Pilerats, Journalist

Torus' new EP, Temples, is a sweeping, synth-led, Shlohmo-like sonic experience.. This came as a recommendation from my weirdo-music appreciating English mate Keith, whose always got his head deep in the 'Cloud, and who always turns up great new stuff for me. Torus was his suggestion for me this week, with a little 'sounds like Shlohmo' sweetener thrown in, and Keith’s really pulled through. A recent graduate of the Red Bull Music Academy, Torus - Joeri Woudstra – is a producer from The Netherlands. Temples, his latest EP, was released today and its four tracks’ worth of woozy, bass-heavy atmospheric production to delight in. Whilst rich in tangible emotion, Torus’ tracks go more ‘large’ than Shlohmo’s. A producer like EPROM comes to mind as a comparison point, particularly on Creepin', a huge, synth-led mammoth of a track that could moonlight as a Southern hip hop instrumental. Other times, such as track U R, his inverted sonic excursions are more ethereal, and would make Clams Casino

thestand4rd are everything we want out of an R & B / rap group right now.. If you loved 16 year-old Internet rap sensation Spooky Black’s melancholic single Without You nearly half as much as we did, you should get stuck into the new album from his new group, thestand4rd (pronounced ‘the standard’), which is Allan Kingdom, Psymun, Bobby Raps, and Spooky. These players are all niche-as-all-hell as individuals (read: awesome, to our ears), and are probably never going to have mainstream appeal, but they’ve still got a really strong audience of passionately loyal fans, and together, they’re likely to make waves. Their first live show as a group earlier this month was apparently fairly epic (see pics below) with an audience singing along to every word. Their sound is new, and brave and everything we want out of an R&B/rap group right now. Never heard of these dudes? Well then, it’s high time you met this Minnesota-based gang: Psymun: Psymun’s an incredible producer, surely destined for Jam

In a word: hectic.. As he approaches an Australian return for the upcoming Stereosonic Festivals, Skrillex has dropped an epic - and rather intense - clip for Fuck That from his latest LP, Recess. Reading the YouTube comments is pretty fun too - his fans expecting the usual dubstep sounds but getting an (IMO) absolutely killer piece of bassy house - are really not appreciating this change in direction. I reckon it's fucking sick. But I digress... The clip is directed by Nabil Elderkin - no slouch in the video clip world, having worked with the likes of Kanye West (Mercy), James Blake (Overgrown) and that brilliant video for Alt-J's Hunger Of The Pine. Anyways, strap yourself in for what is essentially a five-minute short film about an encarcerated street fighter who quickly falls back into bad habits: Follow Skrillex: FACEBOOK

Drake's doing four headline shows around Future Music Festival.. Following the announcement he'll be headlining Future Music Festival 2015 comes the not-unexpected news that Canadian hip hop royalty Drake will be playing a few of his own headline shows around the festival, joined by fellow Future act 2 Chainz. Late last week www.draketour.com.au popped up which was a pretty obvious indication of what was to come, and today sees the announcement of four dates over Feb/March next year. Check the dates below and click HERE to sign up for Frontier Touring Presales, running from Thursday 27 November (2pm AEDT) to Friday 28 November (2pm AEDT) before general release 10AM local time Monday 1 December via Ticketek. Wed 25 Feb - Allphones Arena, Sydney (PRE-SALE) Fri 27 Feb - Rod Laver Areana, Melbourne (PRE-SALE) Tue 3 Mar - Perth Arena, Perth (PRE-SALE) Thu 5 Mar - Entertainment Centre, Brisbane (PRE-SALE)

The Aus' dance legends make a short film doco to go with their new compilation.. Global Melbourne dance music ambassadors Cut Copy recently released Cut Copy Presents: Oceans Apart, digitally and on vinyl via the band’s own dance imprint, Cutters Records. The 19-track continuous DJ-mixed provides a snapshot of new and exclusive music from their hometown’s thriving underground dance music scene and club culture. Not ones to rest on their laurels, they've now unleashed the mix CD's accompanying documentary, providing a behind the scenes look at how compilation came to be. The 12-minute film offers a rare, fascinating glimpse into the Melbourne music scene. Following its premiere with The FADER, you can now stream it online, below: "…'Oceans Apart' aims to allow their listeners to hear a side of Australia that is as unexpected and expansive as the landscape itself." – DJ Mag  "It's impeccably mixed metaphysical disco, existential house and healing music [...] moving freely to this advent

