After 23 glorious years, Falls Festival continues to provide us with the most unforgettable moments across the New Year festivus. The 2016-17 lineup saw some major international names, as well as our best local acts rounding up another year in style. In Byron Bay, it was a balmy 33 degrees across the three day event and climaxed with a torrential downpour for the very last performances on day three.
Our final day began correctly with some good honest noise courtesy of Perth locals Tired Lion and New York lo-fi/ punk guys Parquet Courts. AlunaGeorge followed-up by filling out the Forest Stage tent, and DMA’s brought their usual high-energy, homegrown flavour. Thankfully, we managed to catch our breath afterwards and vibed along with Vallis Alps. Things picked up again during Golden Features’ set and by the time Catfish And The Bottlemen took the stage, the stifling heat had well and truly been broken and the rain had set in for the rest of the night. The crowd stood drenched for over an hour while stage equipment was dried off and excess water mopped up, but it was certainly worth the wait. Those brave punters that held out were then treated to a breathtaking performance by London Grammar and muzzed along with Alison Wonderland to close out another amazing Falls Festival.
Read our full review of Falls Festival in Byron Bay
In this gallery you will find Tired Lion, Parquet Courts, AlunaGeorge, Vallis Alps, DMA’s, Golden Features, Catfish And The Bottlemen, London Grammar, and Alison Wonderland.
PHOTOS: Falls Festival Day I
PHOTOS: Falls Festival Day IITired Lion
Parquet Courts
AlunaGeorge
Vallis Alps
DMA’s
Golden Features
Catfish & The Bottlemen
London Grammar
Alison Wonderland
Photos: Dani Hansen/Howl & Echoes
Since his explosion onto the Australian electronic scene back in 2014, Sydney’s Tom Stell aka Golden Features has been continually releasing pioneering electronic music, going on to brand himself as one of the most innovative producers, not only in Australia, but internationally. Known for his explosive genre-bending sound, Stell’s latest work is nothing short of stellar.
A double-sided single release, where each track displays wholly different sounds and vibes, one relaxed, the other brooding in darker tones. Wolfie is the first of the two, an ambient soundscape which was originally written as a lullaby for his nephew. Layered in silky smooth synths and beats, the atmospheric electronica makes way for some of the lushest vocals to grace a Golden Features production, courtesy of the one and only Julia Stone.
This is wonderfully contrasted with the dark, heavy rave anthem Funeral, which boasts an almost blood-curling blend of experimental screams and tones. Despite there being no vocal feature present, Funeral manages to reinvent itself masterfully over the course of three memorable minutes.
This release is the first on ODESZA’s Foreign Family Collective, and to celebrate Harrison and Clay explained their enthusiasm in working with Stell,
“Two and half years ago we played our first show in Australia where we were introduced to one of the most unique and forward thinking producers we’ve ever met. That person was Golden Features. Golden’s tracks are dark, brooding, and impressively detailed.”
“He’s already made a name for himself in the Australian music scene and now we’re proud to say we’re bringing him into the family. Wolfie and Funeral exhibit his diverse range in production and songwriting. One’s blissfully nostalgic and the other is a dance party in hell, enjoy.”
This sudden release is simply a reminder as to why he is named one of the most cutting-edge producers, and a huge wake-up call for those who have been sleeping on him. Make sure you’re not of the latter!
Image: Facebook
Golden Features is often touted as Australia’s next great deep house producer, but whilst he does use some of those signature melodies and vocals, he is much more firmly entrenched in the trap, wobble, and dubstep genres. Golden Features is the master of that shifting gear feel, the locomotive swing where the last movement is the quickest, creating a sense of building intensity.
You can see the influence of forerunner and other modern Aussie great, Flume. It’s a continuation of that original sound that is post-dubstep, and influenced by the trap movement in hip hop, which finds a more natural home in dance music. Golden Features is in some ways more progressive than Flume, with a more dark and cavernous sound, but also has commercial appeal, with some obvious deep house sensibilities and a love for pretty vocals. He has also done away with some of the irregular time signatures that some people find difficult and alienating. He even has Flume’s same affinity with hip hop. In 2012, long before the release of his first album, I had seen Flume play at the exact same venue and from his remixes alone recognized that he was onto something special. Seeing Golden Features in the same spot, with that same wide-eyed fan base was complete déjà vu.
