Although larger music festivals have quickly become an endangered species in Australia, the smaller ones are alive and kicking like nothing else. Yours & Owls is one of them. This year’s festival has just announced its first details, revealing that it is set to take place on during the long weekend of October 1st and 2nd at Stuart Park, North Wollongong.

While the lineup is still to be confirmed on June 14th, we can start clearing out schedules for the journey to Wollongong – if last year’s line up is anything to go by (Gang of Youths, Delta Riggs, The Preatures, Smith Street Band, Saskwatch and more), in addition to the news that the venue has expanded the festival space to allow for a second stage – it’s safe to say that we can only assume this year’s will be bigger and better than ever.

At a time where the larger events are closing their doors more and more often, it’s great to see smaller events popping up in their absence – especially when these smaller events continue to grow each year, and when they feature stellar Australian acts.

Watch the trailer for the festival below and stand by for the lineup announcement on June 14th.

Tickets will be on sale on June 20th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTEGuxZBcSk&feature=youtu.be

Image: Supplied

While Bon Iver is currently entertaining Sydneysiders at this year’s Vivid Festival, he is also lining up to take part in a new concert for our French friends in the city of love.

The National‘s Bryce Dessner has created a brand new concert called Invisible Bridge. On September 24th and 25th, Paris’s Philharmonie will be flooded with the sounds of this incredible indie supergroup, with Justin Vernon‘s flawlessly stunning voice as well as beautiful guitar compositions by Dessner and his brother Aaron, the contemporary stylings of eight blackbird and the sweet piano melodies of Katia and Marielle Labèque.

The Philharmonie’s website has this to say, describing what is to be in store for those interested:

“Passing nimbly between rock and contemporary music, Bryce Dessner cultivates the art of collaboration with shared compositions and performances. For this concert, he brings together guests from a variety of backgrounds: his brother and close collaborator Aaron Dessner (The National), singer Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), and the Labèque sisters.”

The National will also perform at a charity event to raise money for Syrian refugees this Friday. According to Now Toronto, frontman Matt Berninger explained, “There are a lot of people in need of a lot of help. It’s that simple. The community of Hamilton is doing more to help them than most nations, including my own.”

This is certainly not the first collaboration between members of The National and Bon Iver. As well as having performed and collaborated together many, many times, Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner have also curated a festival together, Eaux Claires, which take place in Vernon’s home town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In its second year running, this year’s edition features the likes of James Blake, Erykah Badu, Jenny Lewis, Deafheaven, Shabbazz Palaces, S. Carey (Bon Iver drummer’s side project), Mavis Staples and more.

Image: Noisey 

It seems like we’ll be hearing more of the sweet sounds of NAO as she has just announced that her debut album is on its way – For All We Know is set to reach our ears on July 29th. Two of the tracks included in the release are Fool To Love and Girlfriend, the latter of which has just been released today.

The interesting, gravelly hum of her voice rises over soothing guitars, a heavy R&B beat and the harmonising back-up vocals. The slow, steamy melody provides us with a matching atmosphere and a warm feeling on the inside. It’s the type of song that should be playing as you relax on a cold night, comfortable on the couch with a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate in your hands.

The forthcoming album is to follow the release of her last EP February 15, which came out back in May last year. In an interview with Billboard, she mentioned that the EP’s track Bad Blood was “a taste of [her] album”.

Speaking on the concept of the album, she explained, “I don’t know about concept but I think I’m trying to do what comes naturally to me. I’m a ’90s girl and that’s the sort of music I was listening to growing so naturally, when I’m writing, a lot of that comes out without me thinking about it. Before, I used to try and make things sound a bit different, maybe a bit more left. Now, I’m just a bit more comfortable with it. It’s actually just what I write down well.”

Listen to Girlfriend on Spin and check out some of her other tracks (including Fool To Love) on Soundcloud. Get yourself pumped up for the album by watching the video for Bad Blood below.

For All We Know will be released on July 29th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vHqhRXZpY

Image: Billboard

Classixx have been busy preparing for their new album, and with that has come a series of collaborative tracks ahead of its releases. The past week alone has seen two new releases, the video for Whatever I Want featuring T-Pain, and new track Safe Inside featuring Passion Pit.

