If you were/are an artist in this vicious machine we call music, how would you gauge your success? Do the constant turning cogs influence your direction or the pulling chains keep you grounded? How do you retain your beautiful passion for creating something from nothing and at what point does recognition become important to the recipe? Between lawsuits, competition and rap ‘beefs’ I feel like the world is a little doom and gloom at the moment. In these dark times I went to one of the brightest, most audibly colourful musicians I know, discussing development, transition and ridiculous success. She’s unwavering in her perspective (and straight up quality tunes), miss Alice Ivy talks to me on her “day off” about new single Be Friends, your introduction to summer.
"I haven’t had a day off in ages so today’s the day for getting things done," Ivy says.
"I’ve started a few new things… some remixes… I don’t really have days where I do nothing or don’t touch music. I’m always busy and have something to do."
We clearly have very different concepts of ‘days off'.
If you’re a stranger to Ivy, I can assure you she offers an explorative soundscape to electronic influenced hip hop… or maybe its hip hop influenced electronic. I don’t want to brand something that isn’t my own. Alice, what do you call your sound?
"Originally I would have said like… soul/hip hop," she responds.
"But I feel like I’m transitioning more into the electronic world with a sort of a throwback feel. Most of the stuff I’m writing these days is synth based when, back in the day it was more sampled. I’ve always tried to achieve creating a big collage of sound, that’s still the number one priority.'
The multi-instrumentalist is so engaging when she speaks. As if she’s a story-teller and can’t wait to get to the good bits. After playing Splendour this year, touring with Urthboy & Joyride, selling out her own headline shows and most recently signing with Dew Process, I wonder where it all came about…
"In high school I used to play in a 25-piece all-girl soul band. We played Motown and soul covers and actually toured Europe a few times playing dope shows like Porretta Soul Festival (north of Tuscany) where Al Green headlined. I was part of this program that gave great opportunity through auditions. I got to play Port Fairy Folk Festival in the Guiness tent aged 15, a 3pm set! So I guess I learnt a lot from that, touring, sound checks, line checks you know, the whole live performance scene.
'Eventually I got forced to use Ableton Live and initially, I hated it. I studied music industry where I had an assignment of creating a remix... I remember looking at J (J) Dilla clips on Youtube with our lecturer, hearing how sampling works and how you can manipulate sounds and create a soundscape. I played with this Marvin Gaye sample (Inner City Blues) and I really loved it! Maybe that’s where it started.'
Last week, Chali 2na told me about “Bubblegum rappers.” How artists nowadays are more interested in how music looks than sounds. He noted that hip hop producers don’t sample like they used to. Is that something you take into account in your production?
"I think people are much less inclined to sample these days because of these horror stories we hear everywhere," Ivy suggests.
"Uptown Funk or just last week Chance the Rapper was sued for a jazz sample he used years ago. People are like 'shit I don’t want to get sued!' But I see sampling as an art. It’s a form of music... I mean, that’s where hip hop was born!
"I understand the producers point of view but I’m also deeply saddened that it’s not something that’s easily accepted in our society now. There’s an argument for plagiarism for example, but I believe artistically it can be an ingredient, an intrinsic part of a much bigger picture like an audible mosaic. I think it would be a real shame to avoid something like sampling just to play it safe."
Regardless of your genre it’s important we recognise the difference between copyright and its infringement (aka plagiarism). Copyright is merely the ownership of intellectual property. To recognise, credit and seek permission for ‘use’ is completely fine. You can sample, cover, remix, re-imagine, re-anything but, there is a legal model to adhere to.
Check it, if I want to re-invent the Big Mac, why not give it a go? Maybe I can make it taste like something more than an old beige sponge. But to say I invented the Big Mac – plagiarism. To profit off my new Big Mac without credit/remuneration to the original franchise – infringement. So as a result, I don’t’ have a Big Mac at all. Safer sure, but seems a shame to miss out on something that could make the world a whole lot… tastier.
"I think there 100% needs to be more education on how to do it," Ivy says.
"I also think it’s really important to understand the sample, know it’s background and where it’s from. It could be controversial in a way that offends people… producers need to understand all of these finer details to get the best out of the cut."
The standard of musical creativity is so high and in a sense it seems if you can’t meet it’s requirements you’re left by the wayside. There’s an interesting argument that musicians have it 'so easy now', in comparison to the past, whilst conversely, artists are expected to do so much more… how do you balance the pressure of demands with your own personal pressures?
"I haven’t released something for six months so the pressure for new material was certainly something I was aware of. Not to play the ‘come to my shows’ card, but I keep my live sets flexible. I like to mix things up and people will experience a whole lot more of me than they get on Spotify, I like to play unreleased stuff during my sets, that’s actually how I put them together.
"I’m really lucky because I’ve got a really close and strong team around me. I like to throw myself into everything I do so it’s so important to know they’ve got my back. As an up and coming artist I’m always pushing myself for more and wanting to take my art in new directions. Sometimes that mightn’t happen as quickly as I want it to and again, that can be frustrating. But honestly, I’m generally pretty positive and my really strong team allows me to reach the goals we set."
Personally, one of my favourite things about hip hop is its diversity. It’s accepting nature of adaption and exploitation. The music opens itself to your interpretation where there are no rules in how you learn your craft, or how you make it unique to self. You’ve talked about your ‘throwback’ style, is there a genre you’d like to experiment with?
"Well you know this 'new wave' of hip hop? I don’t know much about it but I’d love to be taught. I’d love to work with someone that has that sort of… Future rap vibe. Manu Crooks over here or someone that works like that. I don’t know how autotune works but I know there’s so much technique behind it, I’d love to learn how to do that, it’s a completely new form of art!"
Ok, so given that we do live in a world of exploitation, where experimentation is encouraged and creativity knows no bounds, need we draw a line somewhere? Is music free range or do you never fuck with a classic? I love triple j’s Like A Version, but I would never cover John Lennon’s Imagine for example.
"Man you’re really bustin’ my chops!
"Shiiittt… I would sonically view the song and think about how I could recreate it with my own individual flare. But also, it’s important to understand so much more. What do people love about it? How can you recapture it in such a way you don’t loose its soul? I think you can fuck with music, but you need to understand it and if you’re going to approach it, it needs to be fucking sick!"
Ok, so tell me about Be Friends, you’ve got some dope AF artists on there (biggups Cazeux OSLO and Tim De Cotta!), what was your ambition behind the track and how did it come about?
"This song is a reflection of where I am in my career right now," she says of Be Friends.
"As cheesy as it sounds, this song is about friendship and I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am now without my friends. I want it to be a song to vibe to, I want you to hear Motown, Temptations, Smokey Robinson – feel good times man, its almost summer!"
Ivy goes on to tell me about how she’s also interested in visual arts.
"If you look at my artworks attached to the songs, I’m heavily into collage artwork. My brother Dominik Schmarsel actually makes all my art and he’s fucking brilliant!"
I can honestly talk to Ivy all day. Then I remember, this is her day off, not mine. Just before we go, can you tell us anything about the album?
"I’ll say this, Alice Ivy is a collaborative project, but I balance it as much as possible.
"I love working with people but it’s still very much a solo project at times too. The album will be my first full body of work and I’m really proud of it. I want people to listen all the way through cos it truly is a journey."
Alice Ivy is about to play the (mostly) sold out Listen Out national tour starting this weekend. Keep an eye out for that LP, now turn it the fuck up, forget about those pesky responsibilities and vibe out to Be Friends – what a time to be alive!
