Take 5

Can you remember when Ill Communication first came out? If you came of age in the 90’s like me, it was a huge album. Bursting outta the gates with 'Sure Shot', with hits like 'Get it Together' and 'Sabotage'... it’s one of Beastie Boys most varied and loved albums, and in 2024 it turns 30 years old.

The sound of this album is as fresh as it was in 1994, and to mark this big anniversary I dug into the archives to dust off one of my favourite conversations of all time. The one and only Mike D. Take a trip around New York City with a fella who knows it better than most.

• Notorious B.I.G. - 'Juicy'

• The Strokes - '12:51'

• Nas - 'N.Y. State of Mind'

• ESG - 'Moody'

• Wu Tang Clan - 'C.R.E.A.M.'

This episode was originally broadcast on triple j in 2014.

Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear helped shaped the sound of modern indie music. Across their five albums they layered intricate and nuanced guitar music with choirboy vocals and a whole lotta heart.

They broke through in 2006 with their second album, Yellow House, but it was 2009’s Veckatimist which took Grizzly Bear to a whole new plane and became one of the most loved albums of the decade.

To mark its 15th anniversary, I’m throwing back to a brilliant chat I had with frontman and founding member, Ed Droste back in 2018. Ed is a gorgeous human, and I have such fond memories of this conversation. With Grizzly Bear’s layered music in mind, I gave him the theme “songs that unravel.” 

• Beach House - 'Master of None'
• Björk - 'Army of Me'
• Pavement - 'Fight This Generation'
• Aaliyah - 'One In A Million'
• Adele - 'Rolling In The Deep' (Jamie xx Shuffle)

This episode was originally broadcast in 2018.

Kasey Chambers is a living legend. Five number one albums, fourteen ARIA Awards, she is the youngest woman to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Kasey grew up with music. As a kid she’d travel across the Nullabor with her dad, at the end of each day the family would always gather around the campfire to sing songs. She would go on to play with the family band, but it was her 1999 debut album The Captain that was her breakthrough to a solo career that has been rich and rewarding.

That debut turns 25 this year, and to mark the anniversary I dipped into the archives for a Take 5 we captured back in 2019. We were celebrating The Captain back then, and the other musical breakthroughs Kasey had experienced through her life. I loved this chat so much; Kasey is a ray of light with her feet firmly on the ground. And hearing her talk about the songs she loves was such a gift.

• Emmylou Harris - ‘Boulder to Birmingham’
• Ben Harper - ‘Fight For Your Mind’
• J.S. Ondara - ‘Torch Song’
• Beyoncé - ‘Don't Hurt Yourself {Ft. Jack White}’
• Steve Earle - ‘Copperhead Road’

This episode was originally broadcast in 2019.

Angie McMahon is one of those artists that stops you in your tracks. She caught my attention back in 2017 with 'Slow Mover' and immediately I was asking, who is this? A debut album followed, then a few years later the follow up. And her second album has taken Angie into another realm, selling big iconic rooms like the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s Forum several times over.

I’ve wanted to Take 5 with Angie for a while, and the ideas around her latest album seemed perfect for exploration. Light, Dark, Light Again is about cycles, and I wondered which songs had the sense of revolution for her. From Bon Iver to Big Thief, this is a rich conversation about the very pulse of life, the cycles we go through, and the music that helps us through.

• Bon Iver - 8 (circle)
• Sara Bareilles - Once Upon Another Time
• Joni Mitchell - Circle Game (live at Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles 1974)
• Janelle Monáe - Turntables
• Big Thief – Not

It’s a special Take 5 this week, as we mark 10 years of Double J! To mark our birthday, I thought it’d be fun to invite one of our biggest listeners on to Take 5. And he just happens to know about the power of radio to connect, and create a place for people no matter where we are.

Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald is in radio himself, for almost 20 years he’s been with Nova, most of it in the primo Breakfast spot. And for most of Double J’s life he’s been sliding into our DM’s to let us know how much he loves the station. Fitzy will often tell me how much he loves each Take 5, and for a while I’ve wanted to ask him to do it. 

So we did, and you’ll understand why I’ve been so keen to have him on. From Cosmic Psychos to God, this is a beautiful capture of a truly giant heart.

• Cosmic Psychos - Nice Day To Go To The Pub
• Courtney Barnett - Depreston
• Bad//Dreems - Jack
• Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Memory Lane
• God – My Pal

You know that question about who you’d invite to your dream dinner party? Beth Ditto is always at the top of my list. This sassy icon from the deep south grabbed my attention more than 20 years ago fronting the Gossip, and has held it ever since. From punk beginnings, to big hit bangers, gracing catwalks and the small screen, and carving out a space for those without that huge, powerful voice, she is legendary.

From day dot, Beth Ditto has been out and proud. A queer woman whose body positivity predates current conversations and whose activism makes its way into every one of her songs. The political and personal are always intertwined with Beth, and she’s always making us dance. Gossip took a break for more than a decade; most of us assumed they were done. But in 2024 they came back. With new album Real Power and plenty of fire still inside.

