Mix Tape Volume 20
We love a good mix tape at Hi Fi Way, have a look to see who made Volume Twenty:
Multi-ARIA award-winning Ghanaian-Australian artist, Genesis Owusu releases his new single, Get Inspired available now via OURNESS / AWAL.
Genesis Owusu continues to traverse an almighty year of break-out highs, with sweltering sold-out live shows across America and Europe to his current Australian tour run supporting Tame Impala. And now, after last night performing to Sydney crowds at QUDOS Bank Arena, Owusu again reminds us that he isn’t done with 2022 yet. A new single produced by Dann Hume and Andrew Klippel, Get Inspired stars a series of siren-like guitar wails, jutting bass notes and Owusu’s inimitable lyrical jabs. Offsetting a menacing and poetic punk hybridity is an infectious falsetto breakdown midway through the piece before a driving rhythm resumes.
Following the release of her acclaimed sophomore album, As Above, So Below, Zambian poet and rapper, Sampa The Great unveils the music video to Let Me Be Great – out via Loma Vista Recordings.
Set in an animated CGI world, the hyperreal clip sees Sampa backdropped by towering metallic sculptures, intertwined and rising from expansive natural landscapes. Directed by Pvssykrew, scenes of mutating chromatic tendrils fusing with blossoming vines and mountain peaks serve as a reflection of Sampa’s prismatic musical universe – a vision of Afro-futurism that pays homage to Africa, whilst heralding its future. Featuring African musical legend Angélique Kidjo, the anthemic Let Me Be Great captures Sampa The Great’s journey to authenticity and self-empowerment, and simultaneously serves as an outlet for Sampa to celebrate Kidjo’s trailblazing influence in the musical output of the African diaspora today.
Speaking to the clip, Sampa The Great shares:
“The ‘Let Me Be Great’ visual was such a huge step into an amazing new direction. My creative director, ‘Rharha Nembhard’, and I had mapped out the journey our visuals would take on my new album and we were excited to step into a more cinematic realm with all of my visuals!
One new experience that I had never dived into was 3D, visual mapping and green screen. We sought out the help of the amazing Pvssykrew to help us achieve this visual and step into a whole new digital world. Inspired by the ethereal ‘Agolo’ music video created by Angelique in the 70’s, we chose to pay homage to the Legendary Queen by recreating the visual into a modern take of traditional and sci-fi visuals: incorporating the theme of As Above, So Below through the use of yin and yang, infinity and tree figures. One of my most experimental visuals to date with the exception of ‘Bona’!”
Mdou Moctar has announced details of part two of the Niger EP series – featuring live and alternate versions of songs spanning the band’s discography recorded in their native Niger – which will be released digitally on October 25th. It follows Niger Vol.1 EP which is out now digitally.
A preview of Vol. 2 is available to listen to with a live version of Ibitilan. First appearing on 2019’s Blue Stage Session, the latest iteration of Ibitilan captures the band’s renowned live energy in unmediated form, pushing the faders to their very limits.
“Ibitilan is a love song,” says producer and bassist Mikey Coltun. “Mdou sings about his love for a woman, comparing her to a beautiful valley with a stream running through it, how her skin is a yellow flower and her smile is like lightning. This particular recording was done in Agadez in 2017 at a wedding. Mdou and I had played three weddings a day for about a month and a half on that trip. It was like bootcamp. I loved it. Ibitilan is one of Mdou’s oldest songs and is covered by pretty much every Tuareg guitarist. We’ve played versions of this song lasting over 20 minutes. It’s definitely one of my favorites to play!”
Australian polymaths King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard unveil their new single/video, Hate Dancin’, taken from their forthcoming album Changes, out October 28th on KGLW.
