We here at Tone Deaf are huge fans of local label Rice Is Nice, based in Sydney and spearheaded by Julia Wilson, the label doesn’t necessarily pertain to any one sound, signing a plethora of varied talented local artists from Sarah Mary Chadwick, Darts, Donny Benét, SPOD, Seekae, Richard In Your Mind, Straight Arrows, Summer Flake, and many more.
As well as signing incredible musicians and releasing killer music the crew at RIN have released their second mixtape compilation, simply titled Rice Is Nice Mix Tape Vol. 2 this latest edition of the mix tape series is all about ‘GRRRLS!’
Julia explains the message behind the mix “I didn’t want to get to all hot ‘n heavy with the idea behind this mix tape but in a nutshell we feel it’s important to continue raising awareness and supporting Australian artists and our current culture.
Trying to connect to Australians creatively is really hard, people who are excited by GOOD, INTERESTING, INNOVATIVE Australian art are a minority (that’s YOU person reading this! You are in the minority, fight the power, fly the flag!)
I just feel like a general creative confidence is lacking in Australia because the general public don’t really give a shit about culture. I said I wasn’t going to get hot ‘n heavy but my gears are beginning to grind so basically, we are just trying to show people that Australian artists are cool as fuck.”
This Rice Is Nice Mix Tape Vol. 2 is now available on cassette for a very limited run, with all proceeds being donated to YWCA Australia. Artwork by the one and only Summer Flake. In celebration of the mix, we chatted with Julia about the inspiration for the release and what ladies are killing right now.
The Motive
“All of these bands are awesome and write incredible songs so I wanted to give these tracks and bands more attention and show my admiration. It really is incredibly impressive when you listen to this mix tape, when I remember all of these artists on a Rice Is Nice mix tape, it makes me extremely proud and motivated. Coming together and doing something like this also creates a community which is important. Hands across Australia.
It’s important to be shining the light on good music and to give them the attention they deserve, it just so happens that all the awesome tunes we were stumbling across were by these rad legends. It was not hard to find such huge tunes thanks to Charlie the great here at Rice Is Nice.”
Are Aussie Labels/ Companies doing enough to support Female Artists?
“It varies. My original answer to this was NOPE but that’s not true. There are some Australian companies who don’t see gender and employ the best person for the job – which should just be a general life rule – but I’m not naive or green enough to not see there is a huge fat cat boys club out there.
Hopefully people are becoming more open minded and that silly cycle doesn’t continue. The ladies I work with smash it out of the fucking park in a big way regardless, so I don’t feel like I have to worry too much about world domination.”
The Ladies That Are Killing Right Now
“All of these bands are awesome and write incredible songs so I wanted to give these tracks and bands more attention and show my admiration.
It really is incredibly impressive when you listen to this mix tape, when I remember all of these artists on a Rice Is Nice mix tape, it makes me extremely proud and motivated. Coming together and doing something like this also creates a community which is important. Hands across Australia.”
Rice Is Nice Mix Tape Vol. 2 is now available on cassette for a very limited with all proceeds being donated to YWCA Australia.
