Double J’s Award Picks Who Gets the Spotlight

Double J has named The Avalanches, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Mulga Bore Hard Rock, Rowena Wise, and Vika & Linda as nominees for its 2026 Australian Artist of the Year J Award. The award gives one institution the job of deciding which homegrown musician or group gets its stamp for a standout year. Kirklen "Desert Demon" Bird of Mulga Bore Hard Rock said the band’s music "has given us pride showing our younger cousins what we can do with our music."

The award’s terms

Double J says the award recognises new music, memorable live performances, contributions to arts and culture, connection with its audience, and other achievements. That’s a broad rubric, with the station setting the terms for what counts as a year’s standout work. The nominees’ music and community connections, meanwhile, come from very different places.

The Avalanches won the award in 2021 for We Will Always Love You and returned in 2026 with their fourth full-length album, No Bad Memories. Inspired by obsolete technology and advertising, the 31-track record mixes dance music and pop collaborations with overlooked samples and jingles, both real and imagined. Double J described the album as a critique and celebration of consumer culture: a neat collision of pop’s bright surface and the machinery behind the shopping impulse.

The group played pop-up DJ shows around the world. It also held an exclusive Double J album-listening party in Melbourne, where fans heard the record six weeks before its release. Access to that early listen came through a station event, not a community-run release.

Community, work and recognition

Mulga Bore Hard Rock’s debut, Sweet Home Mulga Bore, runs for 27 minutes. Double J described the band as sounding like veterans while playing with the energy and enthusiasm of teenagers, with blazing guitars, strong rhythms, and hooks. The report says the group expresses pride in culture, community, and self, and shows its community what is possible. Bird’s words put the value plainly: younger cousins see what the band can do.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring are described as rarely active. A major Melbourne show late the previous year brought renewed attention to the band, which the report called "taut and potent." Their fifth album, In Light of Recent Events, arrived without notice in May. The band then played its first Brisbane and Sydney shows in more than a decade, to acclaim. The report says the group helped reshape garage rock; the surprise release and live shows set the pace, rather than a formal announcement campaign.

Rowena Wise’s second album, Bad Things Feel Good, turns mental health, non-monogamy, and self-scrutiny into songs described as smart and inviting. The Margaret River-bred, Naarm-based singer-songwriter toured the album on a Double J-presented tour through October and November. Her first album had established her as a keen-edged artist, and the report compared her use of words with Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly, Carla Geneve, and Gena Rose Bruce.

A legacy measured in dates and records

Vika and Linda Bull are Tongan Australian siblings and ARIA Hall of Famers, the first musicians of Pasifika heritage to be inducted. They began as backing singers before building success as a duo, a journey recounted in their memoir, No Bull, and an episode of Take 5 with Zan Rowe.

Their nomination recognises continued work, including Where Do You Come From?, their chart-topping ninth studio album, and more than 50 dates around the country in 2026. The OAM recipients have performed side by side for four decades, guided by the motto, "Sisters first, singers second." Double J’s shortlist gathers those distinct paths under one award, with the institution choosing who receives the final recognition.