marsten (I Knew The Pain), Flamingo Blonde (Eddie) and Ghost Mutt (Crush).

Meanwhile, Suitcase made headlines last week with the release of The Deluge, the debut album by Aussie rock superduo Fanning Dempsey National Park (Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning and Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey). The Deluge was pressed at Suitcase, with the lacquers being minted at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

Last November, Suitcase was named the best Australian business “innovating with sustainability” for the inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund, earning the company $20,000 in funding. At the time, the plant said they’re committed to “spearheading sustainable ways of manufacturing records”, and used the funding to import a world-first bio compound allowing them to reduce the carbon output of vinyl pressing by 92 percent.