DRAPHT SHARES NEW SONG PROBLEM HERE FEAT. COMPLETE & ELI GREENEYES + NEW ALBUM SHADOWS AND SHININGS OUT SEPTEMBER 10
Aussie hiphop king Drapht will tonight share his electrifying new track Problem Here, featuring fellow local Perth hypes Complete and Eli Greeneyes, dropping at 8pm AEST. Accompanied by a killer video, Problem Here is the second taste of the prolific artist’s brilliant new album Shadows and Shinings, an introspective and complex release demonstrative of Drapht’s impressive penchant for reinvention, out September 10 – and available for pre-order now. To celebrate the new album, Drapht will be hitting the road in September for a massive national tour, kicking off at Settlers Tavern in Margaret River, WA on September 3, then moving through Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Geelong, Maroochydore, Brisbane and wrapping up at Miami Marketta on the Gold Coast on September 26.
Problem Here follows on from the spectacular Shadows On My Walls (that was complemented by the wacky, supremely clever video), a haunting track written “on the verge of a breakdown”, as Drapht himself describes. The two tracks feel connected through the act of self-reflection – Drapht’s uncanny ability to identify the things poisoning his outlook on life and dissecting them through hooky melodies, nostalgic, persistant beats and clever production. Problem Here feels equally influenced by Eminem as it does Machine Gun Kelly and Andre 3000, and with brilliant vocal contribution from Eli Greeneyes (who also produced the track) and Complete, this song is seriously powerful. Speaking on the inspiration behind Problem Here, Drapht explains, “It was the last song written for my album. I had just bought my dream house in the hills of Perth, and the week I moved all my stuff in – planes started flying over. Then I found termites in the roof, snakes in the backyard, and to top it all off I have a toddler at home and I decided to throw a puppy in the mix just for some extra excitement. It was all a tad bit stressful…!”
Filmed and directed by close Perth friends Complete and Uncool Sam from Drop Shot Media, the video for Problem Here is comical and true to narrative, as Drapht enthuses, “This clip was loads of fun and super easy to make, as we just focused on bringing the lyrics to life within the house where the initial idea came about. Thankfully the termites and snakes weren’t living there anymore.”
The new album Shadows and Shinings is a step into new territory for Drapht, but that’s no surprise – Drapht has proven album after album that he will always challenge himself as an artist and push the genre of Aussie hiphop in exciting directions with every release. Shadows and Shinings is a 15-track adventure through the human psyche, contemplative and deep, but still full to bursting with addictive beats and clever production. Finished during the lockdowns of 2020, Drapht explains the process behind the album, “This album to me has been one big purge and a reset for the most part. It kind of feels like it’s meant to be slotted in just after my 2011 release The Life of Riley. Some song ideas had been following me around for 8 or 9 years, with others only being a few months. For the most part I owe finishing it to the isolation period in 2020. I had a lot of time to reflect on the identity and the relationships that came with making music. I found a lot of peace in letting go, going back to what I knew worked and concentrating on the people who truly matter… I worked with a heap of killer guests and friends on this project. There’s a lot of cathartic venting within the subject matter, but in all, it was the easiest and most enjoyable album I have made to date. I truly believe this is my best stuff.”
Drapht is a national treasure at this point, with platinum records, multi-platinum and gold singles and two ARIA awards under his belt. Shadows and Shinings is a stellar addition to his discography and will further prove his complete legend status, not just in the world of Aussie hiphop, but across the entire Australian music industry. Luckily, fans across the nation will have the chance to see Drapht live on his national tour in September – giving fans a taste of what to expect, Drapht says, “You can expect your old mate, backed by a high energy, six-piece live band of friends, and we’ll be playing 15 years worth of bangers.”
Problem Here featuring Complete & Eli Greeneyes is released at 8pm AEST this evening.
Shadows and Shinings is out September 10 – pre-order now.
RÜFÜS DU SOL RETURN WITH NEW SINGLE ALIVE
RÜFÜS DU SOL have been quiet. Quietly looking inwards, quietly crafting a new world to explore with their fans, quietly relearning what it means to be Alive…
Today the band continues its legacy as global leaders of the live-electronic movement, releasing the first new music since their Grammy nominated 2018 SOLACE album. Alive, out now on Rose Avenue and Reprise / Warner Records, is a transcendent take from a group that have built a career on defying expectations.
Listen to ‘Alive’ by RÜFÜS DU SOL: https://rufusdusol.lnk.to/alive
Premiered today on The Zane Lowe Show, Alive is adorned with haunting lyricism and inventive broken beat percussion, encapsulating the highs and lows of a lost but not forgotten year. RÜFÜS DU SOL’s lead singer Tyrone calls out with a sense of urgent and naked emotion, these are intensely personal lyrics for him, yet they encapsulate the feelings many of us have endured the past year:
There’s a pain in my chest that I can’t describe
It takes me down and leaves me there
When I talk to the night I can feel it’s stare
It creeps inside and meets me there…..
