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T
his issue just kept getting
bigger and bigger like my bowl
of Ben and Jerry's. Cookie
dough: that's Tkay Maidza. Brownie
chunks: Katy Steele. Caramel-covered
pretzels: Korn. Cherry jam: The Laurels.
Marshmallow cream: Lisa Mitchell.
Choc chips: Meshuggah, Dorsal Fins,
Leonard Cohen, Empire Of The Sun,
Sleaford Mods, Agnes Obel, and my
new favourite guy: Jeff Rosenstock.
The Ice Magic on top is our face-to-
face interview with Client Liaison, so
get spooning.
Zo
ë
Radas (Music Editor)
TKAY MAIDZA
HARRISON
CRAIG
Q1/
Which section of the jazz orchestra do you
most identify with, when you’re listening to a
piece?
I think it depends on the arrangement of each song,
but generally speaking, the drumming aspect of every
song really gets me going. Of course, when a song
ramps up to a key change or tempo change, then it’s a
different story; I'm so into the song by then, I find myself
immersed in it. I find I am particularly quick to this when
I’m listening to songs on vinyl.
Q2/
With well-known standards like
Fever
or
I’ve
Got You Under My Skin
, how do you deliver them
from your own heart?
With any song, everyone naturally fills the emotion
of listening to or singing it with memories of their own; I
find this is even more true when I sing timeless classics
that have a place in the hearts of everyone around the
world. Leading with my emotion in a song is paramount
to me. You have to be
more
than 100% invested to
achieve what you’re after whenever and wherever you
perform.
Q3/
I think everyone has an idea of what Route
66 is like, whether they’ve been there or not! How
was your experience of it, and did the effects of the
landscape make their way into your singing style?
As most people know, Route 66 is an American icon
that has been immortalised in the song
Route 66
and
mentioned in many others. Travelling down this historic
road, I get to thinking about the pioneers of our time
both past and present, and how they travelled down the
same road as I. The landscape is so barren that it leads
you to thinking a lot, and I find this both calming and
exhilarating. I find myself thinking about arrangements of
songs, and thinking back to my latest trip down Route 66;
it drove the feeling that some songs should be beautifully
bare in their sound and feeling, and give both the singer
and the listener a powerful emotional moment.
Jeff Rosenstock
59
NEWS
MUSIC
I
t’s a mistake to call Tkay Maidza ‘precocious’,
because it suggests a kind of smugnesss
that the 20-year-old just doesn’t have. She’s
definitely talented, cool with big-upping herself
(in the hip hop tradition), eager to look out of the
box, and more committed and motivated than
most, but she’s young – and totally owns that
fact. “I think the whole idea of me doing this
was to please myself, not for anyone else,” she
tells us. “It was just a bonus that people care.”
Maidza’s debut
TKAY
includes the Killer Mike-
featuring
Carry On
(“I think what [Killer Mike]
is saying is that some people kind of want to
scare you into not trying… like their life’s goal
is to convince someone not to follow their
dreams”) and the mega propulsive
Tennies
(such a Missy beat!), but you also get cuts
like the beautiful and vulnerable
Follow Me
,
in which Maidza’s impressive melodies shine.
“That’s kind of what felt right,” she explains.
“Sometimes when I write songs I’ll just sing,
and if it doesn’t feel very necessary for it to
have a rap in there, then I’m
not going to put anything in
there. It’s all natural.”
It’s the same way with
moods; Maidza wants to
embrace them all. “When I
wrote
Tennies
I was
probably in a really
cheeky mood, so it
came out. If I feel
like being funny or
weird, I’m going to
write a funny song
about how cool I
am. Then a day later
I’m like ‘I have no
idea how I wrote
this, ‘cause today
I’m just not in the
mindset.’ You can
certainly flip it, and
write a song that says ‘I’m
going
to be great’ – that’s
when you’re trying to find the
positives out of it.”
TKAY
by
Tkay Maidza
is out now via
Dew Process/
Universal.
22-year-old former
The Voice
champion
Harrison Craig is releasing his buttery-
smooth third album
Kings Of Vegas
.
Kings Of Vegas
by Harrison
Craig is out November 4 via
Universal.
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
TOURING
03/11 - 19/11