The crowd were completely familiar with the artists two EP’s, only released within the last 15 months, and were most receptive to his original music. The iPhone cameras all came out for the standout track Tell Me, which is maybe most illustrative of his unique sound – some smooth female vocals courtesy of Nicole Millar that’s strangled by a sinister reverberation throughout. It’s exemplary of his blend of the deep house and dubstep traditions. People were acutely aware that this was something they wanted to record for posterity. I was even impressed to hear people sing the lyrics to the infectious Telescope, no easy feat given the song can’t be found on YouTube, and lyrics haven’t found their way onto Genius.com yet. Of course the crowd responded strongest to the stunning No One which is both warm and menacing, and features amazing vocals from Indigenous singer Thelma Plum. Golden Features music is meant to be heard live, because it’s meant to be heard thumping. The room shook for the encore, Factory, a banging bass track.
The same can be said for the rest of his set. Golden Features plays that brand of Southern Rap that only comes to life when played loud in the dancehall setting. Brodinski’s Francois-Xavier sounds laughable on YouTube, but becomes absolutely brutal when it’s coming out of the sound system of the Prince Bandroom. He dropped other booming trap sounds like I Can’t Help Myself and Future’s 3500. It provided an opportunity for those on the dance floor who had managed to carve out some space for themselves to throw some big shapes.
In the style of SBTRKT or Daft Punk, Golden Features wears a solid gold mask obscuring his face. It’s just the kind of imagery that suits his dark sound and lends the act a bit of spectacle and mystery. It’s a gimmick that’s enigmatic, rather than tacky. He looked very at home on the big stage of the Prince Bandroom, and it’s the kind of performance that will benefit in the coming years from an even bigger lightshow.
As Australians have become increasingly discerning with their taste in dance music, Golden Features is bound to find a huge support base amongst his countrymen; who are ready for a home-grown producer making cerebral EDM. Even though his sound is blackhole dark, there’s little doubt he’ll enjoy a very bright future.
State of Origin is here. That time of year when New South Wales and Queensland sports teams don their colours, go head to head and battle it out on the field – while the rest of us shout profusely at the television. And it’s bloody fun.
Of course, not all of us love sport. Some of us love music – and some us love music AND sport. SO we thought, why stop the rivalry there?
So in true Howl & Echoes style, we have decided to create our very own Musical State of Origin, where we pit the bbest NSW music against the best from QLD.
The competition runs in four categories: Rock, Electronic, Hip hop and Nostalgia.
We’re leaving the winners up to you – there’s little polls next to each category. May the best state win!
Rock
QLD – VIOLENT SOHO
There are a lot of sweet maroon-bleeding bands we could have picked for this: Velociraptor, Dune Rats, The John Steel Singers among a whole bunch of others, but we can’t go past Mansfield’s favourite sons; Violent Soho. Possibly the hardest rocking band to come out of this great nation. Shove that up you, everybody south of the border.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN9NC4iQcsA]
NSW – GANG OF YOUTHS
First of all, Gang of Youths frontman Dave Le’aupepe already has the distinct advantage of already playing NRL as his alter-ego, Kevin Gordan.
Hair that luscious is hard to disguise.
Gang of Youths also has a serious leg up in terms of stamina – these guys put out seven minute tracks like it ain’t no thing, and their live energy will knock your teeth out. If this was coming towards you, I don’t care who you are – you are going down.
Their sound, too, is ground-shakeable. A mix of soaring Kings of Leon peaks and gravelly, The-National-esque lows, Gang of Youths have the scope of a much more mature band and can take you on journeys you didn’t expect. They’re rabble-rousers in Poison Drum¸ heartbreakers in Knuckles White Dry, cosmic rockers in Radioface. Gang of Youths are the NRL side’s all-rounders. Put them anywhere on the field and they’ll smash through the opposition, and best of all with a smile on their face and a smack on the back. Off the field, these are the guys you want giving you the pep talk in the locker room that will inspire the second-half comeback – these guys have been through some shit, and come out stronger on the other side. Look out QLD – Gang of Youths may be the youngest on the field, but if their debut is anything to go by they’ve got big things ahead.