At least I’m alive…
Alive is the initial taste of what the band’s reemergence sounds like; a retention of the darkness they have consistently explored, notably on SOLACE, paired with a glistening energy aimed to uplift and uphold their dedication to wowing larger than life dancefloors.
Alive begins to sculpt the first look into a new world for the band and their fans to cohabitate, a continuation of the exploration of place that defines the way they write and perform music. From their debut album recorded on the coast of Australia, onwards to the brooding BLOOM written in the streets of techno mecca Berlin, to SOLACE’s glimpse of the darker side of Los Angeles, the trio now push outwards, less bound by Geographical location, to the wider reaches of space and time.
In lead singer Tyrone Lindqvist’s own words, “It’s a heavier song in some ways, but at its core it’s hopeful. We are – all of us – living in this transitional moment right now and we wanted to focus on the hope that the future holds for us all. To focus on the light at the end of this tunnel.”
This announcement comes alongside the reveal of the band’s North American Fall Tour, and they have already experienced an immense demand for their live return, selling 70,000 tickets in three days for their largest headlining shows to date at Los Angeles Banc of California Stadium. The onsale was a true barometer for just how deeply fans crave the sonic escapism RÜFÜS DU SOL work to deliver at every show. This banner moment joins two sold out nights at Red Rocks Amphitheater in August, and a bevy of headlining festival appearances already announced including Governors Ball, Austin City Limits, III Points and more.
Armed with platinum-certified albums ATLAS and BLOOM and gold album SOLACE, all of which spawned multi-platinum, platinum and gold singles Take Me, Sundream, Desert Night, You Were Right, Like An Animal, Say A Prayer For Me, Innerbloom, Underwater and You Were Right, and with 2020’s Live From Joshua Tree Live album and film accumulating over 11 million views and 20 million streams, it’s safe to say Aussies are definitely ready for new RÜFÜS DU SOL.
RYAN MEEKING ANNOUNCES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO ENDLESS RUN
Melbourne’s newest indie pop master Ryan Meeking has today shared his fresh cinematic single Endless Run. An evocative work, set within the joyous bloom of festival party culture, Endless Run is rich with euphoric abandon. Its visceral, multi-layered rhythm celebrates a summer to end all summers, its engaging lyrics highlighting the intense relationships that follow.
Meeking has released a stunningly bold video to accompany the track, inspired by human movement and directed by filmmaker and photographer Rick Clifford (Ainslie Wills, Bad Pony, Tori Forsyth). After having his music featured on massive television shows such as Suits, So You Think You Can Dance USA and Teen Wolf, Ryan Meeking (Whitaker, Gossling) is moving from one musical world to the next with this standout pop gem. And he’ll be celebrating the release with a launch show at Small Time (Brunswick) on August 12, tickets are available now.
Endless Run feels like just like its namesake – an infinite, beautiful journey into the unknown, characterised by an undeniable groove; Meeking’s cool, calm voice; clever melodies; and sharp, concise production. The track has influences of Jack Garrett, Gotye, and Benee, but feels particularly unique to Meeking and speaks to years spent intently, passionately studying pop writing. Co-produced and engineered by Sam Swain (Josh Cashman, Obscura Hail) and mastered by Randy Merrill (Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber), Endless Run is a heady, all-encompassing track. Meeking explains: “You’re in the festival crowd. Drink it in. Your friends, thousands of others, the music, the party, the complete loss of any sense of time and space – and who cares: the community in that. Everything is now, everything is amazing and its just the beginning. Welcome to your Endless Run.”
The video for Endless Run is a brilliant spectacle of light and movement, somehow both nostalgic and futuristic all at once. Meeking dances alone in this colourful world, and the result is hypnotic. Speaking on how the clip was developed – Meeking explains, “We knew we wanted to place the clip in a ‘nowhere’ space, an unnatural world created especially for the audience – like all my new music to come – so we took a risk on a rare new piece of lighting tech to get us there and it totally paid off. In fact, it really took on a character and life of its own. This is also the first time I’ve worked on music and really thought about how it sat in my body, so we went through a bunch of ideas on how to put human movement at the centre of the clip. In the end, nothing made more sense than what you see. A peppering of strange sci-fi vibes, some Rick Clifford magic, and we had a clip for Endless Run.”
Endless Run is another stellar addition to Ryan Meeking’s glowing and diverse discography, one which demonstrates his lifelong pursuit of music and art, and dedication to his craft, as he describes, “I talk a lot about music production because it’s something I’m incredibly drawn to, but nothing matters to me more than the song. So making music is always a balance between these two elements. My affinity with music started with my grandparents’ piano and took root in the theatre, watching family perform in musicals like Les Misérables. Something about that art form stuck with me – the bare, honest storytelling set to intricate, clever composition – music that doesn’t hold back. I don’t write for the theatre, but those qualities are something I’ve never escaped chasing in my own music. I guess I always think, ‘Why limit anything if the song can carry it?’ Making Endless Run was no exception.”
Endless Run is out July 14.
Tickets to the Small Time launch show on August 12 are available now.
THU 12 AUG | SMALL TIME, BRUNSWICK VIC | ALL AGES
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