Strange New Past by Seth Sentry

Strange New Past, Seth Sentry's second album, arrived in June 2015 and climbed to number two on the ARIA Charts, a big moment for the rapper born Seth Marton, who grew up in Sorrento, Melbourne, and came through battle competitions and weekly hip-hop nights in Fitzroy before Triple J picked up on him.

It's a more grown-up record than his 2012 debut This Was Tomorrow, still quick-witted and cheeky but willing to point that wit at real things. The standout is "Violin", where he lays bare his feelings about a mother who wasn't there, and it gives the whole album an ache the jokes never quite cover. It won Best Urban Album at the 2015 ARIA Music Awards, and "Hell Boy" was the cut that turned up on the countdowns.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.