Features / Music

Awakened are an up and coming metalcore band from the Western areas of Sydney. Having recently released their entire self-titeld debut EP for free on their Bandcamp and with a gung-ho attitude towards their music, the band is ambitious and going about it the right way We chat with the group in our latest AUSSIE FEATURE.

Rapper Snoop Dogg is making art for a sock company.. Oh, Doggy Dog. First you tell us you’re the reincarnation of Bob Marley and that you’ve moved to Jamaica to become a Rastafarian, burying the Dogg to take on the lion. Then you take a trip to funkytown for an album with Dâm-Funk for Stones Throw, and you reincarnate once more, this time as a descendent of George Clinton - Snoopzilla. And last we heard you’d started making your own high-end candles scented with baby powder. News comes today that Snoop Dogg’s moved from the candle to the sock game: Swedish arty sock company Happy Socks has collaborated with Dogg in their The Art Of Inspiration series, making a film with Snoop’s creative team. The video opens on a series of blank canvases, with Snoop doing a voiceover: "I’ve always felt like painting was something I wanted to do, but I just never had time to do it." A bunch of girls then lay out a table of paints for Snoop, who strides over in an all white outfit and a pair of Happy Soc

Where there was raw talent, JOY. has now brought her airy vocals and sharp production to the fore with her new single.. Whereas Captured was raw talent channelled into a song (watch a beautiful live recording of it HERE), JOY's Stone appears as a highly refined, late night slow-jam that you can keep playing over and over to appreciate. With all it's undulations and bumps it is not unlike that which is named after - a stone. Stone starts out with an intro that slides soeffortlessly due to Olivia McCarthy's voice floating airly over the soft piano keys. Then to mix things up a saxphone rolls on in, which I've always found to be a questionable instrument but it works damn well here. Indeed as it all breaks down, the reverb-heavy vocals of McCarthy are padded out oh so well against the thumping bass line. But the final minute really brings it together with the increasingly ethearal vocals mixing in with a far more bold saxophone that gives Stone the energy in an otherwise similar tempo son

The Electrify remix package adds another great producer, and GRMM announces his live Australian tour.. GRMM's Electrify feat. Father Dude has absolutely smashed it this year - it's been one of the most-played songs on our nation's youth broadcaster, and has seen the up-and-coming producer playing shows around the country. All this week he's been rolling out remixes for the track as part of a special package to celebrate his upcoming national headline tour, seeing re-works from Go Freek, Blindsight and Robin Parris (with Senor Roar to come), each bringing something new to the table. Today we're excited to premiere another re-do from one of our faves in young Brisbane producer cln, who since releasing his great Sideways EP has been steadily putting out equally excellent remixes for the likes of Odesza and Wookie. You can now add GRMM to this solid portfolio, the two's complimenting styles working together nicely, with cln bringing enough of his own vibe to make this another special effor

The rising R & B beauty is set to get 2On in Australia next year. After debuting an incredible cover story with American musician Tinashe last month, ACCLAIM Magazine are bringing breakthrough singer down under for the very first time for a string of dates in February. She’s been working the independent scene for years, making dark and intriguing experimental mixtapes (2013’s Black Water is WELL worth your while), and with her recently released debut studio release Aquarius, which features Devonté Hynes and A$AP Rocky, she’s brought that R & B progressiveness into the mainstream spotlight (along with acts like Jhene Aiko, Banks and Kelela). Tinashe worked with a wide range of collaborators on the accomplished release, including T-Minus, Boi-1da, Clams Casino, Fisticuffs, Best Kept Secret, Ritz Reynolds, Dev Hynes, Detail, and Mike WiLL Made It, maintaining an admirable cohesiveness across Aquarius despite all this varied input. Her profile has been getting a big leg-up of late courtesy

The first taste of Slumberjack's upcoming EP release is a beauty.. With the Australian tour for their d-floor destroying single Felon wrapping up earlier this month, Slumberjack have a new Father Dude-featuring single to mark the beginning of their Aussie summer dominance - Body Cry. A slightly more restrained effort compared to the beast that was Felon, Body Cry still packs plenty of oomph in the realms of chilltrap, with a track dripping in the duo's typically tight-butthole production skills. They'll be hitting the upcoming Stereosonic Festival in WA, followed by an appearance at our very own Wonderland, but Body Cry is the first taste of their upcoming self-titled EP release, which will no doubt see a bunch more Australian tour dates around those times. Slumberjack x Sable Text Message Interview HERE Slumberjack - Sprinter feat. Sable HERE

The best things about being in The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx.. With an Australia tour just announced around their Bluesfest 2015 appearance (all dates down the bottom) and their brand new album Mariachi El Bronx (III) due for release on Friday 7 November, Ken Horne from the group decided to fill us in on all the good parts about being in two bands at the same time. If there's any bad points, we don't know them, but we do know the following, which you can check out after streaming their new single, Wildfires. TOP 5 THINGS ABOUT BEING IN TWO BANDS AT ONCE 1) It's fun to switch up totally different styles of music. Punk and Mariachi are are two different ends of the musical spectrum. 2) The touring opportunities are so varied! One day we can be playing a punk dive in Germany, and the next day we can be playing on the beaches of Cancun! One Australian tour at Brisbane’s Crowbar and the next at Bluesfest! 3) Playing/trying/discovering different instruments for each The Bronx and Mariachi