Electronic
QLD – THE KITE STRING TANGLE
Some would say Danny Harley, aka The Kite String Tangle is the Jonathan Thurston of electronic music. That is to say he is a leader of the game, who crushes souls with his sheer awesomeness at any given opportunity. Harley’s own favorite track What If from debut record Vessels is stellar and is bound to leave those southerners crying big, sad, blue tears of defeat.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t37aseIe9E]
NSW – GOLDEN FEATURES
Every team needs someone absolutely huge. Someone to intimidate the other team and know that they shouldn’t be fucked with. For New South Wales, that person is Golden Features. Huge huge sounds, bass whose filth cannot be rivaled, and an emergence onto the scene much like his tackles on the field – out of nowhere. In only a little over a year, Golden Features has proved that he’s one of the biggest on the Electronic field, and now one of the biggest in the Music State of Origin as a whole. Most recently playing a string of club shows Australia wide to promote his latest EP XXI, and yesterday revealed to be returning to Listen Out Festival for the second year in a row, his reputation as a player is well known. If Queensland thinks that they can get past the New South Wales defense, they’d better think again. Golden Features is the big wall of sound that none can penetrate, with the weak being crushed under the weight of his bass. For his teammates, he’s the one who gets them ready for the game. Listen to final track of his latest EP then tell me you that you’re not going to win whatever you’re doing – you’d be lying.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/210339716″ params=”color=5f5f5f&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Hip Hop
QLD – ASTRO TRAVELLERS
There is no question that there is a bit of a stigma attached to Aussie hip hop, but up in the Sunshine State, that’s starting to shift. More and more acts are challenging your standard raps and rhymes, pushing boundaries with their beats and defying expectations and vocabularies with their lyrics. Brisbane 7 piece Astro Travellers bring it home for me. A bunch of classically trained jazz musicians from the Conservatorium, two astounding emcees and a formidable force with their female singer, I don’t see an act further south than the River City to bring it home for us Queenslanders! Check their first single Future Supernova and try to defy those grooves. Impossible. Take that, NSW!
NSW – THUNDAMENTALS
Do I even need to explain why Thundamentals are our choice to represent New South Wales in this epic head-to-head battle? Lyrically dense and musically brilliant, the beloved hip hop trio have undoubtedly proved themselves to be one of the greatest rap groups in NSW, if not the whole country. With the strength, stamina and lyrical muscle to kick serious hip hop ass, it’s hard to think of a worthy opponent. They’re the only rappers around who can spit rhymes about beef noodle soup, and make it sound badass.
Everyone knows the best thing about going to a big sports game is the electric energy in the audience. In that sense, anyone who has ever been to Thundamentals show knows that there’s many similarities between it and State of Origin: the thunderous cheers, the singing and chanting from the crowd, the sweaty men on stage and (for the winning team anyway) heading home with a beaming smile.
We actually contacted Thundamentals for a comment, and Tuka (who also has some pretty bangin’ solo work out now by the way), sent us back the ultimate pre-game song to get PUMPED UP:
Let’s be real here: anyone who uses the Beastie Boys to pump it up, is gonna go hard as hell. Queensland: watch out.
Nostalgia
QLD – THE BEE GEES
This one was really tough, because when it comes to amazing nostalgia acts there is no drought in the Sunshine State. We have everything from the seminal Brisbane indie outfit The Go Betweens, to the party inducing tunes of Regurgitator, to the classic rock of Powderfinger. But, if you want to win at the nostalgia game you have to go back – way back. Right back to the smooth toe tapping melodies that got your parents bopping at the Redcliffe RSL. That’s right. We have the BeeGees and we are proud. Let that sweet hook carry you all the way back to the locker rooms NSW. See you next year.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNfFZULPcgk]
NSW – SILVERCHAIR
Daniel Johns may have moved onto to different things, but Silverchair will forever be the absolute greatest New South Wales rock band. Dubbed Nirvana in Pyjamas when Frogstomp blasted its way around the world 20 years ago, Silverchair went on to be one of the loudest, angst-iest riff rockers we’ve ever seen. It would be a Pure Massacre on the field. You’ll be wishing it was already Tomorrow, because some freakin’ Madman is coming right for you. You’ll be feeling (Dearest) Helpless, because you know the other team is just a Freak of nature.
So, who is the winner?
You be the judge. Either way, we are pretty sure the real winner is music.
Just before the release of his EP and his national tour, Golden Features has released two brand new singles to raise the hype. Australia went insane when the wonderful man of mystery dropped Baxter. No One was met with just as much praise when it was dropped a few weeks ago. Now, he’s added Telescope and Do You? to the mix.
