When Electric Fields first burst onto the scene, they grabbed everyone’s attention. This South Australian duo of Zaachariaha and Michael brought beauty, beats, and a soaring sensibility to all they did. Since 2015 they’ve crafted bangers, heartfelt ballads, lullabies for little kids, and anthems for Eurovision and World Pride.

I’ve been chasing Electric Fields to Take 5 for ages, so I’m so stoked they were finally able to do it. Hearing the DNA of their musical passions is a joy, and from Nina Simone to Daft Punk to Beyonce, this Take 5 will make your heart soar.

• Nina Simone – My Baby Just Cares for Me
• Daft Punk – Around the World
• Sam Cooke – Bring It On Home To Me
• Corona – Rhythm of the Night
• Beyonce – Break My Soul

If you’re like me and you were a child of the 80’s, then Jason Donovan was your world. He burst onto our screens as the star of Neighbours, Scott and Charlene, Jason and Kylie… at the peak of the soap opera’s powers. Jason became famous in Australia and around the world, particularly the UK where he’d launch his pop career and a wild adventurous life.

That life was filled with ups and downs, drug addiction, controversy, but also new beginnings. For the past 20 years, Jason has been a star of musical theatre, wowing audiences with turns in Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat, Chicago, and the Rocky Horror show.

It’s that production that’s brought him back home, starring in the 50th anniversary tour as Frank n’ Furter. And I just had to have him Take 5. Jason is a bloody legend, he has a brilliant outlook on life and a gratitude and lightness in how he approaches it. So I gave him the theme of LIFE – why not hey? He’s had a heck of one, so far.

From Bowie to INXS to Rick Astley, this Take 5 will give you life.

• David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
• Talk Talk – It’s My Life
• Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up
• INXS – To Look At You
• Boy Meets Girl – Waiting for a Star to Fall

The Waifs are one of those bands many of us have a connection with. It felt like they came up as we came of age, the soundtracks to our own first adventures and a band with a loyal live following. Three albums into their career this steadfastly independent band broke through with ‘Up All Night’. It was helped by the juggernaut single “London Still”, which managed to capture a quintessentially Australian experience perfectly.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of that moment, the band are back in the tour van and doing what they do best; trekking to all corners of Australia to sing their stories.

And oh boy, are they good at telling stories. It’s why I asked them to Take 5. Josh and Vikki are about to transport you back to the first seeds of their band, to dingy motels in the States, and to the very heart of why we love them so much.

• Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
• First Aid Kit – Emmylou
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lodi
• Aretha Franklin – Say a Little Prayer 
• Paul Kelly – To Her Door

Tim Ross is one of those fella’s you want to bail up in the kitchen at a house party. Better known to many as simply Rosso, he’s a triple j legend who we first met as co-host of Drive alongside Merrick Watts. He’d go on to launch a new commercial radio station, publish books, and fall deeper into his love of Australian architecture.

What I love about Tim is that he makes me feel like design is for all of us. And the way he tells stories connects to the very stories these buildings tell. Of who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.

He’s just made a new series for ABC called Designing a Legacy, and it’s bloody brilliant. From Bruny Island to far up north in the Torres Strait, it’s an eye opening show about what structures can do for a community.

With that idea of legacy in mind, I asked Tim to pick songs that shared his legacy. From The Fauves to Kelis to Joni Mitchell, it’s a heartfelt and hilarious trek through a colourful and curious life.

• The Fauves – Everyone’s Getting a 3 Piece Together 
• Chemical Brothers - Leave Home
• Kelis - Milkshake
• The Go-Betweens - Streets of Your Town
• Joni Mitchell - Coyote (live from The Last Waltz)

This week’s Take 5 is a dream come true. Ever since I first met Thundercat, I wanted him on this podcast. Stephen Bruner is one of those magical humans whose musical DNA you want to explore. Born into a family of legendary players, Thundercat grew up with a famous  drummer dad, who played with Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and the Temptations. His older brother Ronald was a jazz drummer too, and a member of hardcore band Suicidal Tendencies. And his mum played as well, so it’s no surprise that Stephen Lee Bruner would come into this world strumming.

His path has been a kaleidoscopic one. In the early days he gigged with Erykah Badu, who helped him find his performative style as an artist. He became friends with Flying Lotus, and found a home on his Brainfeeder record label. And Thundercat’s profile was given a huge leg up when he helped craft the backbone of one of 2015’s biggest albums, Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”.