Following last week’s Laminated Denim – an album written specifically with their recent sold-out Marathon Shows at Red Rocks in mind – and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, Changes marks King Gizzard’s third and final album of October. Originally imagined as the group’s fifth album of 2017, Changes has ended up the sixth album King Gizzard will release in 2022 (rounded out by January’s Butterfly 3001 remix record, April’s double album, Omnium Gatherum and March’s Made in Timeland, the latter of which was just surprised-released on DSPs for the first time).
“Hate Dancin’” is a tight number, clocking in just above the 3-minute mark.“ I started writing a song about how I hate dancing, but then I realised that I love dancing,” says Gizz frontman Stu Mackenzie. The accompanying video puts the band’s exquisite moves front and centre.
For the Beaten is the latest single from platinum-selling alternative-industrial rock band Filter and is available digitally via Golden Robot Records now.
This release is nothing short of classic Filter and exactly what hardcore fans of the band have been anticipating for over 2 years. For the Beaten showcases Filter founder Richard Patrick’s signature tenor screams coupled with the band’s unique chugging guitar riffs. The track gives insight into the material Filter has been working on during the pandemic, and what is expected to come with the release of a new album in 2023.
For the Beaten features longtime Patrick collaborators Johnny Radtke on guitar and Elias Mallin on drums, as well as newcomer Zack Munowitz, who co-wrote the song and plays guitar. The song was co-produced by Brian Virtue and was mastered by Grammy Award-winner Howie Weinberg.
In addition to releasing the song digitally, Filter have released an official lyric video for For the Beaten with entrancing graphics to compliment the song.
Melbourne rock outfit, Floodlights, share their new single Human, out now via Virgin Music Australia.
Sonically fusing alternative rock with garage-punk undertones, their latest track, Human thematically explores individuality, self-reflection and the lasting impressions left by people we meet over time that ultimately mould our identities.
“Human explores what forms our individual identity. It plays with the idea that perhaps we don’t have as much control as we think we do. Our passions and beliefs are a result of thousands of impressions left by people throughout our lives that ultimately shape the choices we make and stories we write. A complex equation of human interaction,” the band explain.
Alternative rockers Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have released their new single The Drugs featuring Jamie T via Golden Robot Records & AWAL. This track showcases the immense talent of The Rattlesnakes with Frank and Jamie’s vocals complimenting each other throughout.
The Drugs explores what it is like to be a witness to addiction whether that’s through your own experience or watching someone else go through it with Frank commenting, “‘The Drugs’ was written after a few long conversations with some beautiful friends of mine who had been struggling with addiction. Getting clean and staying clean is a long and difficult road but the lessons I learned in 2007 still ring true today. Life is a difficult journey, it’s easier with good friends around.”
“Jamie and I had been talking about making music for years and when he asked me to sing on his tune ‘British Hell’ I jumped at the chance. When I asked him to sing on ‘The Drugs’ he returned the favour in perfect style. The song ‘The Drugs’ was my recorded observations of how addiction and medication in all its forms can ruin lives.”
“2007 was a wild time to be a young punk navigating the music industry. One of the things I learned very early was friends were hard to find, but when you found them you had to hold on tight. Jamie has been my friend since we bumped into each other backstage at a gig in Austin Texas in 2007. Gallows had just finished playing a set, I had been punched in the face and he walked in and I just smiled a bloody smile and we’ve been friends ever since.”
“Two sides of the same coin Frank and I,” Jamie T adds.
Legendary electronic music duo Orbital have collaborated with Sleaford Mods on their fabulous, furious joint single Dirty Rat the first track to be lifted from Orbital’s new album Optical Delusion, set for release in early 2023.
Dirty Rat is Orbital at their most vital, remaining utterly relevant and still pushing forward over 30 years
since they broke through with their landmark single Chime. What began as a remix swap (Orbital did the Sleafords’ ‘I Don’t Rate You’) has morphed into a comic, brutal, bass-driven harangue against our rulers and the voters who put them there: the people who are ‘blaming everyone in hospital/blaming everyone at the bottom of the English Channel/blaming everyone who doesn’t look like a fried animal.’ Jason Williamson provides a typically searing vocal over Orbital and Andrew Fearn’s kinetic, driving beats.
