Double J

Happy birthday Janet Jackson! The musician, actress, dancer, songwriter and member of pop music’s most successful family turns 60 today. Here’s some of our favourite Janet moments and eras. What’s yours?

It’s a big day for anniversaries! Beyond birthdays for albums by Eskimo Joe, Tool, and Missy Elliott (check our grid!) it’s cake and candles for these releases: Run DMC’s groundbreaking Raising Hell turns 40. Weezer’s third record, aka The Green Album, is 25. Phoenix’s second album It’s Never Been Like That is 20. KISS’s blockbuster fourth LP Destroyer is 50.

Dive into our full chat now via the Double J website.

As its intro instructs: “You don’t need drugs or weed” to enjoy the high of Missy Elliott’s third studio album, which turns 25 today. Miss E… So Addictive continued Missy’s fertile partnership with producer Timbaland; his bumping beats the perfect foil to her singing and rhyming skills celebrating sexual agency and singular style. From the bhangra-sampling instant classic Get Ur Freak On to the slinky One Minute Man and club-synth workout 4 My People, the record pushed boundaries without forgetting killer hooks. Along with a star roster of in-demand guests (Ludacris, Eve, Ginuwine, Wu-Tang’s Method Man and Redman - we could go on), Missy Elliott pulled hip hop and R&B into the 21st century by injecting it with a future-facing hit of club culture’s highs and feminist attitude. Earning two Grammy Awards, a #2 spot on the US charts, and buoyed by memorable, visually dynamic music videos, Miss E… was a commercial and critical success. But it was also an influential release that rewrote the rulebook, setting the sonic agenda for the 2000s and beyond. A quarter-century later, it still sounds fresh, and is arguably Missy Elliott at her creative, sexually-charged peak. What tracks are you still bumping? And where does the album take you back to?

There are revered rock albums. And then there’s Tool’s masterpiece third album Lateralus. The 2001 art-metal opus defied conventional commercial wisdom but made the L.A. quartet a chart-topping, arena-packing success, cementing them as the most popular and impactful heavy act of their generation. Lateralus ended a five-year wait between records (nothing compared to what Tool fans now endure) involving label and legal drama. None of those earthly concerns impressed upon the album’s cosmic density, presented alongside psychedelic artwork by Alex Grey and guitarist Adam Jones’ nightmarish music videos. Cuts like ‘Schism’, ‘The Grudge’ and two-parter ‘Parabol/Parabola’ elevated Tool’s specialty: sonic labyrinths built from monolithic grooves, devilishly complex rhythms and dissident atmospherics. Fresh from moonlighting with A Perfect Circle, Maynard James Keenan brought more melody and mysticism to lyrics probing the philosophical and spiritual. But also howling intensity (witness the larynx-shredding ‘Ticks & Leeches’ and ‘The Grudge’). Visceral yet intellectual, headbanging yet hypnotic, transcendental and transgressive, Lateralus stretched the CD format to its 79-min limit. An odyssey spanning modulated cat-chants, redacted alien transmissions and - most famously - a title track based on the Fibonacci sequence. Those heady ingredients would be mercilessly mocked by detractors (*cough* Pitchfork) but the fact remains there’s few capital A album experiences quite like it. Lateralus remains - 25 years on - arguably the band’s crowning achievement and a key reason Tool’s throne as heavy music’s brainiest, brawniest band remains unchallenged. What's your fave track and what memories does Laterlaus bring up?

The Avalanches have returned with their first new music since 2020’s Double J favourite We Will Always Love You. The Australian electronic music titans’ new single ‘Together’ is a collaboration featuring US producer Nikki Nair, Candian artist Jessy Lanza and Prentiss, a 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Mississippi. Built upon fizzy, videogame-y beats, child-like vocal melodies and samples of flashing bulbs, whirring drives, mouse clicks and a Toshiba advert, ‘Together’ has all of The Avalanches’ signature nostalgia and optimistic sentiment: “As long as we’re together, forever and ever and ever.” The track arrives alongside a video directed and animated by acclaimed Australian visual artist Jonathan Zawada, featuring an iPod and floppy disk strolling against an oscillating sunset. ‘Together’ follows the band teasing a new era via a fresh logo and fictional company called Takumi Digital Archives. The website features a number of easter eggs - fake magazines, adverts, a video game console - while their Instagram account features a short trailer with a witch cat mascot. It’s all a bit mysterious but another new piece of info is that The Avalanches’ current line-up is longtime members Robbie Chater, Tony Di Blasi and Andy Szekeres - the former Midnight Juggernauts member and collaborator who’s now officially inducted into the group. It’s been more than five years since We Will Will Always Love You, The Avalanches’ third album and Double J’s favourite album of the year. It followed on from 2016’s Wildflower and 2000’s groundbreaking debut Since I Left You.

