“Light Year was created many aeons ago in a celestial orb east-side of Sydney, deep in the back-garden of Australia”
Witch such an epic introduction to your bio you know you’ve got some proving to do as an artist. But in the case of Australian newcomer Light Year’s talent matches the description, as his upcoming release on Exploited shows he’s got what it takes. Light Year’s last record ’Never Know’ on Exploited had came along with much critical acclaim from both press and peers. And now with ‘Feeling This Way’ he has created a worthy follow up.
While his first releases were leaning on the more melodic side ’Feeling This Way’ (his follow-up on Exploited) is more functional and stripped down just to the bare essentials – a drum track and a vocal snippet – pretty much influenced by some of the Ghetto House records he was listening to when he did this track. ’Slow Burn’ on the other hand is a collaboration with Jas Shaw from Simian Mobile Disco. Jas had just sourced some new pieces of kit for the SMD live album concept they were working on. They used a Cirklin sequencer – one of the most intuitive analogue sequencers you could probably use.
To go along with this premiere we also had a little interview with Light Year.
When listening to your latest mix and your upcoming EP it seems that you are heavily influenced by the classic Chicago/Detroit sound. Can you tell us a little about your musical upbringing and you got into that type of music when you were younger?
I would tend to agree with you. I fell in love with rap music long before dance music. Then my brother showed me Homework and that opened up a whole new world for me. I’m a big fan of Detroit based artists like Dilla, Moodymann etc. There is always a tonne of soul and style in their music no matter if it is rap, house or techno and i love that!
I can imagine that this sound of yours would work very well in prominent clubs in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. Does the same go for your home country, Australia; or is the scene’s taste different there?
Australia definitely has pockets within the major cities where the more underground sounds are being represented and are flourishing. However the general taste within Australia is still quite commercial.
If Exploited didn’t sign Feeling This Way EP, which label would you find equally suitable to release this cut on? And what other labels or on the right track at the moment according to you?
I’m a big fan of Clone’s ‘Jack for Daze’ series which is referential of a similar style so that would have been cool. At the moment some of my favourite labels in the house/techno/electronic world are Ghostly, L.I.E.S, 50 weapons, KDJ, Mahogani Music, Ninja Tune and locally in Australia Untz Twelve Inch.
How did your remix duties for Flight Facilities come into effect, did you guys already know each other personally from the music scene in your country or was it simply your music that got them acquainted to Light Year?
Yeh we already knew each other. We came up in the same scene djing at parties together and i used to do some work with one of the members (Jimmy) before i started Light Year. At one point when we were all starting out we all had studios in this one particular building in east Sydney so we would hang out all the time.
If you were able to spend lightyears on one single thing, what would it be?
I figure it has to be something i like doing because a light year is a very long time. Maybe perfecting my chicken wing recipe, at least then i won’t go hungry!
