Today FBi Radio is launching FBi Click, the station’s most ambitious initiative in its 10-year history, a new digital station dedicated to solely to electronic music.
Broadcasting 24 hours a day on digital radio and online at fbiradio.com/click, FBi Click will showcase the best new dance and electronic music, extending the station’s commitment to the scenes and communities it has helped foster for over 10 years.
With the launch of FBi Click comes 10 brand new flagship programs, which represent the very best communities and tastemakers in the country, including artists, labels, and media publications. To celebrate the launch of FBi Click, we asked those behind the programs to give us a run down on who they think are the we should should know about during 2014.
Sweat It Out [On Air Wednesdays]
How could you look past RUFUS this past 12 months? Call us biased, but the three piece are surely one of the biggest success stories to come out of Sydney in the past 12 months.
Multiple sold-out national tours, a fast-approaching platinum selling debut album and a rock solid live show. They make music you can dance to, music you can sing to; music to soundtrack your party and music to unwind with. There’s something for everyone in their repertoire and single ‘Take Me’ might exemplify that best. A catchy, steel-drum laden hook paired alongside anthemic singalong vocals, ‘Take Me’ can – quite easily – take you to another place. Did we mention they’re some of the nicest guys in the biz too? We could not be more excited to see what they do next.
Goodgod [On Air Thursdays]
The easy thing to do as a DJ/producer is loop four kick drums and compose around them. But Young Marco is too clever for that. His melodies are the kind you remember for the next week. They are the real strength of his music. His set at the Noise in my Head warehouse party this year showed off his broad yet exquisite taste, balancing the obvious with the obscure, the new with the old. I had work the next morning, but every song he played was better than the last one and I couldn’t leave. I called in sick. I don’t normally do that. Check out his LP ‘Biology’ on ESP Institute. Right now.
Body Promise [On Air Mondays]
Thomash runs the Voodoohop party in Sao Paulo brazil and is a strong player in the Brazillian music scene. Originally hails from Cologne in Germany and his music represents the perfect fusion of these two countries- A little bit techno, a little bit deep house and a little bit tropical psychedelia.
He also has a degree in Artificial Intelligence… What a guy! ‘Candomble’ features on his new EP of the same name out now on the fabulous Multi Culti label out of Canada run by Von Party and Dreems (out here recently for the Australian Boiler Room tour).
Repercussions [On Air Mondays]
FKA TWIGS has a captivating approach to experimental R&B wrapped with a surreal personal aesthetic. The stuttering dance routine in the new video for ‘Ache (Remix)’ seals the deal.
Motorik [On Air Fridays]
Originally one half of techno duo Light Year, with releases on Bang Gang Records, Mikey Melas stepped into the world on his own as Jensen Interceptor in 2012 with his debut EP Interception on Motorik records.
Currently the hottest techno DJ in Sydney, Jensen Interceptor has followed up with another killer EP System Addict out now on Motorik.
Jensen pushes the envelope with ‘Alkaline’, drawing inspiration from minimalist and industrial techno sounds of the past and present. The squelchy SH101 analogue melody is supported by thunderous bass and driving drums, making it a deadly weapon in any DJ’s arsenal.
Purple Sneakers [On Air Tuesdays]
With all the heat surrounding this young producer in recent weeks, it’s been hard to get through the day without hearing his uniquely garage-tinged house sound come through our speaker system — and that’s a very good thing. We’re of course talking about our good mate, and most recent signee to the Sweat It Out music family, Mickey Kojak.
Kicking off his production career with a certified dancefloor killer, the Sydney-based newcomer has made a resoundingly huge splash into the bubbling Aussie house scene with his first track ‘Feel My Pain’, featuring the sensual vocal stylings of Tazzy. Pushing the bass knob up to 11, and kicking the synths into overdrive, we think it’s safe to say that Mickey Kojak has made his entrance into the world of house music — and boy, what an entrance it is.
Picnic [On Air Thursdays]
Max Graef is a Berlin young gun who released a bunch of my favourite records of last year but has taken things to the next level in 2014 with his debut LP scoring him loads of love. This track is a nice indication of his multi-flavoured vibe – kinda tranquilised house with obvious jazz and hip hop influences that always fuse into something very natural and groovy. He’s 21 years old which is mental.
Astral People [On Air Wednesdays]
Sleep D are two legends from Melbourne who we have been keenly following for ages. Their mild-melting house badness could have come from any of the legendary dancefloors around the world, but is best heard on one near you. Also their Butter Sessions label collects top notch mixes and just put out a compilation with trax from Tuff Sherm and Dan White (tip!).
The first time we heard this track ‘Rawtz’ our feet fell into a bongo-induced frenzy (AKA the only kind that matters).
Halfway Crooks [On Air Friday]
We’ve been obsessed with Young Thug since his I Came From Nothing 2 mixtape came out in 2011. In the three years since that tape came out his output has increased exponentially, this year has seen him release more than 3 songs a week!
Most of these tracks are collabs with other rappers from all different rap circles. These collabs tend to work better when the other artist takes a backseat and lets Young Thug do his thing, as loudly and as nutty as possible. T.I. does exactly that on this awesome new single, adding a few lines to the hook and one short verse, which almost acts as a bridge to Thugger’s cool and boppy verses. We’ll be playing a lot of Young Thug this year!
Thump [On Air Mondays]
Friendships is the collaborative audio/visual project of Nicholas Brown and Misha Grace. We’ve been loving their hyperkinetic and chaotic live shows for a while, and their productions blending early jungle rave, underground hip hop and postinternet pop are equally captivating. There’s a sense of restraint in this remix, which still illustrates the cross genre hybrid forms the group specialise in. Looking forward to hear a lot more of them in 2014.
Bare Necessities [On Air Tuesdays]
Clap!Clap! (Italy) fuses raw sounding African samples with pounding bass. It reminds me of some of the percussion-based tracks Flying Lotus was doing back on the Los Angeles record, but more upbeat and suitable for the dancefloor. His recent EP on Black Acre records is awesome.
Lazy Radio [On Air Mondays]
Shy FX is an early pioneer of jungle and drum n bass, one of the true originators. It’s a sound which has spawned a huge global scene since its first steps in the early 90s. The fact that Shy has produced this incredible remix in 2014 just blows me away, proving he’s still a formidable force in the UK landscape all these years later. The ‘Stay With Me’ vocal from Sam Smith is pretty extraordinary, so Shy was working with top quality material.
So we have a scene-shaping, legendary producer teaming up with one of Britain’s brightest new talents. It’s a great story, one that speaks to the strong continuity of UK dance music. The gospel soul fused with ragga jungle in this tune is a fairly neat representation of my show, Lazy Radio, which aims to show the soulful, human shades of electronica.