While Whatever I Want was first teased in late 2015, the video for Whatever I Want is absolutely worth a watch. It’s much more than just a musical collaboration, but a technological one. Director Daniel Pappas has teamed up with GoPro in a unique video, which allows the viewer to walk alongside T-Pain – and some Smiths fans – around LA. The Morrisey reference may seem left-field, but the video was reportedly inspired by a desire to remake The Smiths’ classic video for Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before, first released 30 years ago. You can certainly see the parallels between the previous and current versions, such as black and white poster on the wall, the bicycle brigade and the raw camera work.

Speaking to The Fader, Pappas explained, “The video was inspired by the song’s attitude towards doing ‘whatever I want,’ T-Pain’s well chronicled struggle with depression, the shared sadness of Smiths fans, and how, through all of the depression and sadness, when you look like Morrissey in whatever way you can, everything is going to be okay,” he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbWBONZKTI&feature=youtu.be

Classixx have also just released Safe Inside with Passion Pit. The dance-heavy track has a cool, hip-moving beat and a bouncy feel good vibe. It’s a positive, upbeat track with a bright atmosphere – guaranteed to brighten up even the rainiest day. One half of the duo, Michael David explained why they decided to collaborate with passion pit on the track. “Shortly after finishing the instrumental, it occurred to us that Michael would make a great collaborator. We connected, flew to NY, and tracked vocals in Michael’s (Angelakos) living room over a three day period…We had a ton of fun listening to music and realised that we shared almost identical high school influences.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Y3RVPzymM

Classixx will be releasing their new album Faraway Reach will be released on June 3rd.

Image: Supplied

Last year, Adult Swim had a solid lineup for their annual singles series, where an artist releases a new single every week for 19 weeks. Everyone from Shabbazz Palaces to Big Grams to Skrillex were involved, providing Cartoon Network’s young adult late night viewers with some quality music.

This year, they once again did not disappoint.

From Wednesday May 25th, tune in for a round of free downloads from a variety of amazing artists including (but not limited to) Against Me!,Vince Staples, Rae Sremmurd, Die Antwoord, Mike-Will Made It, Metro Boomin‘ and Earl Sweatshirt, as well as Flying Lotus and Run The Jewels, who both participated last year too. As well as being available online, Cartoon Network will, along with promoting each track via the old fashioned TV ad, also play them on air.

Cartoon Network’s Creative Director Jason Demarco spoke to Fast Company’s Co-Create about the process of creating their yearly lineup and why they continue to do it.

“It’s always a balance, because you want to balance it out with a few recognizable names, because people will talk about those names more, and they’ll drive interest in the overall program. They’ll say, ‘Oh man, there’s a new Against Me! track from Adult Swim. Oh, it’s part of a single program that they’re doing!’ So in a way, it’s using not just the television and what we bring to the table, but it’s using the artists with higher profiles to draw attention to other artists who don’t have as much clout,” he said.

He mentioned that, “The reaction from Adult Swim fans has been so positive, and all the music press has been so great,” so they “would have been stupid not to [continue the tradition].” Thus, here they are running for the sixth year since 2010. “Selfishly, I enjoy exposing audiences to music that might be new to them,” he said, sneaking in the personal value it has for him.

Here is the full lineup for 2016:

Against Me!
Blanck Mass
Clark
D∆WN
Die Antwoord
DJ Paypal
Earl Sweatshirt/KNX
Elysia Crampton
Flying Lotus
HEALTH
Jenny Hval
Jlin
Kitty
Metro Boomin’
Mica Levi
Mike-Will Made It
Protomartyr
Rae Sremmurd
Run the Jewels
Ryan Hemsworth
Sannhet
Thelonius Martin ft. Joey Purp
Tim Hecker
VHÖL
Vince Staples
Visit the Adult Swim website here as you wait for your Wednesday’s to become a little sweeter.
Image: Supplied

Chance The Rapper has made a huge impact on the music scene for independent artists. Last year he became the first independent artist to perform on Saturday Night Live. He recently released his third mixtape Coloring Book exclusively on Apple Music, which has earned him a Top 10 spot on the Billboard 200 charts based on streamings alone. As the first artist to do so, this is an incredible achievement.