‘That track is just a capital letter, isn’t it?’ explains Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll. ‘Big, simple, loud statement. It’s punk rock, a real wake up kind of track.’
‘I love Jason’s presence,’ adds Phil Hartnoll. ‘He’s just brilliant and this is an old-school dance music vibe, with bits of Cabaret Voltaire and even The Shamen in it. And it’s a really simple statement; you voted for them, so take responsibility for your own actions.’
‘The ongoing culture of non-thought mostly exists because of a lack of education into critical thought,’ comments Jason Williamson. ‘How do you mobilise a people firmly imprisoned by a concrete system?’
Acclaimed Aussie rockers The Poor have released new single LET ME GO, the follow up to Cry Out and Payback’s A Bitch.
In exciting news for fans, they have also revealed the title and release date of their highly anticipated new album – High Priced Deed will be available on February 3, 2023, with pre-order coming very soon.
Katie Wighton, much-loved vocalist/guitarist from the ARIA Award-winning group All Our Exes Live in Texas, has released her new solo single and accompanying video, Take You Home.
“Saw your brother, in the morning, naked on the stairs/ I don’t love you, like I used to, I find it hard to care…” – hilariously upfront lyrics, immediately catchy melodies, rhythmic riffs and driving beat contribute to Take You Home’s instant feel-good appeal. Once beguiling vocal harmonies, swirling synths and joyous brass stabs join the jamboree, Take You Home concludes on a victorious note.
Although she recently returned home from a series of inspiring songwriting sessions in Nashville, Wighton co-wrote her latest solo single in Sydney alongside one of her best mates, Elizabeth M Drummond (Little May).
“Lizzie [Drummond] was playing and singing and I thought she sang something like, ‘I saw your brother naked on the stairs’,” Wighton recalls their Take You Home songwriting session with a chuckle. “What’s funny is that something similar – not the exact same experience, obviously – had happened to us both, where we’d been like, ‘Wow, I just saw your brother naked and I don’t even care, because I’m so not in love with you anymore’.”
Overdrive is the riff-filled new single from Riley’s L.A Guns and is out now via Golden Robot Records.
The line-up features long time members Steve Riley, Kelly Nickels, with Scott Griffin and Kurt Frohlich made their debut in 2019 before releasing their album Renegades, featuring singles All That You Are, Crawl, You Can’t Walk Away and title track Renegades.
This track comes in anticipation of their upcoming album, expected to be in their fans hands in mid 2023.
Overdrive marks a new era for the band with an atmospheric approach to it. The track is highly energized from the get-go with no shortage of the instrumental breaks you love and the tantalizing vocals that keep engaged throughout the song.
Dry Cleaning share a new single and video – No Decent Shoes for Rain – from their album, Stumpwork, out now. Following the recently released Gary Ashby, the group take a more sombre turn on No Decent Shoes for Rain. It begins with Florence Shaw’s vocals coiled tightly over woozy guitar and minimal percussion: “my poor heart is breaking.” Shaw says about the track, “’No Decent Shoes for Rain’ is inspired by grief; grief over past relationships, grief for loved ones who have died, and all the things that come with that; loneliness, numbness, yearning, ruminating about the past.” It shows Dry Cleaning in a more pared back state, not seen in their previous discography. The video is made of footage of the band in the studio at Rockfield and on tour.
Alison Wonderland releases her anthemic new single Down The Line. A song that glimmers with hope in the face of loneliness, the track opens with Alison alone on vocals, accompanied by a warm acoustic guitar, by the time it builds to a close, she’s joined by a multitude of voices, underscoring the comfort found through community.
The song was originally exclusive to the vinyl edition of Alison’s new album, Loner.
