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Photo Credit: Kamil Szczucki
‘Together’ is the latest progressive house track from Perth artist, Solsta. It features electronic songstress BEXX on vocals and follows on from his 2020 singles ‘Everything’, ‘Falling’ and ‘Want You’.
“The track came together so smoothly. I instantly fell in love with the vocal effect BEXX put over the drop and her voice really complements the production. I’d have to say I’m really impressed and proud of how the vocals flow from the verse to build to chorus. The vocal swells and harmonies really work to drive the track forward and build this sense of momentum when paired with the various synths and other instruments I used. The track just constantly moves and pushes forward in such a gorgeous, lush way.”
Solsta
With comparisons to Golden Features and Rufus Du Sol, ‘Together’ showcases why the Australian dance community is in formidable shape, with this track fusing Solsta’s love of trance, house and progressive synths. ‘Together’ was recorded and mixed at Solsta’s home studio in Perth and mastered at Dark Arts Mastering by Mike Bell.
Discussing the genesis of the track, Solsta says “Together was born from my first piece of analog gear, the moog grandmother. The day it arrived I plugged it in and just jammed, figuring out its nuances and imperfections. It was second hand so a couple of the knobs were a bit wonky and fucked up but this gave it a unique touch. I honestly wrote the skeleton of the song in about 2 hours and then just polished it off over a couple more days.”
Teaming up with BEXX on the track evolved from a discussion with one of the producers Jeremy Palais, with Solsta further adding “We sat through and listened to some of my demos and talked about the direction the Solsta project was heading. He linked me up with BEXX straight after and we’ve been creating music since. I sent her the demo for Together and she hit me back up the next day with that stutter effect over the drop and i couldn’t believe how perfectly it suited the track, we continued to work on the rest of the vocals over the next week as Perth was in lockdown and it came together effortlessly. Her vocal and production style is unique to herself and I feel it really compliments the direction the Solsta project is headed.”
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Photo Credit: Tim Lambert
One of Melbourne’s favourite punk rock groups is back, delivering the first in a string of releases for this year – Clowns with ‘Does It Matter?’. Released on the band’s own label – Damaged – ‘Does It Matter?’ is pointed and melodic at the same time. It’s an easy track to get taken up by and as the band’s first hit of new music since 2019’s Nature/Nurture album, ‘Does It Matter?’ lands at the perfect time.
Time to get reintroduced to a proper crew of legends, time to get revved up again for Clowns!
Setting out to write ‘the most Clowns song that had ever existed’, the band have created a belter that encapsulates the best of their already dynamic sound. There’s punk, garage, anarchic energy; mixed in with some big sing along moments poised to rile their fans up.
“Does it matter if I steal a car from my yuppie neighbours front yard, and use it to drive through the door of the casino and steal a bunch of money? Opinions are like arseholes, here’s mine: NO! This song is about breaking the law. We all do it sometimes – and if you say you don’t then chances are you are a liar or a coward. “ Clowns
For fans of the band, ‘Does It Matter?’ marks a change in the Clowns sound. Working with US song writer & producer Matt Squire (Panic! At The Disco, Ariana Grande), Clowns welcomed some outside writing influence into their process: something they had not done previously.
Written last year, ‘Does It Matter’ became an international project, with the band and Squire working on the track from Melbourne and on the other side of the globe, where Squire is based in Baltimore.
Recording the track at Melbourne’s Red Door Studios with award winning engineer Woody Annison (The Living End), Clowns found themselves exploring some new sonic territory, with more pop and cleaner rock influences coming into play.
“It’s cleaner than any Clowns song has ever been, and the sense of melody is stronger than it’s ever been. This time we focused on using our own equipment, which we use to tour and rehearse, which gives the listener a purer image of what the song will sound like in a live context. Annison certainly helped polish a fresh and new take on our existing sound responsible for this track’s listenability, making it comparatively easier on the ears, however still maintaining the same raw energy of our practiced ‘thrash about’ playing style. You can take the band out of the punk studio, but you can’t take the punk out of the band.” Clowns
PRAISE FOR CLOWNS
“I have no doubt, Clowns will one day get the recognition they deserve for punk music in this country, until such time, I’ll keep telling all in sundry how fucking good they are! Get on board!”
Wall Of Sound
“It’s hard to argue against Clowns not creating one of the best rock – not just punk – albums of the year.”
Rolling Stone
“Clowns solidify the notion that they are not to be a band to be confined by genre boundaries.”
Heavy Magazine
“The perfect example of what hard work and a handy dose of wit can do if you stick to your guns.”
The Age
“…a record of real circumspection and depth. This reminds me of the kind of intellectual thunder you get from a band like Fucked Up.”
4ZZZ
“What pretty much started as Australia’s answer to The Bronx back in 2010, has since evolved into one of Down Under’s most adventurous exports…”
Punk Rock Theory
LISTEN
‘Does It Matter?’ is released Wednesday 12th May
Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Triple J Unearthed
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Multi-talented singing, song-writing and dancing machine, ALIA, has announced the release of her highly anticipated self-titled debut EP, cementing a new era of ALIA as an artist.
A star in the making, as the daughter of the highly acclaimed RnB soul singing and bass playing legend, Doug Williams, music is truly in ALIA’s blood. She has performed all over Australia at iconic venues as well as on a global stage along-side international artists including Craig David and Nelly Furtado.
ALIA is no stranger to the music industry, she has previously released hit records as a member of all girl group Fox Fire 4 whilst signed to Village Roadshow. Last year, ALIA celebrated two number 1 records, Only Now and Victim on the iTunes Dance charts under the guidance and production of Jonny Sonic from The Potbelleez.
ALIA brings a fresh sound and new direction to her own music and live shows as a solo artist. Through her new EP, she aims to draw her listeners to the insight of the core nature of their existence, self-evolution, and love.
The EP was produced by the highly acclaimed Phil Anquetil (Little Mix, One Direction, Tinie Tempah) who is a veteran in the music industry and has drawn inspiration from rock bands such as Evanescence, Paramore and Guns n Roses, along with the pop influences of artists such as Pink and Rihanna.
Made up of tracks including her current single Calling Me – “to be called” to your true purpose. Forever, to understand the ultimate test of human strength; Just Love Me a bonus track in which ALIA sings about releasing old feelings and coming to terms with heartbreak and You’re The Song, a playful, fun tune that describes and embodies the mood and feelings of summer love.
“It’s time that live music graced our ears again and the element of live instruments and performance makes a commercial come-back!” says ALIA
ALIA has reinvented her style, image and artistry to evolve into a glam-rock goddess, transforming her sound into a pop/grunge fusion that will leave the listener craving more.
ALIA’s debut EP will be released this Friday, 14 May 2021
To pre-save click HERE
For more information on ALIA visit www.aliasound.com
Listen to ALIA on Spotify
Follow ALIA:
“Vice City II” leaves no doubt that as one of Australia’s premiere live acts, The Southern River Band are more than able to translate that raw power into the confines of the studio, producing one of their most inspired singles to date.
When The Southern River band released “Vice City 1” back in 2018, their reputation as a wild rocking outfit was only just starting to spread around their home state, since then their sophomore studio album Rumour & Innuendo and tours with the likes of The Darkness, Cold Chisel and sold out headline shows right around the country have proven that Aussie rock is in the safest of hands.
“Vice City II” finds leader Cal Kramer and The Southern River Band exercising their expansive song writing chops, railing against the confines of genre and creating a future classic in the process. Guitar harmonies, massive hooks and totally off the chain solos are just a few of the sights and sounds travellers will encounter on their journey into Vice City.
Cal Quote Here – “Man, picture this – Peak lockdown, the virus takes hold, doesn’t let go. Hang on a minute, that’s it! It needs to grab you from the word go, then not let up till it’s finished. That’s Vice City II. We should put that in the press release’
The Southern River Band launch Vice City II with two WA shows, at The Prince of Wales in Bunbury on the 28th of May, then at The Ravenswood Hotel on May 29th.