It’s needless to say he and Zane Lowe had a lot to discuss in a new interview. While the full interview won’t be available until tomorrow, the previews have been released providing glimpses into the very real chat the two had together.

One of the topics was his collaboration with Kanye West, giving listeners some insight into his recording techniques and what it’s like to be in the studio with him:

“Ye says, ‘Pull out the MPC.’ They bring out the MPC almost like in the gold suitcase in Pulp Fiction. He records drums in a way I’ve never seen before he does everything live off the MPC. As it plays now the drums aren’t mixed separately, all the kicks all the hi-hats are the same level. He does it literally in one take from top to bottom. He just stands there and goes through it and plays all the drums that you hear on the track as you hear now. Less than five seconds after he does that one take through he goes through and freestyles over it.”

He also spoke about music streaming and its impact on artists and the industry after being questioned about his decision to not sell his mixtape:

“The charts are already changing, they’re including streaming. I still don’t necessarily agree with how they – it’s something like every thousand streams is a sale or something. I don’t know – I don’t really care about that but at least they’re making that move and I think the Grammys started making the move I think about a year ago they started voting on it – I don’t know because I’m not on the Grammy board anymore.”

“Because of this timing I think it was important to have these mixtapes be trilogized and be a thing that existed regardless of how the revolution goes. I know that I was not on the bus when everything was changing — I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’m still dropping mixtapes.’ Now whatever is next I don’t really know. I’m a little turned off from making music right this second cause I’m still sick and shit and I just did a whole project but I know I did the three projects exactly how I wanted to and they were mixtapes and that’s where I came from.”

Stay tuned for the full interview tomorrow on Apple Music. For now, you can watch the previews and listen to his latest guest verse on Joey Purp‘s single.


Image: Stereogum

Vera Blue‘s Fingertips is only her second EP during her career, but after a listen you’d think her career had gone on for longer. As she goes through the lovely tracks, I kept wishing harder and harder that it was actually a full-length album.

Starting off with Hold, the angelic tone of her voice takes you immediately. Its beautiful sound is surely one to give Sia a run for her money as it lets a pleasurable ringing in your ears. Even though the slow melody is packed with so many layers, it isn’t enough to distract from listening to the beautiful words coming from her mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cv6JEjevKQ

In Settle, you can notice how the addition of the acoustic guitar provides a cool and interesting touch to her music. The slow and smooth song is so much more than just a nice sound, fuelling the imagination with calm images of serenity. When I first listened to it, it made me feel like I was standing in the middle of a forest looking up at the tall trees reaching towards the overcast sky as a cool and refreshing breeze blew around me calmly. The whimsical feel was captivating.

The title track had a hip-moving beat, running a bit faster than the previous one.  While the themes of lusting after another person when you’re with someone else seems a little unkind, the lyrics are so heartbreakingly beautiful. “I find you there when my lover’s gone, and I know we can harbour our lust.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6BFbesATTU

The amazing lyrical combinations continue in Turn, as we hear the depth behind this light and pretty song. “Just because the sun always shines doesn’t mean you feel warm inside.” It’s music to anyone’s ears who has ever buried their feelings of self-loathing, sadness or worry. While someone may be bright and happy on the outside, it doesn’t anyway seem to be the same on the inside. The song is empowering for anyone who wants to get help, despite their crippling fear.

The final song Patterns closes the EP, leaving us wanting more from Blue. While it may sound like a mess in some places to some people, with an open mind you can hear its worth. With a cool instrumental arrangement and her beautiful voice once again transcending over the sounds, we see the last spark of her creativity. This is something we need to see again soon.

Image: The Music

When you think of Leon Bridges, hip-hop and rap aren’t exactly the first words that come to mind. We have, however, recently learnt of the influence one of the most popular rappers in the world has on him as an artist.