“We need the dark times in order to get to the light,” explains Alison Wonderland. “We need that experience to know that it’s going to be okay one day. The track is me acknowledging that I was alone during a difficult time but knew that I was going to get through it and be okay, down the line. We’re all going through a dark time right now, and sometimes we need to be reminded that it’s going to be okay. No matter what happens, we will be okay.”
The official video for the track follows the misadventures of a trio of motivational speakers – acolytes of a fictional Down The Line movement, helmed by Alison – as they try to inspire a lackluster crowd. View the clip, which was directed by Alison’s frequent collaborator, Prad Sen (Client Liaison, G Flip, DZ Deathrays, The Presets).
Perth band Death by Denim are set to ignite dancefloors with latest single Magic Daisy, a fusion of fuzzy, sun-soaked rock’n’roll and wavy synths. The new track, which received a first play on triple j’s Good Nights, is the first taste of what’s to come, with the band recording a slew of brand-new material begging to be heard.
On the latest release, the band discuss “We often joke that this is the song that would be created if Arctic Monkeys sat down with the Bee Gees, the Weeknd and Kylie Minogue. Nik continues to discover the power of his higher range not unlike a young Barry Gibb circa 1975.”
Death By Denim take us on a visually delicious journey with their self-directed visuals for the new single.
Multi-faceted creative force BOY SODA has shared his new single, 3 Little Piggies feat. Jordan Dennis and Charbel, taken from his forthcoming debut mixtape YC-TAPE: Vol. 1 which will be released in December.
“I started this song over a beat Finbar had sent me right after I got pulled over on my way home for some random area check during covid. Every lyric in my verse is just a recount of what had happened before, during and after that had happened. My housemate Lovemedo started singing this weird kind nursery rhyme melody that is now the hook and it inspired me to develop the rest of the concept around The Three Little Pigs / Red Riding Hood stories.” He explains of the song.
“When I was in Naarm earlier this year I linked with Jordan Dennis for the first time and I played the beat with my verse and he freestyled forever on it like we were in the Ye doco or something. Dude is a wizard, I cut his vocals when he was in Sydney a month later. Charbel was the final piece of the puzzle, because at this point we only had 2/3piggies. I was super precious about who the third verse was going to be, because I wanted them to really deliver on the sly references and wordplay etc. It got to the point where I was like ‘oh I’m such a dumbass why didn’t I send it to Charbel?’. It was 100% the right decision.”
2022’s crown jewel duo of Sydney’s indie scene, Royel Otis share their newest single and video, Kool Aid out now via OURNESS.
After releasing their sophomore EP, Bar N Grill earlier this year, one of the country’s brightest acts to surf the indie-set, Royel Otis return in fine form with Kool Aid. A glistening slice of alt-pop provides three minutes of summery perfection. Produced by Chris Collins, Kool Aid sees Otis’ vocals glide atop echoing guitar tones and a driving back-beat, crooning to the yearn of love’s hopeful flavour of the week. Suited to a soiree in the haze of a sunny afternoon, fall into the melodic DIY throes of Kool Aid with blissful ease.
Royel Otis say of the single: “If Bruce Lee and Springsteen had a baby, ‘Kool Aid’ would be it. Called Bruce. Bruce Lee slicing the guitar Jeet Kune Do-style and a heartland rock type feel like from the boss himself. ‘Kool Aid’ is a slice of the moment after years of being smitten by the coolest girl on the street. She’s a little older and has all the rumours about her but for some reason she is entertained by you and wants to teach you new tricks.”
Known for their cloudless melodies that pack a groove-infused punch, Adelaide indie-pop/ rock darlings Mum Thinks Blue are unveiling their newest single Side That Wasn’t Told alongside a joyous single launch celebration at Lowlife Basement Bar on October 22.
Their second release of the year following sunshine-drenched indie bop Headspin, Mum Thinks Blue are continuing to warm hearts and delight senses with a song written about breaking away from the “norm” and carving out a unique path to follow in life.