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Liberation Records are excited to share the new single from upsidedownhead ‘higher ft. Ric Rufio’. upsidedownhead (aka Ross James) is joined by fellow Sydney-based singer, song-writer, multi-instrumentalist and frequent Flight Facilities collaborator, Ric Rufio whose anthemic vocals soar over the track’s titanic beat and cinematic production.
“‘higher’ is an ode to that little smile when the good guy wins. It’s an ode to that feeling that you could take on the world when you walk out of the movies riding that high. It’s an anthem that was written with the purpose to create euphoria in all that listen to it…”
– Ross James (upsidedownhead)
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Hey Up – Where are you right now?
I’m in London right now looking out my window drawing some inspiration from the world and what I see and feel to write more material.
What are you early experiences with music? How have they led you to where you are now?
The first time I ever sang was in a church when I was 14 for a couple school friends who played in a band at their local church in South London. I was handed a mic and was told to just sing and freestyle over the soulful jazzy R&B-type vibe they were playing at the time and yeah, I’ve been singing ever since. After some time, I went on to sing in an R&B group inspired by Jodeci, Dru Hill, H-Town and a lot of 90’s HipHop & R&B artists. After that, I went on to sing in multiple electronic bands which is a style of music I love, having grown up in London where electronic music was always big over here. Everything from drum n bass to house music was always around when I was young. To this day I’m inspired by old school garage and based my early style on Groove Chronicles who made both of my favourite garage tunes back in the day: ‘Stonecold’ and ‘We Get Down’. When I heard them sample Aaliyah or Mariah Carey over that London sound that Groove Chronicles had back then, I knew that soulful 90’s vocals work smooth over electronic music – like ‘Talk to Me You’ll Understand’ by Ross From Friends.
You’ve now released singles ‘Better Tomorrow’ and ‘Songbird’, what influenced the sound and song writing here?
My writing as well as producing comes from nothing but feeling and deep emotions that are sometimes buried deep at the back of my heart and mind. ‘Better Tomorrow’ was written on the basis of the title, wishing everyone and everything a brighter future through the dark times we go through in life. ‘Songbird’ is about love of course and sharing that special moment with the one you truly love. For me there is no better feeling than true love.
What does it mean to you to be able to share your music since your debut?
Through my previous experiences in music being in bands and groups it’s quite scary at first releasing anything because I’m solo now. But through the love I’ve been receiving and the support… it’s a beautiful feeling.
Can you tell us a bit more about your recording and production process?
I use Ableton Live to produce and usually base my production around a warm pad or melody that makes me feel like I’m flying. Ha! Growing up my favourite superhero was Silver Surfer so whenever I’m producing music, If, it makes me feel like I’m Silver Surfer and I’m gliding through the galaxy across the universe I know I’m on the right track. Then yeah, I punch it all in and then the drums come last for me. Same for recording vocals, I like to sit and be relaxed with dimmed lights to set the mood while I record.
Who are your influences and who are you currently listening to? Is there anybody you aspire to?
I’ve been inspired by early N.E.R.D., Tyler the Creator, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Curtis Mayfield. From Roy Ayers to Sampha, from James Blake to Frank Ocean, I can go on and on… I’m currently listening to a lot of Sade, as well as Janet Jackson, Saba and a new artist called Jenevieve… her track ‘Medallion’ is my favourite song of hers. Oh, and just a lot of early 90’s hip hop, that stuff is always on rotation.
Is there anything else you like to do away from music?
Outside of music I love to skateboard… I mean street skate, no skate parks just yet, I can’t do tricks and all that. I just like to cruise the streets.
What’s your plans for the rest of the year?
My plan for the rest of the year is to continue writing new material for my first full-length album for next year. I make music every day and also do a bit of writing for other artists. I’m forever working on my craft and trying to evolve into the artist I’ve always envisioned myself as.
Tell us something interesting about yourself, that people wouldn’t know.
I was an academy football player when I was a kid. I played for Watford for 3 years and Fulham for 2. I got released after 5 years of some great memories of my life and now I still coach kids and teach them everything I know and learned when I was playing.
Anything else you’d like to share?
