Two electronic architects from the Blue Mountains planted a lasting milestone in the sonic highway when HyperParadise won the eighth annual Australian Music Prize in 2012. In a historically beer-fisted rock nation, Hermitude’s progressive scratch-funk sojourn sealed a late-blooming hip-hop revolution with taste, skill, and panoramic vision. Luke “Dubs” Dubber and Angus “Elgusto” Stuart had been cultivating the project for more than a decade before HyperParadise became their breakthrough, with the title track even earning a remix from a young Flume. Yet, it was no fluke, as 2015’s Dark Night Sweet Light achieved gold sales and spawned a platinum single in the soulful, guests-bolstered “The Buzz.” The duo have always known how to select engaging collaborators—starting from their early joints with rappers like Urthboy, Ozi Batla, and Joelistics—and they have increasingly cast a larger net. American rapper Buddy and R&B star BJ the Chicago Kid sound right at home basking in the ultra-smooth future funk of 2019’s “Onefourthree,” while Perth Afropop artist Adrian Dzvuke blends his high, urgent vocals into the stuttered dance pop of 2025’s “Royalty.”