With four albums of his own, and a recent collab with Tame Impala, I jumped at the chance to meet with him again, and go “all over the shop” with a Take 5. And from Stanley Clarke to Drake, this is a gorgeous conversation about music, and how the songs that we connect to land in the right place at just the right time.

• Steve Kuhn - The Meaning of Love 
• Stanley Clarke - Journey to Love ft George Duke
• Flying Lotus - Zodiac Shit
• Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams
• Drake – Successful ft. Trey Songs and Lil Wayne

Are you ready for some incredible stories? Take 5 always gifts us with some cracking yarns, but this week’s episode takes the cake. In fact, I’ve had more responses to Ed Le Brocq’s Take 5 than any other, in ages.

Boy & Bear have been making beautiful music for more than a decade now. The Sydney band are ARIA award winners, have  won the Australian Music Prize, and gathered a huge fanbase. Known for their warm folk guitar sounds centred around the gorgeous voice of Dave Hosking, Boy & Bear have made us swoon over four albums.

But they’re taking a little side step with their fifth. This new chapter sees Boy & Bear bring a whole lot more synths into their sound, it has a breezy quality to it, and as a result it shimmers. On the day they released their new record, I invited Dave and Jon from the band, to Take 5 – and to share the songs that shimmer for them. From Lana Del Ray to Radiohead to Future Islands, get a peek inside the musical minds of on of Australia’s most loved bands.

• Lana Del Rey - 'Norman Fucking Rockwell'
• Laura Mvula - 'Remedy'
• Radiohead - 'Codex'
• Phoenix - '1901'
• Future Islands - 'Born in a War'

I'm excited to bring you this week's Take 5. Cos Gabrielle Zevin wrote one of my favourite books of the last year. The bestselling American author is behind 10 books, but her most recent has won huge acclaim. It's sat at the New York Times bestseller list for yonks, is being turned into a film, and has captured the imaginations of everyone who reads it.

"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" is the story of Sadie and Sam, two lifelong friends who bonded early over a love of video games. This book becomes an epic tale of love, creativity, competition, and tragedy. And it charts a history of gaming along the way.

Muses play a big part of this book, so I asked Gabrielle to share hers. And from Nirvana to Penguin Cafe Orchestra, this is a brilliant conversation by one of the best writers in the world today.

•    Penguin Café Orchestra — Perpetuum Mobile

•    Rilo Kiley — Let Me Back In

•    Nirvana — Lithium

•    Bright Eyes — Road to Joy

•    The Mountain Goats — This Year

Over the last two decades, Goldfrapp have delivered some of the coolest, smartest, and most exciting electro around. Out front, Alison Goldfrapp’s voice has tread the tightrope. A multi-octave phenomenon which lends itself to dark bassy tones as well as it does to floaty ethereal sounds.

But can you believe, she’s never made a solo record? Until now. On the day Alison released her debut album under her own name, she joined me to Take 5.

The record captures a club high, it reaches for love and bliss and so I gave her the theme “songs of euphoria”. I wanted to hear the music she’d been vibing off, or the songs that simple sent her into the clouds. From Italo-Disco to New York club classics, this is a blissful conversation about music’s power to elevate.

• Alexander Robotnick – Problemes’ D’Amour
• Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love
• Patrice Rushen – Haven’t You Heard
• Kaytranada – Be Careful (ft Thundercat)
• Lindstrom – Closing Shot

Colin Hay is the kind of guy you want to have a yarn with. He’s a master songwriter from his days in Men at Work, and the long solo career that has followed. Colin captures the world in a beautiful way. He’s also a recent recipient of the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian music, and came back to Australia to accept it.

While he was in the county, I asked him to Take 5. Because I knew he’d tell a good story or two, but I also wanted to know what were the songs of service to him? As someone who has honed their craft over more than 40 years, I wanted to hear him speak about music. From Booker T and the MG’s to Joni Mitchell to Leonard Cohen, this is a stunning conversation about song craft, life, and gratitude.

• Booker T & the MG’s – Green Onions 
• Bob Dylan – Gotta Serve Somebody 
• Joni Mitchell – Court & Spark 
• Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman 
• Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah