BIGSOUND 2022: The Must-See Artists at this Year’s Festival

BIGSOUND’s first in-person event since 2019 runs from Tuesday, 6th to Friday, 9th September at a host of venues in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. BIGSOUND 2022 will feature more than 180 artists, a significant expansion from the 2019 edition.

The lineup includes numerous upcoming and unsigned artists, as well as many artists whose profiles have grown substantially over the last two years. There’s a lot to take in, so we’ve zeroed in on ten program highlights, and made a playlist featuring ten more.

Music Feeds’ BIGSOUND Favourites

Big Skeez

Big Skeez is Western Sydney’s preeminent Afroswing artist. On 2021’s ‘Up’, Skeez and regular collaborator Swick (Tkay Maidza, Capo Lee, Big Zuu, Kamakaze, Merky Ace) combine elements of rap, Afrobeats, UK garage and baile funk. It’s all held together by the South Sudanese-Australian rapper, singer and composer’s lithe lead vocals.

Big Skeez released his debut single ‘Madness’ in 2019 and signed with Nina Las Vegas‘ NLV Records in early 2021. He’s picked up support from triple j, FBi Radio, Triple R, rage and MTV and collaborated with Gold Fang, FOURA and Human Movement. Skeez’s latest single, ‘Bang’, another genre-splicing collaboration with producer Swick, is equipped with more than enough physical oomph to get a dance floor moving.

• Tuesday, 6th September – 11:30 PM – 12:00 AM – EC Venue
• Wednesday, 7th September – 9:10 PM – 9:40 PM – Press Club

Cody Jon

Cody Jon arrived on the scene in 2019, making an immediate impression with his debut single ‘poison’. Now 20 years old, Jon has cultivated an international audience with his hook-heavy ’80s- and ’90s-influenced pop music. Cody Jon’s latest single, ‘dirty dancing’, is a collaboration with Charley.

Jon’s work is unabashedly pop-focused, but he’s often guided by emotion. “When I’m producing a track, I try to make the production as reflective of the feeling behind the song as possible and then come in with the lyrics once I’ve captured the right essence,” Jon told Music Feeds.

• Tuesday, 6th September – 8:50 PM – 9:20 PM – Summa House
• Wednesday, 7th September – 9:10 PM – 9:40 PM – Stranded Bar

Skeleten

Skeleten is the solo project of Sydney musician Russ Fitzgibbon, formerly of electronic duo Fishing. Fitzgibbon has been active in the Sydney music scene for over a decade and is currently a member of Babitha’s live band and Vlossom, the new project from Cloud Control’s Alister Wright and PNAU’s Nick Littlemore.

Skeleten is Fitzgibbon’s first solo project. It’s electronic music, but of a tuneful and vocal-centric variety. Skeleten’s debut single, the Arthur Russell-esque ‘Mirrored’, came out through Astral People Recordings in August 2020. Skeleten has since put out the singles ‘Biting Stone’ (2020), ‘Walking On Your Name’ and ‘Live In Another World’ (2021), ‘No Drones In the Afterlife’ (2022) as well as a cover of Digitalism’s ‘Pogo’.

• Tuesday, 6th September – 8:50PM – 9:20PM – Woolly Mammoth
• Wed 7th Sep – 9:00PM – 9:30PM – O’Skulligans

Caroline & Claude

Sydney-based siblings Caroline & Claude have been playing music for as long as they’ve been conscious. Caroline &Claude’s creative partnership is rooted in the pair’s differences, with Caroline an outgoing and emotionally expressive extrovert and Claude a studio-bound perfectionist and introvert.

Caroline & Claude’s latest single ‘IDK YOU’ demonstrates a significant progression from the 2000s indie-pop sound of their 2021 debut, ‘Stir The Pot’. On ‘IDK YOU’, Caroline & Claude sound more akin to pliable UK bedroom pop wunderkind PinkPantheress, fleshing out a hook-laden pop song with electronic production and vigorous drum programming.

• Tuesday, 6th September – 9:00PM – 9:30PM – The Warehouse
• Wednesday, 7th September 11:20PM – 11:50PM – BLVD

Jem Cassar-Daley

Jem Cassar-Daley is a proud Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung woman based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Cassar-Daley released her debut EP, I Don’t Know Who to Call, in May 2022. The EP features the singles ‘Oh No’, ‘Letting Go’ and ‘Changes’, the latter of which was co-written and produced by Garrett Kato. The EP also includes creative input from Tia Gostelow, James Angus, Ali Barter, Tom Eggert and Jen Boyce.

Working with various co-writers allowed Cassar-Daley to imbue the record with a degree of stylistic fluidity, incorporating pop songs alongside singer-songwriter ballads and shades of soul, country and soft rock. The seven-track set also includes a choice cover of Colin Hay’s ‘I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You’.

• Tuesday, 6th September – 9:40PM – 10:10PM – Blute’s Bar
• Thursday, 8th September – 9:10PM – 9:40PM – The Prince Consort Hotel

ENOLA

ENOLA released the driving post-punk original ‘Strange Comfort’ at the beginning of August. The track draws on the Naarm/Melbourne-based artist’s affection for post-punk greats Joy Division and synth-punk progenitors Suicide. Despite its assertive instrumentation, ENOLA, who uses they/them pronouns, told Music Feeds that ‘Strange Comfort’ came from “a place of reflection.”

The artist wanted to convey the idea that suffering is an innate characteristic of existence, “and that suffering is also universal,” they said. “So, you are not alone in that experience – there is a sense of togetherness in your aloneness.”

• Tuesday, 6th September – 9:10PM – 9:40PM – The Sound Garden
• Thursday, 8th September – 10:40PM – 11:10PM –Tomcat