Jim Hall – The guitarist who has influenced my playing and approach the most. His work in the 1960’s with Bill Evans and Sonny Rollins is still the stuff I go to when I want to learn something new about the guitar. Recommended Listening: All Across the City – Bill Evans and Jim Hall

Parveen Sultana – A vocalist of the North Indian classical tradition. Her voice is intensely powerful and mesmerising. Sometimes the tone doesn’t sit right with the unaccustomed ear, but if one knows what to listen out for her performances are sublime. Her soul shines through on her recordings. Along with Buddahdev DasGupta she is one of my favourite North Indian performers. Recommended recording: Raga Gujri Todi – live from Savai Gandharva Music Festival 1992 – Parveen Sultana (or whatever you can find, her recordings can be tricky to locate)

Lester Young – “Prez” a long time collaborator with another one of my absolute musical loves, Billie Holiday. Lester Young pulls a beautiful tone from the Tenor Sax, and his improvisational approach is rather minimal and to the point. I transcribed a bit of his playing in my student days. He’s deeply connected to a blues tradition but is highly original in his approach to improvisation and jazz. Recommended Listening: Lester Young with The Oscar Peterson Trio

Stella Donnely – A fantastic songwriter who is blowing up at the moment. She seems to be touring like crazy. Her songs are so good, and she’s got an incredible voice too. I cried when I listened to Boys Will Be Boys for the first time. It’s such an unambiguous song and it’s so powerful. Lyrics that don’t rely on metaphor or wordplay too much really speak to me. In saying that, the aforementioned song has this beautifully simple and kind of funny line: “Like a mower in the morning, I will never let you rest” sung with a delicate intensity which I just love. Recommended listening: Thrush Metal – Stella Donnely

Caterina Barbieri – Intense electronica from Berlin via Italy. In her words is “a…composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object-oriented perception in sound through a focus on minimalism” Her latest album Born Again In The Voltage is a monster of modular synthesis, an avant-garde jungle of sound. She came out to Australia with William Basinski recently, but they didn’t come up to Brisbane so I missed out unfortunately. Recommended listening: Born Again in the Voltage – Caterina Barbieri

In full bloom, Milk Buttons are following up their highly acclaimed debut EP with six explosive, golden yellow alt/ psych-rock tracks in this sophomore EP, ‘Daffodil’ (out March 22)

2018 had Milk Buttons planting the seed for this EP with their colorful, kaleidoscopic singles – ‘Cosmic Garbage’ released in August and ‘Some Impression’ released in November – where their psychedelic tones and textured sounds had audiences unanimously absorbed.