Liam Apter, Journalist

Ecca Vandal enjoys Sesame Street and mashes snarling riffs with frantic beats which marks her as an intriguing Australian artist.. Ecca Vandal's first single, White Flag, is a howling stamp into the ground that she is here. With its writhing pace and the attention-seeking voice of Vandal it is hard not to take notice. So with this in mind we thought it was worthwhile to ask her a few questions about herself, her music and what we can expect in the future. And in the process we found that she had a continued fondness for Sesame Street and has an EP coming out in early 2015. You can also see her perform at the Deathproof Christmas Party on December 5th at the John Curtin Hotel. Tell us a bit about yourself? I had an obsession with Sesame Street when I was a kid and secretly still do. What kinda tunes we talkin’? Good tunes to listen to while you’re being chased by zombies. Production/writing process: I started writing these tunes for my EP a lil' while back then met Kidnot who is a kill

Stax Osset's debut single is a dreamy slice of trip-hop.. If you're a fan of Allday you will probably have heard Stax Osset's vocals from Allday's Ultra glacial edition of Milligrams. Osset has now released her first official single titled Symmetry and it's a lovely piece of floating trip-hop with a skittering drum beat. Slick vocal chops make it memorable and the music video strengthens this, something that often isn't the case for first-time artists all the way to the big hitters. Indeed, the repeated chopped editing style really compliments the erratic vocals and instrumentals which makes Stax Osset into one tight little trip-hop package to keep your eye on.  Follow Stax Osset: FACEBOOK

Pilerats chat with Alex Burnett about songwriting for artists like Motez and Digitalism ahead of his panel at EMC this week.. Hey man how’s it going, are you still in London at the moment? I just got back to Sydney this morning. Feeling pretty wack. I’ve been in London.  A lot of the work I do is out of London but I do lots of work with Australian artists. So this trip is a to say hi to the family and work with some people who I started doing things with at the beginning of the year. Cool! So for people reading this who don’t know, you’ve worked with people like Motez, Digitalism, Elizabeth Rose and Flight Facilities, when did you shift from Sparkadia to working with producers? Before I had a guitar on, and did a lot of indie-pop and rock stuff, but I think around 2010 I got drafted in to write some stuff for Digitalism. I found it fun and easy. It’s about hooks all the time and tension release. Whereas the music I had done was more about leading into the chorus and adding more guitar

A haunting but beautiful look into the remains of Chernobyl twenty-eight years after the nuclear disaster.. As part of a CBS News '60 Minutes' special Danny Cooke has created a short clip of what remains of the town of Pripyat which was near the epicentre of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986. At first glance we're shown a world filled with Soviet iconography; imposing concrete buildings and the Hammer and Sickle in an overgrown wilderness. It's as if every post-apocalyptic TV show has come to life in this one place. And it's hard not remark at how well shot it is or the clash of nature with society.  For those unaware of what Chernobyl is, it's the name of a nuclear power station in Ukraine that exploded on April 26 1986. This explosion was caused by a large increase in power that saw the core of the reactor explode. In the immediate aftermath 31 people died putting out the flames and controlling the radiation. It is not known how many people have been affected by the radiation in

LCAW remixes Kyiki's latest cut into an atmospheric house gem..

Eschewing away from the heavy end of trap, Tyson Kraft's XXV brings out the chill vibes.. Sydney producer, Tyson Kraft has dropped a seriously chilled out trap cut titled, XXV. Warms drums nicely compliment the coarse snarse sounds as the pitched up vocal cuts weave amongst it all. You can get a free download of the track HERE and listen to it below: Follow Tyson Kraft: FACEBOOK

Warm bass lines and skittering drums make Spirit Faces newest single, Cloudplay a refreshing track.. We've been big of Spirit Faces since he dropped Hold It Down (Which you can listen to HERE) and then we were lucky enough to premiere Anatole's darker, almost James-blakesque remix of Hold It Down. Spirit Faces has released another single from his upcoming EP, Bedroom Music, and it's titled Cloudplay. Cloudplay varies from Hold It Down, being a more uptempo, frenzied track when compared to Hold It Down's emotive piano bed. Indeed, there's a sense of rush throughout the track with the skittering filled drums, the warm bass lines and the tender vocals of of BUOY: Follow Spirit Faces: FACEBOOK

Still Parade's newest track Hunter really nails the genre that is dream-folk.. Nikals Kramer AKA Still Parade has just dropped an atmospheric stand-alone track titled Hunter, which you can download for free. After dropping tracks like Beach with its sparse soundscape filled by Kramer's falsetto, Hunter appears as a shift towards greater instrumental presence alongside Kramer's voice. Kramer reflects elements of folk but to simply label it that seems an insult for the beautiful sonic landscapes that Kramer creates. Kramer also released an EP titled Fields earlier this year.  Follow Still Parade: FACEBOOK

Akouo brings the bass to Gorgon City's Unmissable.. Gorgon City have been making some serious noise this year and will continue to do that into 2015, with tracks like Sirens and now this trap-orienated remix of Unmissable by Akouo. Often with single releases comes a slew of average remixes that murder the original but Akouo accentuates the beauty of Unmissable and adds on-point percussion alongside tweaking the vocal arrangement. It isn't a huge change in direction from the original track but these stylistic changes offer a different sonic perspective on how the song could work. Furthermore, Akouo has allowed for anyone to download the song free, good guy that he is.  Follow Gorgon City: FACEBOOK Follow Akouo: FACEBOOK

Cruel Kids' distills playful indie rock and pop hooks nicely.. Halcyon Drive has just released their debut EP, Cruel Kids, which appears as one of the more engaging guitar-based releases of Australian music this year. It's engagement lies in the fact that it unashamedly merges pop hooks with a mixture of garage rock and indie pop. Currently it is seen as uncool to embrace 'pop' but where the problem actually lies in artists that suddenly became popular because... Surprise, they make music that is accessible.  Crusoe marks this out from the start with it's reverb layered chorus and repeated guitar riffs that make it hard to ignore. Then there is the lead single Whitewash with a down-tempo edge at first that crashes into a series of short, sharp drums breakdowns. But what really makes it are Michael Oechsle's vocals that cut through the instrumentals to hold your attention. Indeed, whether it is the impassioned vocals of Thieves or the indie pop aspects of Blisters Oechsle's voice is wha