COLUMNS
Hip Hop
Electronic
Industry
WITH SOSE FUAMOLI
WITH SAMANTHA HOWARD
WITH CHRISTIE ELIEZER
Beyoncé’s gift, Kendrick’s record and Chance’s big day
Five hot local electronic releases of 2019 (so far)
Music festival report: we’re here for the beer
BEYONCE’S CURATED ALBUM FOR ‘THE LION KING’ IS
Australia’s electronic music scene is rich in talent and 2019 has been particularly golden for homegrown releases. In no particular order, here are five rad electronic artists who have released solid gems so far this year.
That music is now just part of the festival experience, and food and drinks are becoming a major drawcard, is obvious in the wider gourmet choices and range of sponsorships at Australian festivals. In the US, according to an Eventbrite survey, as high as 62 per cent go to a festival for the food, and 56 per cent won’t return if the food was crap. An American festival-goer will pay up to $57 more for a “unique food event”, up to $80 for millennials. In the UK, the Association of Independent Festivals reported that spending on food and drink at festivals jumped up 40 per cent between 2009 and 2018. In the UK, up to 61 per cent decide on whether to go to a music event depending on the food, said a 2018 report from business intelligence firm CGA Strategy. In Australia, beer was the most popular drink at music festivals in the past 12 months. Spirits and cocktails were at second place. The figures are from the Australian operations of global payments provider Square. Citing that 79 per cent of Aussie patrons prefer cards, Square crunched the numbers of card transactions at 100 events in the period. These included Bluesfest, Laneway, Splendour and Spilt Milk.
STACKED, PEOPLE
Now, Beyoncé doesn’t do things by halves, we all know this. With the remake of The Lion King now out and doing its thing, Queen Bey has fans even more excited with the unveiling of her specially curated record, The Lion King: The Gift. The full track list includes a number of powerhouse names including hubby Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Pharrell Williams. Younger trailblazers like Tierra Whack and Saint Jhn also appear. There’s even a spot for Blue Ivy Carter on the record, with Beyoncé’s daughter appearing on the track entitled ‘Brown Skin Girl’. “I wanted to put everyone on their own journey to link the storyline,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “Each song was written to reflect the film’s storytelling that gives the listener a chance to imagine their own imagery, while listening to a new contemporary interpretation.”
MIDNIGHT TENDERNESS – REFRESCO
With a deliciously lush EP that sounds exactly like his name, the other half of Turner Street Sounds (a two-piece with Rings Around Saturn) has given us a grouse four-piece record to suit any kind of mood. Midnight Tenderness can usually be found spreading his good vibes on Skylab Radio, but the magical Refresco EP – released on local label Ken Oath Records – means you can soak up his oneof-a-kind groovy baselines and glistening boogie beats whenever you want. HYBRID MAN – LYREBIRD
The talented duo consisting of Julien Huynh and Will Holden have been delighting dancefloors all around town with impressive hardware-based shows. Lyrebird, their new EP released on Paper Cuts, will undoubtedly nourish every last cell in your body. Think ethereal space vibes mixed with fast and deep-shimmering celestial synths. NICE GIRL – HIM006 KENDRICK LAMAR’S ‘GOOD KID, M.A.A.D CITY’ NOW SHARES A RECORD WITH EMINEM
Easily one of K-Dot’s most beloved records, good kid, m.A.A.d city has now celebrated an epic 350 weeks on the Billboard Chart. It’s the second hiphop album to reach such a milestone, following Eminem’s 2002 release, The Eminem Show. Released in 2012, good kid, m.A.A.d city was a gamechanger for Lamar. His sophomore album, the follow up to 2011’s Section 80, saw the Compton rapper flex his rhythmic flow in a gritty and brilliantly entertaining manner. Featuring guest spots from Dr. Dre and Jay Rock amongst others, the record has most certainly remained a favourite among Lamar’s fanbase even as he ventured into Pulitzer Prize winning territory. DETAILS ABOUT CHANCE THE RAPPER’S LONG AWAITED DEBUT ALBUM EMERGE
Talk about a long time coming. Chance The Rapper will finally be releasing his first studio album this month. Entitled The Big Day, the album will be released on Friday July 26. Appearing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon recently, Chance The Rapper dropped the news and the official cover art. “I’ve been waiting to make an album for a long time,” he told The Source earlier this year. “The process has been just me being back in the studio all the time. Just making two songs a day. And trying to have fun.” Of course, we’ve already heard ‘Groceries’ from the album, featuring TisaKorean and Murda Beatz, and Chance’s mentor, Kanye West, is one of the album’s other confirmed guests.
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The Kiwis that make their way over to Melbourne and immerse themselves in the city’s electronic music scene always bring solid vibes and excellent music taste. Nice Girl, also known as Ruby Kerkhofs, goes one big step further with the production of her epic debut release, HIM006, for local label, Houses in Motion. The dreamy floating vocals over intricate percussion create a wide contrast to the ambient synth drones and dark acid flicks and riffs across tracks, resulting in an incredibly diverse record. HORATIO LUNA – PRINT IT, RUN IT, SEND IT
Horatio Luna is the king of experimental jazz-electronic. You never know what will come out of the sporadic man whose cosmic sound stems from a history of jazz mixed with Detroit house. The bass player of 30/70 – the local band picked up by notorious UK label Rhythm Section – has released an improvisational EP titled Print It, Run It, Send It, with a sound as good as a live gig. SUI ZHEN – PERFECT PLACE
Sui Zhen has got to be one of the strangest electronic personalities in Australia, but that’s why we love her. Zhen’s music is perfect for when you crave something a bit more obscure, boppy, light and fruity. Her recent single, ‘Perfect Place’, is a fabulous introduction to her upcoming album, Losing, Linda. Zhen’s post-punk sound mixed with indie-synths will be a freshy to the ears.
Says Square, beer made up 33 per cent of total sales in five states. Spirits and cocktails were 22 per cent, premix drinks 17 per cent, non-alcoholic beverages 12 per cent, cider 11 per cent, and wine only a surprising low 5 per cent. Beer was consumed mostly until 3pm, when it made up 51 per cent of total sales. Between 6pm and midnight, spirits and cocktails made up 45 per cent of total drinks sold. Victoria consumed 33 per cent of beer, while its favoured cocktail was the espresso martini (nationally it was vodka and Red Bull). The other beer guzzlers were NSW (43 per cent), Queensland (60 per cent), WA (34 per cent) and Tasmania (76 per cent). However, South Australians consumed 39 per cent spirits and cocktails (mostly gin and tonics) and the ACT went hard on the premixes at 37 per cent. Average spend on beer nationally was just under $9, with the spend on spirits, cocktails and premixed drinks at around $12 each. The average Aussie spend on food and drinks via card in a day at a festival is $60, with a further 20 per cent spending more than $100. There were big spenders, too, with one punter splashing out $3600 on one day. The average national spend on food was just over $14 for a burger, pizza or salad, with hot dogs and sandwiches at $10. Price sensitivity varied by state: the average NSW spend was $4 more for burgers and $4 more for their beer than those in Queensland, who spent the least.