It gave me the chance to tick off one from the bucket list, and ask her to Take 5. What followed is more than I could have dreamed of, a capture of everything I know keeps the flames lit inside, and a beautiful connection to the power of song. Take 5 is always about our heroes becoming fans, and it was a joy to witness Beth Ditto’s fandom and her rebel songs.

• George Michael - Freedom! '90
• Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam
• Queen - We Are The Champions
• Missy Elliott - She’s a Bitch
• Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl

Bri Lee is an author, journalist, and activist. You’ve probably seen her pop up on telly, in panels, and online, because in just over 5 years Bri has carved out an acclaimed career, publishing the bestselling Eggshell Skull and another two books of non-fiction. Her work has interrogated how the legal system deals with sexual crimes, the realm of eating disorders, and the class structures within education, and all of it is written through a personal prism.

In 2024, Bri turns her hand to fiction for the first time in her debut novel The Work. It’s the story of New Yorker Lally and Sydneysider Pat; two people in the art world who are not artists themselves, but trying to curate a life better than the one they came from. In everything she writes, Bri has a fascination with power. And from DC to AC/DC, you'll hear why.

• Destiny's Child - Independent Women, Pt. 1
• AC/DC - Back In Black
• The Preatures - Yanada
• Karen O & Danger Mouse - Redeemer
• Chappell Roan - After Midnight

Dave McCormack has one of those voices. As lead singer of Custard, his husky tones and the band’s playful indie rock beamed out of Brisbane in the 90s. They were a happy haven from the angsty guitar scene of the time. In 1999, after 5 albums and tonnes of shows as one of Australia’s favourite live acts, Custard called it a day.

Dave McCormack would go on to play in other bands, he began composing soundtracks for film and television, and his voice would become familiar to an entirely new generation playing Bandit, the blue heeler dad in the mega hit kid’s show Bluey.

Custard reunited in 2015 and have since released another 3 albums together. In 2020, during the first wave of lockdowns, I asked Dave McCormack to Take 5. His theme was cornerstone songs; the tunes he always returns to. And the reason I want to return to this wonderful conversation, is because we’re celebrating the most famous blue heeler in the world gracing our screens once again. This time with an epic 28-minute episode of Bluey. That’s like the Oppenheimer of the Bluey universe.

So settle in for this very fun chat from the archives. And if your kids are listening, sorry for the confusion. Now you have an excuse to play them your old Custard albums.

• ABBA – S.O.S.
• Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind
• Britney Spears - Toxic
• Devo – Peek-A-Boo
• Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue

This episode was originally broadcast in 2020.

Adrianne Lenker feels things deeply. You hear it in every one of her songs, whether solo, or with her band Big Thief. Lucky for us, she shares it all, and over the past few years has become one of the most promising and prolific songwriters around; making 6 albums on her own and 5 with her band.  

Her latest is “Bright Future” and it’s another stunning record of genius songwriting, and the inspiration for me to head back into the Take 5 archives and share this wonderful conversation from 2019.

At the time, Adrianne was actually on holiday in Australia and it felt fitting, because her life had been a transient one, constantly on the road touring all over the world. But even when taking a break, she made time to share a conversation about music.

This ended up being so much more. It’s about connection, about how melancholy can filter through joy, and how you can find space in the most intensely crowded of sounds. Even if you don’t know Adrianne’s work intimately, this is a conversation that will speak to you. It’s one I haven’t stopped thinking about since.

It feels like, for Adrianne, music has always helped her understand the world around her. When she speaks about songs, everything slows down. She has a way of articulating what is often intangible, and when I watch interviews with her I find I’m drawn in to a kind of meditative state – she just has a way of seeing the world that is captivating. For all of these reasons, back in 2019 I asked her to Take 5. Her music gets under my skin, and I wanted to find out what got under hers. Dive in for this unforgettable and poetic conversation.

• Sibylle Baier – Driving
• Bill Callahan – What Comes After Certainty
• Ithaca – Impulse Crush
• Sheer Mag – Point Breeze
• Life Without Buildings – Sorrow

This episode was originally broadcast in 2019.

Well I hope you’re up for a laugh, cos this Take 5 is a special one. As comedy festival season kicks it around Australia, I’ve dug into the Take 5 archives and pulled out some of my favourite chats with comedians. Unsurprisingly, they’re great storytellers. And as we know from almost 20 years of Taking 5, everyone has a connection to music.

There’s another throughline to these tales too, they all speak to adventure; to shifting to a new place for a new perspective, and often a whole new beginning.

You’ll hear Celia Pacquola remember her early shows making it big in Edinburgh, Fred Armisen talk about his transition from music to comedy, Rose Matafeo’s Rastafarian parents, how Steph Tisdell was gonna be a lawyer before hopping on a plane to the UK, and Simon Amstell’s tip into teenage years onstage.

• Belle & Sebastian – Step Into My Office, Baby
• Sleater-Kinney - Start Together
• Stormzy – Cigarettes & Cush (Ft. Kehlani & Lily Allen)
• Kelis – Millionaire (Ft. Andre 3000)
• Patrick Wolf – The City