Telescope features the husky vocals of K.Flay, which carries the lyrics with great force without overpowering the sweet electronic beats. The club atmosphere and good vibes transgress through the track, particularly in the chorus. Just like the typically Golden Features track, the thumping medley will skin into way into your veins and burn into your soul with its quality production.
The same can be said for Do You?, which has the potential to become a nightclub staple. With the absents of a featured vocalist, the focus is all on the production. You need to let the sounds of the banging drums fill your headphones with its dark tone. Let the incredible atmosphere consume you and I can guarantee you will be ready to hear it live.
XXIV will be released this Friday July 19th.
Having last year dropped a huge EP almost out of nowhere, Golden Features is back with the second track off his latest release. No One, with fellow rising Australian star Thelma Plum, is the sound we’re accustomed to from Golden Features – thumping. It follows on from the dazzling Baxter, which blew us away back in April.
Plum’s vocals build and build as Golden’s beat sits waiting underneath, before finally thumping on – something that’ll be sure to absolutely destroy dancefloors. In his conversation with inthemix (who premiered the track), he said that “after finishing everything else on the EP I spent a month trying to write something in a radio format and lost my mind trying. I couldn’t bear working like that anymore so I abandoned it and started something new with no particular goal in mind other than having it sound good. The instrumental to No One is the end result. A few days later somebody sent me Thelma’s SoundCloud link and it just made sense.”
No One is the first track off Golden’s latest EP, XXIV, which is due to release on Friday the 19th of June. You can pre-order the EP this Friday, and get a download of No One, or stream it and the first release Baxter here on SoundCloud right now.
Though most of them are sold out, there are still some tickets left for his shows launching the EP around the country. Peep the dates below:
Golden Features tour dates
27 June (Saturday) – Villa, Perth (SOLD OUT)
03 July (Friday) – The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
04 July (Saturday) with What So Not – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide
09 July (Thursday)– The Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
10 July (Friday) – The Prince Bandroom, Melbourne (SOLD OUT)
17 July (Friday) – Metro Theatre, Sydney (SOLD OUT)
18 July (Saturday) – Metro Theatre, Sydney (SOLD OUT)
Straight off the bat of releasing his brooding, dark new single Baxter, Sydney’s mysterious masked producer Golden Features is set to light dance floors alight throughout the country.
Baxter was the first track heard off the forthcoming XXIV EP and to celebrate, he’s heading out on the XXIV Tour. With six months of preparations behind him, including some reportedly dazzling visuals and production work, this is not a show to be missed.
Golden Features has only been around for about a year, so it’s pretty amazing to see this kind of hype – let’s hope that this is only the beginning for the thrilling Aussie producer.
Supporting Golden Features on all dates will be international guests The M Machine
Mysterious and masked Australian producer Golden Features has released his first track for 2015, in the form of Baxter. The bouncing, grimy, darker tones are synonymous with his past works, but there is something about this number that has me extra excited about what else he has in store for us this year.
Casually dropping the track via his Facebook, the producer had a few words to share with his fans:
“This is ‘Baxter’, the first track off the upcoming XXIV EP. It’s a dedication to somebody important and I hope you guys enjoy it.
My next Australian tour has been locked in as well and I’m bringing one of my all time favourite acts across the Pacific to support me.
Announcement and tickets go up on Tuesday.
▲▲▲▲
Golden”
If this track is anything to go by, we are in for a real treat.
Golden Features appeared on the Australian Music Map ten months ago with the release of his banging tune Tell Me. Since then it’s been a whirlwind ride for the man, now identified as Sydney producer Tom Stell, has played all over and released an incredible EP. So how to cap off a brilliant year? Team up with Jack Daniels as part of the JD Future Legends series and release another grimy track, of course.
Yeah that’s right, Stell teamed up with Jack Daniels to release a three part mini-series and an accompanying track titled BoltCutter to bid 2014 farewell. However despite BoltCutter being an incredible tune, I’d advise you to listen closely. Stell has sampled sounds form absolutely everywhere – pedestrian crossings, pinball machines, spray paint cans, train doors and of course train doors closing. If you’re asking yourself, “well how the fuck did he do that?” you’re in a bit of luck. Not only has Sydney’s Golden boy dropped this quirky but amazing track, but Jack Daniels helped him document the process.
Check it out below, and the sweet work Jack Daniels is doing to support Australian musicians.
Golden Features – BoltCutter
Jack Daniels Future Legends Presents – Sounds Like… Golden Features