Feature: The Ever Changing Face of Australian Hip-Hop →

PHOTO CREDIT: Michelle Grace Hunder
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC VAULT, APRIL 2019

A cultural movement derived from oppression. A musical genre that has illuminated struggle and identified a sense of belonging amongst the marginalised and in doing so, became an art form of empowerment. It became a unifying presence in communities seeking it. From its beginnings in the Bronx, hip hop has since developed into a dominating force in pop culture today. A simple glance at commercial pop music charts and its prominence is clear.

Internationally, each guise of the genre has represented the unique identity of the society from which it has been born. Links to its African-American origins have remained in varying degrees, however, the development of hip hop in other countries has become a powerful (and oftentimes very entertaining) soundtrack to the changing of many a societal identity.

Australian hip hop is a perfect example of this. From charged messages against racial injustice and discrimination in the 1980s and 1990s, through to the localisation of the music being embraced by the wider Australian music industry in the 2000s and now, with an ambitious new generation of artists picking up the mantle, there is no other sector of Australian music in as much flux as Australian hip hop.

“I’ll be the spanner in the works of your f*cked up plans…”
TZU, 'Recoil' 2005

Cultural and identity politics have been a steadfast foundation of Australian hip hop’s evolution, whether it be Munkimuk’s ‘Dreamtime’, The Herd’s ‘77%’ or more recently, A.B Original’s ‘January 26’, the representation of the financial, racial and governmental fractures within Australian communities has long been subject of artists’ bodies of work.

Though largely influenced by groups including Public Enemy, politically-charged Australian hip hop laid strong foundations for musicians at the head of today’s resurgence three decades ago. Emerging from a thriving creative underground, artists including Brothablack, Wire MC, Munkimuk and the South West Syndicate vocalised issues affecting Aboriginal communities and setting a powerful precedent for expression through rap with that the likes of Briggs, A.B Original and BIRDZ continue to champion today. 

As the culture of Australian hip hop became further embraced by the wider music industry through the 2000s, once more we saw a distinctive voice filter through the beats. There was a notable strive for an ‘Australian identity’ that was less reliant on a heavy borrowing from the US, more on highlighting the Australian lifestyle and the ups and downs that had come with it.

“We’re staying dedicated to perfection…”
Hilltop Hoods, ‘Still Standing’ 2009 

Music by Koolism, 1200 Techniques, Def Wish Cast, The Herd and the Hilltop Hoods became orchestral in the establishment of Australian hip hop’s new chapter.  As ARIA began to recognise the public’s growing interest in the genre, the industry became home to thriving voices including Illy, Drapht, Thundamentals and Horrorshow. A familiarity found in accent and cadence, humour and content matter, gave rise to Australian hip hop with a large demographic of music fans, yet it was not without its criticisms.

The ‘redneck rap’ label is one that Australian hip hop artists have been shirking as the climate for hip hop globally has also been changing. As hip hop merges more and more with pop, electronic and indie music, new influences have emerged. Collaboration with musicians outside the genre, from both Australia and abroad have brought international attention and acclaim to not just Multi-Platinum selling artists like the Hilltop Hoods, but also to trailblazing names like Tkay Maidza, Sampa The Great and L-FRESH The Lion. 

“Pour up the love, let the healing begin…”
Sampa The Great, ‘Energy ft. Nadeem Din-Gabisi’ 2018
 

In the music of a younger generation, Australian hip hop breathes a new and ferocious fire. Urgency comes from the pens of wordsmiths like Sampa The Great, Genesis Owusu, Tasman Keith and Remi. Rising up as a powerful voice for those marginalised communities still suffering, Australian hip hop is fast regaining a platform to affect, uplift and encourage change. The idea of looking back in moving forward, charges this new music with potency and musically, Australian hip hop is seeing a renaissance of classic and contemporary hip hop, R&B and soul carving out a dominating presence within the genre.

Australian hip hop is music that represents growth without ignoring the fact it still has quite a way to go in achieving an ideal balance that allows for new voices to shine brightly. Women, a largely underdeveloped sector of the culture in Australia, are now emerging as key players in taking Australian hip hop forward.

In the lyricism of Sampa The Great, Tkay Maidza, OKENYO, Coda Conduct, Kaylah Truth, Nardean and Jesswar, Australian hip hop has adopted a fierce, opinionated and wickedly charming new guise. Their stories and records stand toe to toe with their predecessors.

