Songs You Should Know: Bud Rokesky

Today, Australian alt-country favourite Bud Rokesky releases his highly anticipated sophomore album Dusk via Rainbow Valley Records / Warner Music Australia.

The 14 track record is a world-building body of work co-produced by Bud and serves as an impressive follow up to the acclaimed 2023 debut album Outsider.

“The album is called Dusk because it’s about endings,” says Bud Rokesky. “There are so many endings that happen throughout it”. The endings in question refer to both relationships and life itself; they refer to the environment, and the lives of the fictional characters that inhabit the record. There are ghosts in this album, both literal and metaphorical; and there are very real accounts of the average, everyday events that make up and, crucially, shake up a life, and the bittersweet personal growth that ensues.

Fleet Foxes - Wading in Waist-High Water

I love the song’s complexity but structural simplicity. I’ve tried to choose songs that are from great albums as a whole. Every Fleet Foxes album is magic.

Joel Alme - I Never Said I Was Brave

Joel is my friend’s cousin in Sweden. We visited Joel in our teens and it was a monumental part of our lives. His music is the soundtrack to that time, while this song in particular probably showed me that being emotionally vulnerable is okay.

Sun Kil Moon - Duk Koo Kim

One of my favourite songs of all time. I think if my inner world had to be described using just sound, this would be it. 

Mdou Moctar - Tala Tannam

So much to love about this love song. The timing, the atmosphere, the singing and guitars- I love the places my mind goes when listening. I got my love of “world” music from my Mum.

The Fureys - Oro, Oro

I got my love of Irish music from my Dad, and probably genetics too. Nothing but the warmest memories when I hear it. I also love songs about work for some reason, probably more to do with craving purpose than anything.

Dead Kennedys - Moon Over Marin

Maybe the most important song- written from the perspective of someone in the future, wistfully unaware of how beautiful nature was in a world they weren’t alive for. We’re likely living the same, thinking we know nature’s beauty while a lot of it is already gone without us knowing what it was like.

Suze DeMarchi - Satellite Live From The Panel

This song takes me right back to that sweet spot in history between 1st January 2000 and September 11th 2001, when the world was blissfully optimistic and I was discovering what I liked about “modern alternative culture”. Suze’s vical and Dave’s guitar performance here on The Panel could be one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Ricky Ross - I Love You

In terms of incredible songwriters and people, Ricky Ross is one of my favourites. The distance of limb he went out on with this album “New Recording” is pure exposed honesty and I have nothing but the most respect for him, more than any other artist.

The Jezabels - Rosebud

This is tough to put in a sentence or two- the band, the sound and atmosphere, the emotion and Hayley Mary’s vocals, the production and writing is all… I don’t have a word for it. “Prisoner” is another great whole album and Hayley has to be one of the best voices in music.

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

I don’t know if Mum was a fan or Dad was a fan, but I think I was born knowing who Joni Mitchell was. We named our youngest Daughter after her and when we brought her home from the hospital I played this album all day. I love this song because it suggests that even after seeing life, love, and beauty from multiple perspectives, we (hopefully) realise our understanding is only partial and uncertain.

Tim Maia - Réu Confesso

While he’s pleading to be forgiven and accepted back from a breakup, which he’s admitting is his fault, I don’t think it has to be about a romantic relationship. It could be about a spiritual, family, or personal relationship with yourself. Either way this is actually my resignation song- when things aren’t going well or everything seems against me, I put this song on and dance until I accept what’s going on and everything feels ok again.