Food & Tunes

We like lists. There’s something satisfying about crossing things off. Even better though are “wish-lists.” With Radiohead coming in November, and Prince about to announce he’ll be here in Sept/Oct (Holy Jesus), 2012 is already shaping up as a damn good year for music and touring.

That aside, we’re feeling greedy - so here are the tours we want the most in 2012… 

French Connection - BRODINSKI & GESAFFELSTEIN

We’ve been talking these guys up non-stop for a while (yes, we know)… but seriously, one listen to Control Movement and you’ll see why Gesaffelstein has pretty much reinvigorated the whole techno scene. OK that’s a big call, but he’s definitely leading the charge with good support from fellow-Bromance-r (best name and new label in the world) Brodinski, whose recent remix credits are more than drool-worthy - Nero, Justice, Yuksek & Lana Del Rey. Rumours are rife that Stereosonic have landed the French duo’s signature… we can only hope we get to see them at a Motorik party too!

BROMANCE #1 : Brodinski & Gesaffelstein from Bromance Records on Vimeo.

Indie’s shining light - GRIMES

She’s without question 2012’s most unique and intriguing buzz act (even though she’s multiple releases in). Part pop, glitch, new age with dashes of industrial, punk, witch-house and R&B - we can only imagine Grimes’ live show would be as random and sporadic as her influences. We tip this “curator of culture” to make a Summer festival appearance.

No college drop-out: NICOLAS JAAR

We hate it when education gets in the way of a good tour! We know every man and his dog (and their cousin), have been trying to bring the amazing Nicolas Jaar live show to Australia for a few years now… made harder by the fact that Nico is still at college in NYC! Judging by this lovely footage from The Standard Hotel in New York, we can imagine this going down a treat at Falls…

Come to our Playground - MODESELEKTOR

When Modeselektor were announced for Playground Weekender this year we found ourselves in quite the quandary. Trying to save for a wedding VS. blowing our funds to see one ridiculously amazing live act (plus a few others). Then the tour was postponed =  BIG sigh of relief… See, sometimes procrastination can be a good thing! Stay tuned, we reckon the legends at Novel have something amazing in the works for later in the year.

Rap’s new star: KENDRICK LAMAR

He’s worked with the likes of Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and more recently The Game, and Dr Dre is currently helping him produce his next release, Detox. It seems that super-stardom is all but a certainty for this 23 year-old Compton native. His humorous world-play is unmistakable - who else could come up with lyrics like:

B*tch, I’m a cut you off - coz every time you come around you be hollin’ that woop-dy woo, blase blah, he say she say, oh my god - shut the fuck up.”

You’d have to think that something like Winter Beatz (perhaps with Wiz Khalifa) is a likely scenario come mid 2012.

The ever elusive: SOUL CLAP

We’ve almost reached our tether when it comes to waiting for Boston-duo Soul Clap to grace Australian shores. Especially when you consider their mantra “The Clap is on a mission to change the world, one dancefloor at a time.” We’re here guys. Waiting patiently. Hurry up! Then again, with preparations on their solo album all but wrapped-up, perhaps the clever lads at Geist have planned this to a tee. Expect to see Finely Tuned (i.e. Agwa cruise awesomeness) and perhaps a Meredith or Sydney Festival fighting this one out. Well done in advance to the victor.

Soulful glitchiness: DISCLOSURE

The post-dubstep genre has some stars in the making in Disclosure. They seem to fall somewhere between the thick, garage of SBTRKT and Mount Kimbie’s dreamy moodiness - not bad company huh? Their tunes, in particular the mesmerising Flow, showcase a brilliant understanding of soulful house as well. Thanks to our good mate Perseus for bringing this to our attention last month. Headline club shows are a must first time around for this on-the-rise UK outfit - sold out Good God shows await. 

Wash that mouth? : AZEALIA BANKS

We don’t want anything about Azealia Banks to change… well, perhaps she could sharpen up on her geography. She tweeted earlier this year:“So many exciting things happening this year. !!!! I reaaaaally can’t wait for australia !! I wanna go on a safari! It’s like another world!” Here’s hoping young Azealia, who came third in BBC’s acclaimed Sound of 2012 List, is not confusing down under with South Africa. Either way, you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll see her here in 2012. Our tip - she’ll follow the path of M.I.A and Santigold and be here in September for Parklife. 

Crew Love: DRAKE & THE WEEKND

One half of the F&T family was lucky enough to meet Drake at Soho Beach House in Miami last week. I believe her exact words were “Oh my god, I love you… I’m from Australia.” To which he smiled. Lucky the other half of F&T isn’t the jealous type. But in all seriousness, we can’t really put our finger on why Drizzy hasn’t ventured to Australia yet. You get the feeling he’d love the ladies and they’d more than love him back. Is it a money thing? If his lyrics are anything to go by it doesn’t sound like he needs it. We’d like to think he’s been waiting for the ‘right’ time. And with his second album doing crazy things around the world, including chart success in Australia for the Gil-Scott Heron inspired Take Care (peaked at #9 on the Aria single charts), that time might just be 2012. And who better to share the journey with than last year’s biggest buzz-act, Internet sensation and frequent collaborator The Weeknd. Can you hear those panties being thrown on stage? Since we’re dreaming, maybe they could pack Nicki Minaj in their suitcases? We reckon the Dainty Group are already all over this! 

We know that we haven’t done a Friday Fun in a while, so we’ve made sure that this one is an absolute cracker… let us introduce you to Harlem-based MC (seriously, what is in the water in NYC?) Azealia Banks. 

If you haven’t heard of her it’s alright, we forgive you. After all she’s very fresh - to the point where she’s only released one single, the booty-shakin’ “212”, which apart from showcasing one of this year’s ill-est basslines and some, shall we say, colourful lyricism (“Imma ruin you c*nt”), features a great cameo from Lunice in the video:

I guess that’s the thing with “hype” these days. It doesn’t take a huge body of work to have the industry spinning around your little finger (Lana Del Rey anyone?).

How much of a spin you ask?

Well, last month, NME, always the trendsetters, anointed her as the “Coolest Musician of 2011”. Read into this what you will - 2 band members from Kasabian were in the top 5, and last year’s winner was Laura Marling…

Adding to this, ‘212’ was just announced at #9 in the Pitchfork Top 100 Tracks of 2011, in the tidy company of M83, Bon Iver, Beyonce and an artist who Banks is already drawing strong comparisons to, Nicki Minaj.  The similarities are evident (killer smile, dirty talk, emphatic vocal shifts, sass, cheek, cartoon rage), but over time, what will be more interesting to see is whether Banks, like Minaj, chooses the pursuit of pop stardom over maintaining underground cred. We guess the $$$ will decide that! 

Either way, we hope she continues to mix it up, evidenced here with a sweet, sweet, sweet cover of Interpol’s “Slow Hands.” 

So if like us, you’re intrigued and want to know more, the question, like with many of these “buzz-acts”, is when is the album dropping? For now all we know is that master-producer Paul Epworth (Florence + the Machine, Adele, Friendly Fires, Bloc Party) is at the helm for a 2012 release, and that, in Banks’ works, it will be a mix of “rap-bitch shit” and “winter wonderland R&B that’s kind of like Aaliyah”.

Fuck yes to that.