CEO vs SDW

Late one night I went into a studio and had a nocturnal heart to heart with a Swede in a field surrounded by raucous pheasants. That Swede was the writer of the best track since House of the Rising Sun to be set in an establishment frequented by ladies of the night. He goes by CEO. He is in fact the CEO of Gothenburg label Sincerly Yours. We chatted for Music 101; starting off with how he came to cover Kanye West's 'Hold My Liquor'.

The Sketchscreen EP

My 3rd EP is called The Sketchscreen EP and it's a mess of cutting things up, mucking about with them, putting them with some other mucked up things (plus some keyboards and pianos) and then trying to make it sound like a good sort of mucked up. I'm really proud of it in all its chopped up glory. Download it for a dose of adventurous electronic tomfoolery.

5X5=25

In celebration of my birthday I put together a fantastic mix called 5X5=25 for a party I held of the same name. It includes a track from every year from 1989 to 2014 and has some lovely edits.

The Absurdity of an Obituary of Caitlin Daugherty-Kelly

So I had a text message conversation with a friend that got out of hand. Which led to this happening...

AlunaGeorge

For Music 101 George Reid of semi-eponymous R&B electro duo AlunaGeorge talked about performing collaborations without their collaborators, and sounding different from everyone else. That difference no doubt ensured their high placement on the BBC’s Sound of 2013 poll. AlunaGeorge make music for the heart and the head aka exactly the type of music I gravitate towards.

AlunaGeorge on Music 101

Gold Panda

Whilst he was on his New Zealand tour I spoke to UK electronic producer Gold Panda for Music 101. He makes shuffling, inventive music that somehow still feels comforting.

                                                   Gold Panda on Music 101

Forest Spirits and Sable

Sable - John, and Forest Spirits - Liam are two New Zealand electronic producers. They both make lush atmospheric beat driven music. Before John moved to London they released a collaborative EP called 'Carpooling'. I spoke to Forest Spirits and Sable for Music 101 and asked them to describe each others music.


            Forest Spirits and Sable on Music 101

MNDR

Electro-poppers MNDR first caught my attention when they worked on Mark Ronson's hit 'Bang Bang Bang'. Their debut album Feed Me Diamonds is now out. For Music 101 I had an interesting conversation with Amanda Warner about sexism, the music industry, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and making art.

MNDR on Music 101

Into The Uncanny Valley

For Radio New Zealand's The Arts on Sunday I've been following the progress of putting together 'Into The Uncanny Valley' which is part of BATS theatre's STAB season. They're trying some really ambitious theatrical techniques to tell the story of physics in the most interesting way possible.

Marina and The Diamonds

Marina Diamandis makes pop music as Marina and The Diamonds. It's pop music I have previously reviewed in a weirdly hesitant yet gushing way. It's pop music for the heart and the head, and it's good stuff to dance to/think about. I spoke to Marina about said pop music for Music 101 on Radio New Zealand National.

Marina and The Diamonds on Music 101