In addition to the singles, I’m releasing on streaming platforms, I finished a 14-song mixtape called ‘The VagueTape’ that I’ve been drip-releasing on my YouTube and Soundcloud channels, one track every 3-4 weeks. The Tape is all new songs I wrote over some of my favourite Hip Hop & Lo Fi House beats spanning the past 20 years. It actually started out as a kinda joke, but I wound up vibing out 75% of the songs in one evening. I just dropped the latest instalment ‘Trust In You (Aquamarine)’ last Friday.
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TRACKLIST
Life Like?
Yonkers
Truth Be Told
Hip Hop
Frogskins
Shit Blood
Things Stuff
No Work
The Crown feat. foghornleghornn
Sexy Jawn
Shit’n Me
Friendship
Hungover14. Pimpin & Simpin
Wiki: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp
NAH: Website | Instagram | Bandcamp
Where are you currently based?
I live in Melbourne.
How did you first start playing music?
I started playing Violin when I was 3 years old and then picked up piano when I was 4 (my parents are musicians).
What’s been happening recently?
Well I’ve just been really focusing on releasing this single for the last couple of weeks. But prior to that my other band Juno Disco just put out a new song called ‘Dreamin’, and now the film I’ve been working on is in post-production so I’ll be working on finishing up the score. So a lot to keep me busy!
Your new single ‘Think It’s Time To Get A Job’ is out now, what influenced the sound and songwriting?
The song is primarily influenced by the Aphex Twin track ‘Iz-Us’ and ‘Older’ by Australian band Parcels. I was playing around on this synth and found a sound very similar to the one used by Aphex Twin. Once I found the sound, the chord progression of the song just wrote itself and I’d finished it in five minutes. I often find that a particular sound will really inspire me and is generally the basis of how I write music.
I had been really into Parcels earlier this year and loved their vocal harmonies and found they were very influenced by one of my favourite bands ‘The Whitest Boy Alive’ (who are sadly no longer around). You can definitely hear the Parcels influence in the ‘What Changed, Just Stay The Same” response in the chorus.
How did you go about writing the track?
Lyrically I was a bit intimidated by my previous record as the lyrics were super revealing and I was unsure how to follow that up. I found that being super revealing worked really well and I had produced my best work by doing that. So I decided to dig a bit deeper into my past, to a time where I wasn’t releasing Albert Salt music and decided to get a full time job. This really crippled me artistically. I found having so much free time and putting out a record again last year completely re energised me and gave me focus on what I should be doing. But yeah the core of the song is really about that moment that so many people have where they question their dreams and think to themselves “Maybe it’s time to get a real job?”
Where and when did you record/produce/master and who did you work with?
I track everything at home in my studio, then I send it to my Juno Disco bandmate/production wizard Nick Bond to mix and play around with. He then sends the mix back and then it goes to industry legend Joseph Carra to be mastered. And while that’s all happening my stupidly talented filmmaker/photographer/artist/
It’s the same approach as what I did with ’25 Not Doing Alright’ and I just love how it works. I’m extremely fortunate to work with these incredibly talented people that elevate the material to another level.
How did you approach the recording process?
A little bit differently, I don’t do this very often but I wrote the core of the song before recording it. Like a real songwriter. It’s always fun to mix up songwriting and recording processes as it generally gives you an alternate perspective on things.
What programs/equipment did you use?
I use Logic as my DAW to record everything. I use a Neumann TLM 103 into either a Scarlett 6i6 or Apogee Duet interface to record Vocals, Violin, Percussion. The Aphex Twin synth was done on the Arturia V Collection CZ V (I actually have the synth that this is based on but needs to be serviced). And then most of the other synth parts were recorded on my trusty Prophet 08 and the bass was done on the Behringer Model-D (controversial). Oh and there’s a bit of Juno-106 in there at the end and some Arturia V mellotron pianos and clav thrown in there as well. The drum parts are all done with Sequential Circuits Drumtrax samples. And I think that’s pretty much it.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
One of my favourite Australian band’s I’lls have reunited with a different project called Armlock. They’ve put 2 tracks so far ‘Power Of A Waterfall’ and ‘Turf War’ which are amazing and I’d highly recommend checking out. Let me have a look at my Spotify history. MF DOOM, Ravyn, Lenae, Boards Of Canada, PJ Harvey, Bibio, Beastie Boys, Steely Dan, Tribe Called Quest, Kings Of Convenience and of course my favourite podcast ‘The Weekly Planet’.