Beautiful new music from Glaswegian producer Jon Cooper AKA Turtle.. "A slow burning piece of beauty," is how NME has described Glaswegian producer Turtle's output thus far. And it's hard not to argue. Following from the release of his debut EP Who Knows, which saw comparisons to the likes of Jon Hopkins and Sohn, Lavender (premiered on blahblahblahscience.com) is the first single to be taken from Turtle's upcoming second EP - Colours, due in 2015 via Beatnik Creative. Along with those illustrious names, I'd also thrown in Thinking In Textures-era Chet Faker into the mix, especially Lavender. A restrained piece of electronica, one that instantly puts Turtle on my map for upcoming electronic artists. Follow Turtle: FACEBOOK

New tunes and an Aussie tour for the Aussie house duo.. Sydney duo Kato and Adam Bozzetto AKA Wordlife have a party-packed December coming up to celebrate their new EP Dat Groove, featuring Chicago dance legend DJ Funk, and a remix from another club lord in Sinden. Along with the tour dates you can see after streaming this charging slice of four-four, they're also joining in the fun that is the epic two-day EMC Play showcases (more info HERE). Dat Groove drops via the duo's record label home Motorik November 28. Follow Wordlife: FACEBOOK

Our Stagebound selection selects five WA-based artists of their own.. As part of Southbound's Stagebound competition, three acts have been chosen to go in the running for a chance to play at next year's edition of the Festival, with three media outlets each picking one to get behind. Dream-pop shoegazers HYLA are our boys (click HERE to get to know 'em a little better here), and we thought we'd find out a few of their favourite local tunes ahead of voting closing for the Stagebound competition at the end of the month. You can vote for them HERE before 11.59 Sunday 30 November, it will take you less than a minute, and automatically puts you in the draw to WIN A HAPPY CAMPER DOUBLE PASS TO SOUTHBOUND. FIVE FAVE WA TUNES w/ HYLA Dream Rimmy - Sunshine  Awesome tune that just washes over you, excited for their EP to come out. We are big fans of these guys. Fait - Slow Glow Ambient and epic all in one, incredible live show to watch aswell. Methyl Ethel - Rogues Always pretty blown away b

The boys give us a guide to their new self-titled EP.. Perth production duo Slumberjack are having a pretty great run lately, most recently popping up on the influential Skrillex Selects Top 10 Soundcloud chart for their track Body Cry feat. Father Dude. That same track pops up on their new self-titled EP, which has just been released today, and which you can buy HERE, and Morgan and Fletcher were kind enough to take us through each song on the four-tracker: BODY CRY FEAT. FATHER DUDE Morgan: The original version of Body Cry was actually a completely different track to the one that’s on the EP.  We wrote it almost a year ago and just kept tinkering with it as we improved our production skills. We only recently got in touch with Father Dude to do some vocals on it and it was almost set to go but there was just something about the whole track that didn’t quite sit right and it frustrated us for the longest time. The ‘answer’ came to me mid-shower; I ran out to write the whole thing down

The Melbourne electronic duo sign with Caroline with a tasty new single.. It's been over a year since we first started listening to/talking about Melbourne electronica duo Alta and their Game Broke Out EP, followed by the incredible video clip/song combo of Wash It Down earlier this year. Now, heading into 2015, the future is looking bright as the duo have announced their signing to the awesome folks over at Caroline, and doing so, dropped a hypnotic new single in Hold Your Fire. It's the first of a few to come moving forward, and has done nothing to quell our excitement for one of our fave Aussie electronic acts - they killed it when they supported Willow Beats at the Northcote Social club a couple of months back. Follow Alta: FACEBOOK