Tastemaker label Unpopular Recordings has launched its first compilation, Fuckwave Vol. 1, featuring a selection of tracks from its dynamic roster, including Sex Mask, M2, Cellular, and Knife Tutorial. The label is the creation of music industry veterans Stephen “Pav” Pavlovic and Adrian McGruther. Pavlovic, widely known for founding Modular Recordings and bringing acts like Nirvana and Daft Punk to Australia, drew the label’s name from a 2022 exhibition showcasing his archive of rock memorabilia. McGruther, the founder of the artist management company su:yu:ka, joins Pavlovic to manage the label and breakthrough artists like Radio Free Alice and the fast-rising trio, Sex Mask.
Sex Mask, recently championed as “Australia’s next big export” by NME, contribute the driving new single “Girth” to the compilation. The track, a live favourite from the band’s recent packed-out EU/UK tour, elaborates on their unique lo-fi blend of 80s industrial, no-wave, and post-punk influences, hinting at a major 2026 for the group. The compilation also showcases a new release from Sex Mask frontman Wry Gray’s new project, Knife Tutorial, which delivers warped electronic arrangements and abrasive rapping, while his solo track closes the compilation on a more delicate note.
Elsewhere, the compilation highlights Unpopular’s broad eclecticism. Cellular’s track “i kinda like it” provides genre-fluid, autotune-tinted noise rock, contrasting with East London’s Humane The Moon, who offer gritty, kitchen-sink indie rock on “Agony.” The label’s range is further demonstrated by M2’s dancefloor-ready indie-pop club heater “M3,” and Rhed’s trip-hop inflected, psych-pop track “Rightway,” showcasing the diverse “fuckwave” sound.
Speaking on the compilation, Pavlovic emphasised the label’s ethos:
“there’s a rising tide of kids worldwide that don’t give two fucks about rules, genres, scenes or sounds, that in a way harks back to a time when post-punk, dub and disco were intertwined in the 80s, or when indie rock and dance music became bedfellows in the early 2000s. Unpopular is an outlet for these kinds of transgressive sounds and Fuckwave Vol. 1 is our first collected representation of that. It’s an assortment of sounds that doesn’t really belong anywhere but to us makes perfect sense together.”
