BRIGITTE BARDINI DROPS DEBUT SINGLE AND VIDEO APHRODITE
Exciting newcomer Brigitte Bardini schools us on ethereal wave with her atmospheric debut single, Aphrodite, released earlier this month. The track is accompanied by a dreamy video by Ayush Negi that was masterfully filmed through water to pull off a fittingly 90s alt indie vibe.
This introspective track is dream pop at its finest. Aphrodite will swiftly hijack your attention – its intricacies will draw you in and allow you to discover more with each listen, whilst further propelling the mystery of the artist. Dark, moody and oozing effortless cool, this song is for fans of PJ Harvey, Portishead and Bjork.
Written and produced by Bardini who plays every instrument on the release, Aphrodite was recorded at Toyland studios and engineered and co-produced by Adam Calaitzis (who also tracked some synth bass for the song). “This song is themed around temptation and its repercussions,” explains Bardini. “It is a lesson of knowing your place in someone’s life isn’t as much of a priority as you might wish, but accepting this truth rather than expelling it.”
Directed by Bardini and Ayush Negi, an aspiring filmmaker from India, the video clip was inspired by the lyrics of the song that are centred around references of ancient Greek mythology, ‘sirens’ and ‘Aphrodite’. Filmed during isolation and drawing on DIY tricks and lessons from films, Negi was able to form an innovative approach to creating the video’s psychedelic, otherworldly, underwater feel. Bardini insights, “I wanted to create a film clip that immerses the viewer into this world of a goddess being beckoned, almost taking you underwater to Aphrodite’s birthplace.”
The abstract, alt pop artist from Melbourne who is just twenty years old and has put her psychology degree on hold to pursue a career in music, says she is a little daunted to be releasing her debut single out into the world for public opinion, but is “mostly excited to see how people receive the song with fresh ears.” And she wasn’t going to let these strange Covid-19 times put her off. “Music is always around and I look to it in trying times as well as the good times so I didn’t even second guess following through with the single release and dropping the album,” Brigitte explains, “It’s something that I feel not only other people may need, but selfishly I need a purpose now more than ever.”
Aphrodite is out now
TRAVALLEY DROP RAUCOUS NEW SINGLE AND BONKERS VIDEO DEAR BABE
Aussie brothers, Travalley have today dropped their seriously fun, raucous new single, Dear Babe. The track is accompanied by a fittingly bonkers video that sees the duo, Levi and Sam Mellington, munch through as many chillies as possible throughout the duration of the clip, and they’ll be celebrating the release with a livestream single launch on Saturday May 23 at 7pm on Instagram.
Upbeat and hooky as all getout, this driving indie rock track will be lapped up by fans of Lime Cordiale, The Jungle Giants, Hockey Dad and Skegss, and will have listeners toe-tapping, singing along with the insanely catchy backing vocals and coming back for more. Recorded in a Melbourne home studio, engineered by Fabian Hunter and mixed and mastered by Austin Asvanonda (The War on Drugs), Dear Babe is about lead singer Levi’s lack of ability to be able to flirt or express how he feels. “I always manage to say the wrong thing or give too much away too early which tends to end up in the “what if I said this” situation happening over and over again and then repeating the process with the same results,” Levi explains. “About a year ago, I finally stuck to my guns and held back from blurting out everything about myself to a girl, I was so impressed with myself that I decided to write a song about all my past experiences, and now here we are! We just hope people really enjoy the song and get a laugh out of the film clip.”
Filmed and edited by Gareth Harrison (DJ for Yacht Club DJs who also tours regularly with DZ Deathrays and Dune Rats), the concept for the Dear Babe video was inspired by the DZ Deathrays The mess Up film clip where the guys drank as much alcohol over the duration of the song. An extrapolation of this was then released by Dune Rats in Red Light Green Light where they smoked as much as they could. Pretty chuffed with their ingeniousness with this video concept that is sure to set tongues wagging, and rightfully so, Levi explains, “We decided to continue the trend that these two amazing bands created, and stupidly ate as many chillies as we could within the time of the film clip. Little did we know that we ate far more than expected and experienced all sorts of pains for days after the video was filmed!”