Iron Maiden’s recipe for success wasn’t complex, but it was effective. Much the same can be said about Malcolm Venville’s new documentary Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition. As far as rock documentaries go, this is definitely one of them. The regular ingredients do their job: a parade of talking heads and oodles of archival footage tell a story we already know. The band is good. People love them. They have some troubles, but ultimately prevail. The film is at its best when it looks at what Iron Maiden did differently. Its 1984 trip to Poland, at a time when communist rule had outlawed outside media as radical as heavy metal, is a fascinating chapter in the band’s storied career. But the Iron Maiden documentary is as much about their fans as it is about the members of the band. Community is the bedrock of heavy metal, stronger than any blast beat or brutal breakdown. So, centring fan experiences in this story is smart. Some of the fans interviewed here are famous: Chuck D, Gene Simmons, Scott Ian, Tom Morello and Lars Ulrich. Most of them aren’t. But every one of them lights up when talking about their favourite band. Curious newcomers will get the most out of this, but that doesn’t mean the Iron Maiden faithful and broader metal community won’t have a hell of a good time watching it.

Kira Puru is known for their triple j Hottest 100-charting energetic pop music, but this year the musician has roles in not one, but two of the biggest Australian TV shows. What’s behind the pivot? Find out now via the link in our bio.

Got any plans the first weekend of October? How about unwinding your spine at Move My Way - a new festival hitting Sydney and Melbourne? Grounded in “comfort, connection and community”, this brand new one-dayer connects international acts and thriving local scenes over sounds spanning hip hop, R&B, jazz, soul and modern club culture. Presented by Astral People, the inaugural line-up is headlined by Mercury Prize winning quintet Ezra Collective, prolific rapper’s rapper Freddie Gibbs, Afrobeats innovators Kokoroko and Zambian-born rap-poet matriarch Sampa The Great. Other overseas jetting over include London-based singer-producer Qendresa; GENA - the new collaboration from esteemed drummer Karriem Riggins and genre-bender Liv.e; Manchester’s underground electronic stalwart Luke Una and trumpet-blowing DJ maestro Takukya Nakamura. Joining them will be young guns like Sydney’s self-described “Last Sonic Bender” - the visionary xmunashe and Aboriginal-Fijian rapper-producer Miles Nautu. Just after a boogie? You’re in very good hands with renowned selectors like NTS radio’s Coco María, podcaster/label head/BBC host Jamz Supernova, and DJ-brocaster Tash LC behind the decks. Plus, acclaimed Sydney promoters Planet Trip and Melbourne icon Northside Records will also host DJ takeovers in their respective cities. Move My Way takes place at Sydney’s Carriageworks on Gadigal Land, Saturday 3 October, then Melbourne’s PICA on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Land, Sunday 4 October. Tickets are on sale from Wednesday 20 May, 12pm AEST. Here’s the full line-up: Ezra Collective, Freddie Gibbs, Kokoroko, Sampa The Great, Qendresa, GENA (Liv.e & Karriem Riggins), Luke Una, Takuya Nakamura, Coco María, Jamz Supernova, Tash LC, Xmunashe, Miles Nautu, Mazzacles (Syd only), Rah (Melb only), Planet Trip: La Foxy Fuzz, Lu Faria, Laren Hansom, Mike Who, Ritual, Setwun, Sista Cini, Northside Records: Chris Gill, El Fuentes, Emelyne, Lori, Mike Gurrieri, Mothafunk, Stuckey

We're talking classics here, people!

This week on Live at the Wireless we’re heading to WOMADelaide, with a special recording from Obongjayar. It’s been a big few years for the Nigerian born, London based musician – he’s collaborated with artists like Little Simz and Fred again.., toured the world, and in 2025 he put out his critically-acclaimed second album Paradise Now. In this energetic set he’s in truly captivating form, transporting the packed out WOMAD crowd to joyful heights through his genre defying discography. Tune in to Live at the Wireless from 6pm Tuesdays, or catch it anytime after via @abclisten . 📸: Jim Dyson/Getty Images for ABA

What do you think of this week’s feature album, Sunshine For Happiness from Emma Louise? Dive deeper into the record now with our review via the Double J website, and catch the album spinning on-air all week.