What do you like to do away from music?
Watching movies, cooking, having a bloody beer and going for a run.
Please tell us about working across both your solo project, side-project Juno Disco and scoring your first feature film:
A lot of work! It’s really great being able to do so many different things musically.
You produce your own film clips, how did this come about?
I started doing this in lockdown last year, making videos for covers I was doing and then eventually videoclips and ads for my music.
I absolutely love it! I approach it very similarly to how I make music and the fact that filmmaking tech has advanced so much means I can kind of experiment and shoot things and just airdrop it to my computer in a second and play around with it in Final Cut while I’m still shooting. I find it an extremely creative process almost like painting or something as it’s all kind of happening at the same time there’s no traditional pre-production/production/
What’s planned for 2021?
Finishing the film is next on the Agenda, there’s a Juno EP on the cards and of course put out more Salty music!!!
Favourite food and place to hangout?
Leonard’s House Of Love hands down.
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On the heels of May Day, coupled with sample of the (Russian translated) French anthem, “L’Internationale,” Rise Against releases The Numbers, the lead-off track from the band’s upcoming album, Nowhere Generation, due out June 4 (Loma Vista Records). Accompanying the release is a defiant visual, encapsulating the spirit of “L’Internationale,” a song that has been an anthem for working people since the late nineteenth century.
The visual for The Numbers was conceived and directed by Indecline, the American Activist Collective comprised of graffiti writers, filmmakers, photographers, full-time rebels, and activists. Indecline’s projects focus on social, ecological and economical injustices carried out by American and International governments, corporations, and law enforcement agencies.
“The Numbers has given our collective another opportunity not only to work with a band we’ve looked to for inspiration since their early records, but also a chance to create the kind of strong visual content that aims to inspire and educate. Beyond simply showcasing global protest movements, this video is to serve as a reminder that we are all living in a golden age of resistance and need to use our privileges to commit ourselves to wholeheartedly pulling the rope in the opposite direction. Or, to put it more bluntly, don’t be like your parents’ generation. Give a fuck and prove it.” — INDECLINE
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As if to underline that exact point, Simz steps behind the camera for the very first time to direct the sumptuous video. Filmed in lush, almost iridescent Technicolour tones and featuring an array of stunning cameos, Simz creates a glamorous yet sharply modern Utopia; an army of immaculately dressed, unapologetically powerful women (Jourdan Dunn, Joy Crookes and Denai Moore among them) in a rambling country estate, coolly getting things done and running the world, all the while looking effortlessly flawless to boot. The casting was not incidental – every woman in the video has personal significance to Simz, from her own cousins, Paij and Caroline, to her friend of 15 years, model Sienna King, to the likes of Zeze Millz and Kesewa Aboah, creating a moving, united front of sisterhood. The resultant video is a feast for the senses that hits on visual, social and emotional levels, and just another reason to get very, very excited indeed about what else Little Simz has in store this year.
‘Woman ft. Cleo Sol‘ is out now, buy/stream it here.
LITTLE SIMZ
SOMETIMES I MIGHT BE INTROVERT
Out September 3rd
Age 101
Pre-order HERE
TRACKLIST
Introvert
Woman ft. Cleo Sol
Two Worlds Apart
I Love You, I Hate You
Little Q Pt 1 (Interlude)
Little Q Pt 2
Gems (Interlude)
Speed
Standing Ovation
I See You
The Rapper That Came to Tea (Interlude)
Rollin Stone
Protect My Energy
Never Make Promises (Interlude)
Point and Kill ft. Obongjayar
Fear No Man
The Garden (Interlude)
How Did You Get Here
Miss Understood
Stay connected with Little Simz:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
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