For each lover of 1200 Techniques’ Choose One, there’s a mutual love and respect for Sampa The Great’s Birds and The Bee9. Just as TZU’s Smiling At Strangers album entertained while injecting sharp edge into the songs, so too does OKENYO’s defining release, THE WAVE.

“We were fruits from the trees, now you watch us grow…”
Genesis Owusu, ‘Wit Da Team’ 2018
 

As the Aussie hip hop fan demographic continues to diversify, so does the music tastes of the wider audience of Australian music fan. The emergence of Baker Boy, Dallas Woods and Kaiit in the recent peripheries of not just the Australian hip hop industry, but fans too, marks an exciting counterpoint for the culture moving forward. Young, potent musical storytellers completely in charge of their artistic direction, contributing to strength in Australian hip hop’s new guard with musicianship rooted in individual style and delivery.

The history of Australian hip hop and its evolution is impossible to consolidate into a strict framework. What can be gleaned from the last three decades of releases, triumphs and cultural shifts is that Australian hip hop is a genre that continues to look inward at itself, at its history, as new generations of storytellers establish a new identity for the culture.

Artists today are unafraid to acknowledge the failures of the genres past, but also the achievements of those who have come before.

The future of Australian hip hop has never looked brighter.

Feature: Catfish and The Bottlemen reinforce their indie identity with 'The Balance' →

PHOTO CREDIT: Jill Fumanovksy
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY TRIPLE J, MAY 2019

The Welsh rockers continue to be champions of the genre's longevity on third album The Balance.

Catfish and The Bottlemen are a band who know who they are. Over the course of three celebrated records, they’ve embraced an indie rock space that is defined by chugging guitars, anthemic lyricism, and Rockstar charm. They’re relatable to the point where all of their songs are singalongs, but they’re also powerful pedestalled performers - just far enough out of their audiences’ reach to make them an international rock commodity.

Sold out tours around the world, huge festival performances, and a fiercely loyal global fanbase have earmarked the band of bastions of modern indie rock, and they serve it up super well on album number three.

It’s a record heaped with hallmarks from a band who dare to double-down on what works, rather than throw away the playbook to write a narrative of reinvention. Which begs the question: when you know your formula and you love the music you're making, does a lack of wild experimentation matter?

On The Balance, Catfish and The Bottlemen prove that it doesn't.

The band exude athleticism and confidence, following on from sessions in the UK with producer Jacknife Lee (The Killers, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club). You can hear a genuine love for these songs – whether they’re laying the riffs on thick, or moving through moments of introspection and vulnerability like on standout tracks '2All' and 'Longshot'. It’s already begun to translate to the band’s live shows:

"'Fluctuate', I love playing that song live," frontman Van McCann told triple j's Ben and Liam recently. "The singles, we like those songs, but the ones off the album that aren't necessarily singles, we're loving those."

The uplifting and optimistic nature of 'Longshot', as well as the grunge nuances present on 'Conversation' and 'Basically', are prime examples of Catfish and The Bottlemen's stylistic strengths. Not since the heyday of Kasabian and early-era Arctic Monkeys has there been a British rock band who has harnessed such palpable energy, teased on an album and full realised on the live stage.

"We've never had a one-off tune," McCann told Billboard in 2017. "When you come to a show you'll see that they [the audience] sing the whole album word for word, both albums now. I think we're at a place where we can properly appreciate it and grab it and run with it."

It’s true – in spite of criticism that the band “played it safe” on second record The Ride, the band have actually played it to significant success. “Running With It” appears to be part of the Catfish and The Bottlemen ethos, as the band have crafted bodies of work that thrive on consistency and coherence.

"The whole album, the artwork, the titles and the tracklisting; it's like the Rocky box set." McCann told Ben and Liam. "By the time Five and Six come out, you've got the full collection and you can all link up."

Keeping this in mind, it’s fair to ask what the larger Catfish and The Bottlemen picture look like. Following the Rocky analogy, perhaps there will come a time when reinvention will inject life and longevity to a proven and popular formula; but because The Balance does sound so alive and so current, it’s pretty clear that that time isn’t now.

They've aimed higher within the bounds of arena-primed indie rock on The Balance - 'Sidetrack' is sure to be set staple - without throwing in any alienating left hooks, or bolo punches.

As a matter of fact, taken as a statement album, The Balance sure feels like a defiant reply to the criticism that followed The Ride.

