Wave Racer, Citizen Kay & More Grab Top-20 Debuts On Aussie Indie Charts

Sydney-bred electronic upstart Wave Racer leads a solid charge of emergent artists making their debuts on the Carlton Dry Independent Music Charts, with his Flash Drive EP being the highest new face across the board this week, stepping out at #12.

He's only a couple of places (and an entire chart) ahead of rising Canberran rapper Citizen Kay, whose new full-length With The People claims #14 on the Albums ladder — the sole new entrant on that list — while back in the Singles stakes City Calm Down (Rabbit Run, #17) and Slum Sociable (All Night, #20) also make debuts this week.

The Singles rankings are further shaken up by the return by several previous spot-holders who had since slipped out of the top 20 — The Rubens' Hoops rockets back into contention at a mighty #2 after a period off the charts, just ahead of Vance Joy's Fire & The Flood, hitting its highest point in a while by taking out #3. Mansionair (Speak Easy, #5), Vance Joy (again, Riptide, #6), Violent Soho (Like Soda, #7) and The Temper Trap (Sweet Disposition, #10 for some reason) also make their returns to the rankings this week.

Sia remains dominant, though her grip is slipping — down from six entries in the Singles chart last week, this week the platinum-haired chanteuse "only" manages four, though her highest, Alive, is still top o' the ladder for another seven days. Elastic Heart (#8), Chandelier (#9) and Big Girls Cry (#16) round out her contributions to the list. Also still performing strongly is Meg Mac, with Never Be only tumbling a couple of spots to stay in the top five at #4, while Roll Up Your Sleeves is still hanging around (up to 68 weeks now) at #15.

Album-wise, there's little to write home about; Sia's 1000 Forms Of Fear once again claims the top spot from last week's gold medallists Art Vs Science, whose Off The Edge Of The Earth & Into Forever, Forever takes a dive to #9, while The Waifs enjoy a healthy bump to Beautiful You, up five spots to #2 this week, knocking Gurrumul and his Gospel Album down a peg to #3. Flight Facilities are back in the top five, as Down To Earth climbs up to #4 (from #9), while the ever-reliable Courtney Barnett stays steady, her LP Sometimes I Sit & Think, & Sometimes I Just Sit coming in at #5 for another week.