RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY ANNOUNCES TOKYO 2014 PARTICIPANTS – THREE AUSSIES WITH GOLDEN TICKETS

+++ Over 6000 Applications Received +++ 60 Selected Participants To Represent 34 Countries +++ Red Bull Music Academy 2014: October 12 – November 14, 2014 +++ Interactive Website Launched +++ Documentary Trailer Released +++

After much ado, many late nights and countless discussions, the Red Bull Music Academy jury has selected the 60 music makers who will gather in Tokyo in autumn for the next Academy edition. There, they will participate in lectures and music workshops, collaborate in the Academy’s custom-built studios, and perform in a festival of events in the city’s most iconic venues. This year, the task of narrowing down the huge number of candidates was harder than ever. The Academy received over 6000 applications: around 60% more than for the 2013 edition. The 60 selected applicants this year will represent 34 countries, including, for the first time, Kenya and Egypt.

Three Aussieshave scored themselves a coveted spot on the RBMA roll call this year – Summer aka Summer Disbray, a producer, instrumentalist and vocalist; Lewis Cancut aka Lewis Gittus a producer and DJ; and Estii / Yale aka Mark Maxwell, a producer, DJ and instrumentalist (links and more info in attached bios).

The final group of 60 has been selected to represent a diverse array of styles, skill levels, methodologies and cultural backgrounds. They will each participate in one of two fortnight-long ‘terms’, with 30 artists attending each term. Among the selected participants are Istanbul experimental/noise artist Ipek Gorgun; vanguardist N.Y.C. hip hop artist Zebra Katz; and Paris-based singer/producer Lafawndah, whose “island life music” is a synthesis of industrial, ’80s bands and tropical flourishes. Liverpool singer-songwriter Laura J. Martin will contribute her skills on MPC, flute, mandolin and piano; Tokyo’s Sapphire Slows, known for releases on 100% Silk and Big Love, will rep her krautrock-tinged house; and Lahore artist Tollcrane will bring his margin-walking techno and psych-rock excursions.

As part of the announcement the Academy has worked with graphic design studio Other Means to create an interactive website that provides insights and statistics about the applicants and participants, which you can check out at www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/2014-participant-website

In addition to the participant announcement, RBMA is also proud to premiere the trailer to a documentary to be released next month about 2011 Academy grad Yosi Horikawa. Entitled Layered Memories, the film follows Yosi as he travels to the stunning World Heritage island of Yakushima to record sounds and, later, plays the resulting tracks on speakers he has built himself. The full-length documentary will be released in August 2014. View the trailer here:

www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/layered-melodies-trailer

2014 AUSTRALIAN RBMA PARTICIPANTS

Summer
Real Name: Summer Disbray
Country: Australia
Residence: Berlin
Music Style: Chill Out, House, R&B
Skills: Producer, DJ, Instrumentalist, Vocalist

http://www.sounds-likesummer.tumblr.com
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialSummerMusic
http://www.twitter.com/trulysummer
http://www.soundcloud.com/officialsummer

The spectral experimentation of Summer Disbray takes cues from late, great soul icons, hybrid R&B, synth pop, and high-sheen electronics. An occasional busker and graffiti artist, her low-slung, soulful vocals adapt easily to indie folk songs about friend-love and lost gloves, but could easily carry a Disclosure-style crossover club track. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, to learn that the Australian-born multi-instrumentalist has lived in Berlin, a city where she took on coursework in DJing and electronic production at dBs Music… and perfected the art of (not) baking raw vegan cheesecake.

Lewis Cancut
Real Name: Lewis Gittus
Country: Australia
Residence: Kallista
Music Style: Tropical Trap
Skills: Producer, DJ

http://www.lewiscancut.tumblr.com
http://www.facebook.com/LewisCanCut
http://www.twitter.com/lewiscancut
http://www.soundcloud.com/lewis-cancut
http://www.instagram.com/lewiscancut

The company one keeps says a lot about them. So, knowing that Australia’s Lewis Cancut kicks it with the likes of Diplo, Switch, Benny Blanco, Crookers, and Sinden, would it surprise you to learn he’s mastered the art of the sun-kissed, tropical booty beat? Running the gamut from reggaeton to baile funk, and UK funky to dancehall, Lewis’ sound is all good vibes. His hustle is not too bad either – he runs his own label, Scattermusic, collaborates widely with other producers and MCs, pulls remix duty, releases tracks on other labels (including Diplo’s Mad Decent), and averages multiple club gigs per week. Any DJ worth their salt has an innate knack for synthesis, a sixth sense for blending disparate sources seamlessly – Lewis has it in abundance, and it shows in his sets and original material alike.

Estii / Yale
Real Name: Mark Maxwell
Country: Australia
Residence: Newmarket
Music Style: Nu Disco, Pop
Skills: Producer, DJ, Instrumentalist

https://www.facebook.com/m.mxwll
https://www.facebook.com/thisisestii
https://soundcloud.com/thisisestii
https://www.facebook.com/yalesounds
https://soundcloud.com/yalesounds

Mark Maxwell trained as a mechanical engineer, but his methodical approach to production as part of Yale and Estii, coupled with an acute ear for melody, yields upbeat Balearic anthems and daydreamy nu-disco, inspired by wide-eyed, youthful idealism primed for summertime festivals. If Todd Terje made vocal synth pop, it might sound something like this. Over the past few years, the Australian producer has digitally released a string of material and appeared before neon-vested masses at festivals such as Future and Creamfields. With a knack for crafting danceable, dynamic grooves with punchy drums (offset by the occasional R&B-indebted, wobble bass-backed slow burner), and a side project building MIDI-controlled portable light shows, Maxwell is aiming for maximum impact, and it shows.

ABOUT THE 2014 ACADEMY

This October, Red Bull Music Academy will plant stakes in Tokyo, one of the world’s most iconic cities – and one with a truly unique and vibrant cultural landscape. From the equipment designers and game soundtracks that have had an inestimable influence on modern music, to its very own ‘electric town’ (Akihabara), to grand concert halls and the many small but well-stocked record stores that are a collector’s dream – Tokyo is a place for the imagination to take flight. The original urban jungle, with over 13 million inhabitants, Tokyo is a place where the ancient past and the recently imagined future are deeply entwined, and vestiges of old Edo underlie the city’s sprawl.

ABOUT THE ACADEMY

Red Bull Music Academy held its first session in Berlin in 1998 and has since taken its kaleidoscopic array of events, workshops and studio sessions right around the world. Previous stops have included NYC, Toronto, London, Madrid, Melbourne, and Cape Town. For each event, a building is fitted out with specially designed workspaces, high-end recording studio, radio studio and communal spaces – and installed with an exhibition of local established and emerging visual artists. By night, Red Bull Music Academy presents a festival of ground-breaking signature concerts and parties held in the city’s cult venues, cultural institutions, and hidden spaces. Exchange between genres and generations has always been central to the Academy philosophy. Former lecturers include Bob Moog, Nile Rodgers, Steve Reich, Kim Gordon, Flying Lotus, Giorgio Moroder, Erykah Badu, Bootsy Collins, Brian Eno, Richie Hawtin, Tony Allen, Q-Tip, Sly & Robbie, Chuck D, M.I.A., James Murphy, and Moodymann, to name a few.

redbullmusicacademy.com