Having spent a lifetime together, and the greatest part of it playing music together, the visceral bond present in their playing and their vocal harmonies is obvious, and their onstage banter is infectious. And though the brothers have been combatting a heap of change during the Covid19 madness, they’re also able to see the positives. “We’ve had a lot more time to write new music and expand our sound, and we’ve had to come up with more creative ways to keep our fans engaged, but it’s also given us the opportunity to sit back and relax for the first time in a long time,” says Levi. “But like many other bands out there, we had to cancel our entire tour and a bunch of bookings too. The biggest thing we’ve missed is playing live to our amazing fans that travel to come see us play. Once this has passed and we are able to start playing music in front of people again, we can only imagine how amazing and hyped everyone will be to get out and have a great time.”
Dear Babe is released today.
UKIYO ANNOUNCES NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO ‘GOOD ENOUGH’ FEAT. MARIBELLE
Thrilling multi-instrumentalist and producer, Perth’s Ukiyo returns today with his entrancing new single Good Enough featuring Maribelle – a modest change of pace from the lofi electronic records of his Mixtape series, Ukiyo has produced a sensational blend of ambient indie-tronica and synth-driven future pop. The track is perfectly complemented by a hypnotic video that will take the viewer on a mesmerising journey into a ravaged world, where the video seeks to compare a doomed relationship within the lyrics of the song to the state of the Earth – exploring the daunting idea of humans doing the bare minimum to get by – taking on the ‘good enough’ attitude.
Inspired by artists like Mac Miller, Porter Robinson and Bonobo, Good Enough is a synth-laden masterpiece with a bouncing melody, and offers an uplifting take on a relationship that is going nowhere. Maribelle croons in that lively, soulful vocal she’s best known for – “Falling out of love. If we give it up, give it up. At least we know that this was good enough.”
Offering insight into the song, Ukiyo says, “For me, Good Enough is all about being happy with what you have. I’m a person that struggles to keep my mind away from thinking about what ‘could’ve’ or ‘should’ve’ instead of focusing on reality. This track came about at a time that was very much a turning point for me with how I chose to view the world. I think it’s an important message for people to hear, especially in a time like now.”
Working with production company Blacklake who have made clips for OTR, Shallou, Martin Garrix and more, Ukiyo explains how the video for Good Enough came about, saying, “Some of the most common things I hear about my music is it’s a great soundtrack for travelling & adventuring. I guess that makes a lot of sense with all the vlogs and videos I’ve seen it combined with. At its core I think those two things represent movement & escape, which is what this video and the ones that come after represent. It’s pretty difficult to make a conventional music video in the current times, but the situation has opened my eyes to things I might not have usually tried. I had some basic concepts I knew I wanted to explore in the videos which I took to Blacklake and they made them a hundred times cooler.”
This is a 23 year old with a clear vision for his art, and an impressive host of accolades to hang his hat on. Will Smith and Casey Neistat borrow his songs for vlogs, US pop star Pharrell Williams and Dutch DJ Martin Garrix added him to their playlists – it’s promotion that money can’t buy and thanks to some big name fans, Perth’s own Timothy Arnott has amassed near on 30 million streams, and landed syncs with big brands like American Eagle, Ripcurl, Microsoft, Volkswagon, HBO and Netflix for the relatively small handful of electronic songs he’s released under his Ukiyo moniker.
And with his LP completed and set for release later this year, Ukiyo drops some exciting info on exactly why we should be prepping ourselves for a killer debut album, enthusing, “I’m absolutely in love with the Australian music scene, so in the unique position I’m in as a producer, I knew I wanted my album to be a showcase of some of the incredible talent we’ve got here. These singles and the album are as Australian as it gets with production (obviously), and all features, mixing, mastering and artwork all done by Aussies.”
Ukiyo’s decision to release his tunes despite Covid-19 wreaking havoc on the global music industry was a no brainer, explaining, “There were talks within my team about delaying this music because of the virus and I’ve seen so much of that happening, but I think it’s times like these where we need music to help us through. All the tracks on this album were made at times when I was by myself. I find it’s the only way I can make what I perceive as a ‘Ukiyo’ song, so I think it’s a little poetic that a lot of people are going to be stuck listening to it by themselves too.”
Ukiyo is Tim Arnott.
Good Enough is released today on Pack Records.