Complex interviewed Bridges following his performance at the 325th anniversary of Ketel One in Schiedam, Holland about his growing success. When questioned about his musical influences, he mentioned Bobby Womack and Neil Young as examples of the “classics”. He then dropped in his love for hip-hop. “Listening to Kendrick Lamar challenges me to be a better writer. I like to pull inspiration from different places,” he said.

That’s hardly a surprise as we are all aware of the influence Lamar has on a variety of artists, as well as his fans. With his music and incredible lyrics, the Grammy-nominated artist was credited as one of the people who influenced the last album by David Bowie, one of the biggest and most influential stars to walk this earth, and saved a young fan’s life who was suffering from depression. He was also inducted into Time’s list of the Top 100 Most Influential People this year, which proves how far his impact had gone.

Bridges followed on from this question by speaking about the origins of his smooth, easy listening sound. “I listened to a lot of R&B growing up. It wasn’t even necessarily traditional soul music—from Ginuwine to Usher. That really built my foundation. It’s a blend of that, folk, and soul. I really don’t know how to explain it. It’s an accumulation of different things I’ve listened to my whole life.”

He has started working on the follow-up to his incredible debut album Coming Home. “This next record will show the growth of Leon Bridges,” he says, which ignites the excitement and anticipation that comes with the great news.

Read the full interview here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTrKkqE9p1o

Image: Danielle Hansen// Howl & Echoes

Need something to get you through the rest of your Friday?

Chance The Rapper and Joey Purp have dropped their brand new track together. Girls @ will be featured on Purp’s new 11-song project, which is set to be released next Friday.

The first thing you can hear as soon as you switch on Girls @ is it’s great beat. It gives us an early taste of the quick, yet easy pace of the song that runs right through. The catchy chorus leads on to verses that are just as likely to stick in your head. This is the perfect ‘pick me up’ song if you’re having a bit of a shit day, with a sound that makes you want to get up and dance. Let the smooth voices of Chance and Purp run through your mind as you type away, with your foot tapping to the beat underneath your desk.

While Joey Purp’s newest project is still to be released (he’s part of Vic Mensa‘s SAVEMONEY crew), Chance’s new mixtape Coloring Book has been ready for your ears for over a week. In celebration, Chance has announced an event on Twitter. All we know at the moment that what he calls ‘Magnificent Coloring World’ will take place in Chicago this Saturday and, according to Chance, it’s not what we think.

Feeling curious? Grab your tickets from Chance’s website.

Take a listen to Girls @ down below. Purp’s iiiDrop will be released Friday 27th.

Image: Pitchfork

After releasing his brand new song Can’t Stop The Feeling last week, Justin Timberlake has climbed to the top of the Billboard charts. Timberlake’s pop hit has the ability to hold on to that spot for a while with its groovy beat and soulful sound, pushing Drake off the top spot only one week after he finally managed to get there. As Billboard reports, it sold 379,000 downloads over the course of the past week. He also performed the song at the Eurovision finale over the weekend, and has just released the lively video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0K8uYEZWw

One Dance was Drizzy’s first ever number one hit before JT took it all away in a clean sweep. In comparison, this is Timberlake’s fifth number one, following SexyBack, My Love, What Goes Around…Comes Around and for his featured spot in Timbaland’s Give It To Me. The good news for Drake is that VIEWS is still the number one album, beating Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool.

Meanwhile when we look further down on the Hot 100 Chart, Rihanna is still in the top 10 with Needed Me just hanging on and Work taking eighth place. She has currently stands as the having the third-most Top 10’s in history, only beaten by Madonna and The Beatles.

Timberlake has also said that he is working on his next album. According to Rolling Stone, his will to get started on his follow-up to 2013’s The 20/20 Experience was inspired by his work for his new movie Trolls.

“So then as that was happening I just wanted to stay in the studio, wanted to keep going in the studio ’cause you just get the creativity going,” Timberlake said. “I don’t know exactly what it’s going to be yet ’cause we just really started. I think it’s one of those things that’s just a feeling like you know it’s done when it’s done.”

Image: Supplied