Pilerats, Journalist

Meet NY-based producer Thomas Arsenault, AKA Mas Ysa.. Mas Ysa is another of a heap of interesting acts making up the lower part of the Splendour In The Grass 2014 line-up - acts you might not know too well yet, but will do yourself a massive favour in getting to know them... Who are you? Thomas Augustin Lenny Davila Arsenault is my name if that's what you mean. Other than that, aren't we all one? I'm you, you're me, and so on.   How’d you meet? I was incarnated then found a mirror. I'm just one person in this music of Mas Ysa. What kinda tunes we talkin’? Electronic, some upbeat, some ballads, some instrumental, loosely improvised, pretty confessional. Lots of kick drum, sometimes noisy. Sometimes soft.  Production/writing process: Each tune is different. And as my tour schedule changes, the way I work is changing. The normal stuff, I muse, I dance around. Not much is done on a computer until I record. Mostly I'm in the dark on my live rig.   What do you do outside of Mas Ysa? I want

Zhu's mega-hit gets the Trumpdisco bang-up.. If you havne't heard Zhu's massive track Faded by now, well there's a good chance you aren't reading this post, so I'll dispense with the pleasantries and get straight to it. Melbourne producer Trumpdisco has added his signature ravey electro touch to the track, and it's taken Faded from smooth, deep-housey banger to in-your-face dancefloor destroyer. Stream/download it for free below, followed by some exclusive words from the man himself in the first interview he's done since his last EP, and also another free download - his recent two hour mega mix, because there's no such thing as too much rave. How’s things in Trumpdisco land at the moment - the two hour mix you just released has a few snippets of some upcoming originals? Hey! Yeah things are good, been very tied down with my upcoming EP for a while now which, yeah, I've snuck into the mix =) Keeping busy with more originals, collabs and remixes in the work!  It seems like you’ve been p

A rad new music/art venue in Wollongong opens June 6.. Washed Out is a new live music venue/art space opening in Wollongong next month, with a focus on booking emerging local and touring acts whilst simultaneously pushing the local art and design communities of the area. Initiatives like monthly feature artists and custom limited t-shirts will be backed by regular band shows and good times. It kicks off June 6 with a launch party backing all these claims by hosting Triple J Unearthed winners Lunatics On Pogosticks and Central Coast indie-pop quartet Sea Legs, joined by locals The Vanns and psychedelic surf-rock collective Sheerkhan. More info, including the awesome t-shirt designs you can expect on the night can be obtained by clicking on the image below:

New York-based photographer Alison Brady has an interesting view of the world..

New music from weakling, LO'99 and Raph Lauren's newest.. With the internet's penchant for releasing a crazy amount of new music for free, it was foolish to think we'd be able to keep this Friday Freebie column to one tune per week. With that in mind, here's three new tracks we came across this week which you can download for free. A couple of housey ones, plus Raph Lauren's latest, which was originally only available in Ryan Hemsworth's "Cool DJ Mix" earlier this year. Let's start with that one... RAPH LAUREN - HOME First time I heard this the Aussie-as vocal sample was kinda jarring, but it very quickly just felt really natural and awesome in this track. This is Raph Lauren's second single, and it's two for two as far as we're concerned. A really left-field take on future-beats, we're really looking forward seeing what comes next. WEAKLING - JEALOUS Brisbane-based producer weakling has been doin' his thing for a few years, and while this is the first taste of weakling we've been for

Talking art, life and shit with Circo Festival Illustrator Eugene Plotnikov..

Five tracks each from the much-hyped tour buddies.. Before we begin this excursion into the minds of the about-to-kick-off-their-first-Australian-tour duo Sango and Pomo (joined by Stwo - deets HERE), let me first apologise for the photoshop effort above. I'm sure Sango isn't a tiny human compared to Pomo, but I do kinda like how they're looking at each other. We asked them each to give us five tracks they're vibing on at the moment, and as was expected from the eclectic beatsmiths, their selections are varied and awesome. Enjoy them below and skip down the bottom to see where they're playing on a tour that kicks off tonight in Adelaide: SANGO The way the production compliments the verses is amazing. The tempo is prefect. It has this bounce to it. Just the whole track is heavy. I was in the car with Atu and Dpat, and they showed me this song and I was just blown away. The singing is hard to make out, but it fits. The quirkiness of the the song is what makes it so interesting. Such a go

Bart Simpson and friends would make rad zombies..

Serious banger business for the weekend.. Former Adelaide house dons turned bass lords, DJ/producer duo Señor Roar have a couple of shows this weekend, one in our corner of the world at Force Majeure with the good party people of Ambar, followed by a Sydney Social show with one of our faves, Go Freek, and a host of others. To celebrate the former - and no doubt keep the party going between both of them - Senor Roar made a little mix for the Force Majeure Crew, and it's the business: And if that doesn't gee you up enough, Force Majeure fiend and one of Peth's finest Philly Blunt has just released a remix of that DJ Snake/Lil Jon banger you've all been turning down for:

...means all other bachelor parties are obsolete..

Seekae have a new single, new album, and tour to announce.. London-via-Sydney electronica outfit Seekae have announced details for their third album - The Worry - due for release via Future Classic on September 12. Their credentials speak for themselves, with two previous albums that topped a lot of Best Of lists, and The Worry is looking to be their most ambitious and intimate work yet, as evidenced by the first single from it, Test & Recognise. After teasing at it last year, The Worry sees the group embrace vocals full-steam, with percussionist Alex Cameron taking charge with the vocal chords. Fortunately for us, with new albums, comes new tours, and they've announced a big one (which we're presenting along with a host of other rad folks!), taking in the following dates with special guest Jonti in the month leading up to the album's release: Sat 9 Aug - Darwin Festival, Darwin* Tues 12 Aug - The Zoo, Brisbane Fri 15 Aug - The Gov, Adelaide Sat 16 Aug - The Villa, Perth Fri 22 Aug