Catfish and The Bottlemen have reinforced their identity and struck a balance between the endearing songrwriting that first connected them with the pub crowds of their early days, and the huge, stadium sounds the band is fast becoming associated with and considering the norm.

The band has all the ingredients in place to produce rock music that will last, and when indie music takes its next turn back towards rock belter territory, Catfish and The Bottlemen are bound to be at the forefront with more new music to brandish.

"Simple things, get them right," McCann sings on album track 'Mission'. "You'll have enough to last your life."

Case in point.

Feature: Why Rosalía's Visual Imagery Is The New Frontier Of Music Videos →

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY COOL ACCIDENTS, FEBRUARY 2019

Looking at any commercial music chart currently, the presence of Spanish-speaking artists is a strong one - a great example of a cultural takeover that is proving itself to be a long-lasting one. The huge successes of artists including Cardi B, J. Balvin and of course, Daddy Yankee with Despacito, over the last few years is testament to the irresistible nature of this fusion of trap, hip-hop and reggaeton, but coming in hot on their heels is a young Catalan singer who is bringing with her a fiery virtuosity from the south of Spain - her name is Rosalía.

At only 25, the singer has propelled herself onto a global radar as not simply a dynamic force in Spanish pop, but as a formidable artist who has crossed international language boundaries with her vibrant auteurism, and experimental representations of flamenco music. 

Particularly with her latest record El mal querer, Rosalía approaches her craft inquisitively and boldly; the foundation of the album stretches back centuries, the material a conceptual exploration inspired by a 13th century romance text, Flamenca. Themes of toxic relationships abound in the text and the record, however Rosalía’s head-turning work with El mal querer demands attention for its intricate and nuanced visuals as it does its sharply addictive musicality. 

The album’s artwork is an immediate example of Rosalía’s delve into Spanish iconography - portrayed by Filip Custic as a heavenly figure; indeed the purity depicted in the imagery is one that is further explored and contrasted further on El mal querer with great effect. 

The first single from El mal querer, Malamente, opens the record and in doing so, kicks the door open on an album of passionate music. It’s the music video, though, that captures the strength and charisma of Rosalía’s unique vision. A man in a traditional capirote (a hood worn during Spanish Holy Week) rides a skateboard with nails. Rosalía herself rides a motorbike as a man - a modern bullfighter - taunts her as if she was the bull. 

Where Malamente represents omens and predictions, the third ‘chapter’ of El mal querer also had a bombastic visual delivered alongside - PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ - a chapter that details infatuation and jealousy. As a follow up to Malamente, PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ continues Rosalía’s contrasts of the delicate with the abrasive: a plastic flamenco doll swings from the rearview mirror of a truck, which eventually crashes into a brick wall. 

Truck drivers are depicted with their metal beasts, blood spreading out from their chests, referencing the song’s chorus (translated to English, ‘I think of your gaze/Your gaze/Is a bullet stuck in my chest’). Further on, Rosalía is in front of these trucks with her squad of dancers. As she sings, decked out in gorgeous streetwear, Rosalía is followed closely and surrounded by men pointing guns and machetes at her. 

By contrasting provocative imagery with strong pop choreography that Rihanna would be proud of, Rosalía positions herself within an interesting space. There has been opposition to her use of Gitano culture and religious imagery while at the same time, Spanish media has also lauded her as an innovator, bringing flamenco into a whole new era. 

What Rosalía has done is prove the enduring passionate nature of her Catalan history in bringing it, side-stepping and body-rolling, into 2019. With El mal querer, she tells the same story of a doomed relationship and studies the effects of jealousy as was told in the 13th century, but in doing so, Rosalía applies 2019 flair to it. The heartbreak chapter, Bagdad, has Rosalía (portraying a stripper), in a grimy toilet cubicle filling up with her own tears. Di mi nombre (Say My Name) incorporates Spanish gypsy culture into its hook, while the delicate clapping backing it is another example of Rosalía’s flamenco roots never being too far from the modern R&B surface. 

Rosalía’s artistry is one built on taking roads less travelled. Her hybrid of pop balladry, downbeat R&B and almost syncopated flamenco beats is matched by layered and visually striking companion pieces that can stand strong on their own. She demonstrates curiosity, ambition and a bold desire to lean back into the musical and cultural traditions that formed her upbringing and training, in bringing such beautiful complexities to an audience more eager than before to catch a vibe on a new flavour not available in their own backyard.