“The lyrics are about breaking away from the normal lifestyle and not wanting to follow the expected cycle that I thought was the only option when growing up,” says vocalist Austin Dobbin.
“It focuses on the so-called ‘fairytale’ life that I personally felt was the only way to feel happy at the time; to have a successful job to support my future family in our future house. The meaning of the story shows that there is no perfect ending and that everyone is entitled to their own lifestyle and not to be so hard on yourself just because others are doing things differently and are on different paths.”
Mercury-prize nominee and globally revered artist Sam Fender has shared his latest offering Wild Grey Ocean; personal ruminations punctured by his distinctive guitar motif. Recorded during the original album sessions for his UK #1 album Seventeen Going Under, the new single reflects moments and memories of Sam’s teenage years.
It is the first of two new songs included on the forthcoming deluxe edition release of Seventeen Going Under out December 9 via Dew Process / UMA. To coincide with the release of the deluxe edition, Sam will also be releasing Live From Finsbury Park, recorded at his largest show to date with a sold-out audience of 45,000 people at London’s Finsbury Park.
Knuckle Puck, one of the aggressive pop-punk genre’s preeminent forces has signed to Pure Noise Records, and the future is looking bright.
“We could use this as an opportunity to put forth clichéd and tired expressions of “we couldn’t be more excited” or “stoked to announce..!” says the band. “But we think there is more worth and promise in simply saying this: we are working on a record that will be out next year on Pure Noise and we are immensely grateful to finally be working side-by-side with them.”
The band also recently put out their first single out on the new home: Groundhog Day.
“Groundhog Day is a song about being in the throes of depression. Repeating patterns, ignoring your well-being, and isolating yourself until you finally make a change,” says Joe Taylor.
Action/Adventure have released another pop-punk anthem with the recent fiery offering Carolina Reaper.
“Carolina Reaper is an interesting track because it was essentially all written in one sitting. Back in 2018 Blake brought Carolina Reaper peppers to practice one night and of course, all of us being spice buffs had to try them. Instant regret filled the room, the decision to try the peppers was a mistake. I was definitely frantically trying to solve time travel so that I could go back in time and stop myself from eating the pepper. After about 10 minutes of freaking out, we started joking around on our instruments and somehow a whole song ended up coming out.” says the band.
ALEX THE ASTRONAUT shares the music video for South London, the fan-favourite at shows and most streamed album track from her critically acclaimed, 2x ARIA nominated album How to Grow A Sunflower Underwater out now via Warner Music Australia. Called “her most vulnerable work yet” (Sydney Morning Herald), How To Grow A Sunflower Underwater has been nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Best Cover Art (by Giulia McGauran) at this year’s ARIA Awards, and as a body of work reinforces Alex’s graceful ability to merge the playful with the profound as she documents the complexities of life.
Alex the Astronaut lived in London for a number of years with her family as a child – it was the first time she saw snow, and the first time she had to make new friends in an entirely new city. South London was written after she returned to visit for the first time a few years ago, the song’s seed forming when she noticed one jarring difference in an otherwise familiar setting (in this case, someone else’s car parked in the driveway of her old family home).
The video features two young actors as Alex and her sister Sophie, running around their neighbourhood, jumping in ponds and exploring with curiosity and wonderment. When it came time to finding a director for the video, who better to bring something so personal to life than someone who saw it first hand. Alex the Astronaut shares, “My childhood friend Jessica directed this music video. When I was ten, my family moved away to England and she came to visit me. We played on bikes and rollerblades and filmed ourselves on my Mum’s camera. For her to make this video now, years later, is spooky. Seeing the kids who were cast to play my sister and I was like being in a memory. The song’s about looking back on your childhood and I think Jess captured that feeling perfectly. The little actors were amazing. It was such a fun shoot. The video makes the song what it is. I don’t think the song makes sense without it now.”
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