Add to playlist: DJ Moopie's charmingly moody experimental compilations and the week's best new tracks

"Melbourne-based DJ Moopie, AKA Matthew Xue, is renowned for engrossing, wide-ranging sets that can run the gamut from gelid ambient music to churning drum'n'bass and beyond. He also runs A Colourful Storm a fantastic indie label that massively punches above its weight when it comes to putting out charmingly moody experimental pop music, from artists as disparate as London-based percussionist Valentina Magaletti, dubby Hobart duo Troth, and renowned underground polymath Simon Fisher Turner."

"In 2017, the label released I Won't Have to Think About You, a compilation of winsome, C86-ish indie pop. Earlier this year, it put out Going Back to Sleep, a quasi-sequel to that record which also functions as a neatly drawn guide to some of the best twee-pop groups currently working. Sydney band Daily Toll, whose 2025 debut A Profound Non-Event is one of the year's underrated gems, contribute Time, a seven-minute melodica-and-guitar reverie."

"Chateau, the duo of Al Montfort (Terry, Total Control) and Alex Macfarlane (the Stevens, Twerps), push into percussive, psychedelic lounge pop on How Long on the Platform, while Who Cares?, one of Melbourne's best new bands, channel equal parts Hope Sandoval and Eartheater on Wax and Wane. Elsewhere, Going Back to Sleep features tracks from San Francisco indie stalwarts the Reds, Pinks and Purples; minimalist Sydney group the Lewers; and sun-dappled folk-pop from Dutch duo the Hobknobs."

Matthew Xue (Moopie) runs A Colourful Storm, a Melbourne indie label that releases charmingly moody experimental pop spanning ambient, dub, and avant-pop. The label released I Won't Have to Think About You in 2017 and followed with Going Back to Sleep earlier this year as a quasi-sequel and curated guide to contemporary twee-pop. The compilation includes a seven-minute melodica-and-guitar reverie from Sydney's Daily Toll, percussive psychedelic lounge from Chateau, and ethereal contributions from Who Cares?. Additional tracks come from the Reds, Pinks and Purples, the Lewers, and Dutch duo the Hobknobs. The compilation blends delicate, deeply felt indie pop and is likely to become a connoisseur favorite.

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