When ListenOut replaced Parklife a few years ago, there were mixed reactions. Dedicated electronic music fans interstate had tired of the big festival circuit with shirtless bros bulking, cutting, tanning, flexing and attending in that exact order. So Parklife was killed off and ListenOut was created. Except, naturally, every mainland state other than South Australia was included in on the party. However, all is not entirely lost this year, with a sideshow planned with three internationals flying down to give Adelaidians a taste of this year’s event.
A few years back, on the back of a viral internet meme, a dance track by an American producer called Baauer, blending Dutch house, lion samples, (of all the things) and a hip hop beat, skyrocketed up the charts, storming into number one spot in Australia.
Since then there have been contractual issues between the original creators of the samples and Mad Decent head Diplo, a fight with serial brat Azealea Banks over an unsolicited remix and needless to say, a lot of corresponding publicity for Baauer, who had, really, merely created the track for a bit of fun while at college. Still, the track has done ridiculously well, winning Dance Song of the Year and EDM Song of the Year at the 2013 Billboard music awards and filling dancefloors across the world.
Since he was thirteen, Baauer, has been honing his craft as a producer and since Harlem Shake, has remixed Flosstradamus, Nero, the Prodigy and even, No Doubt. His latest collaboration with M.I.A. and G-Dragon “Temple” is a bit of a banger with a stronger hip hop focus and is sure to get heads bouncing.
South London neo-Grime rapper Stormzy shot to fame on the back of “Shut Up” which was initially a live performance uploaded to YouTube. Since then, he’s won Best Grime Act at the 2014 and 2015 MOBO Awards, taken out the BET Best International Artist award and made the BBC Sound of 2015 list. With his cheeky, confident lyrics and strut Stormzy has also won plenty of accolades from peers like Wiley. You can expect one killer live show if his YouTube performances are any indicator.
Swedish rapper Yung Lean is another example of technologically literate youth putting their older peers to shame. This nineteen year old was already creating waves when he was in his mid teens with his vocoder-stylized rapping on Kyoto, casual slow rap on Ginseng and other Eastern-referencing slow hip hop with shuffled textures and atmospheric synth chimes. Glitchy nu-soul electronica outfit Collarbones are opening the night. This Sydney-come-Adelaide-come-Internet duo have been putting out killer releases on a semi regular basis and should really be a lot bigger than they are. With one of the best live shows in Australia for their scene, this is one act guaranteed to get Thebby shaking early.
Baauer, Stormzy, Yung Lean, Collarbones and Rocket Bar’s own Cats DJs hit Thebby on September 30 with tickets at Ticketmaster.
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