STACK #140 Jun 2016

NEWS MUSIC

INTERVIEW

case/lang/veIrs N eko Case, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs have combined their already potent gifts into a seductive collaboration. Case and Veirs told us a little about how it came together.

S peaking to Shirley Manson is right up there with the all-time best conversations I've ever had, almost equal to that time I said "Hi Dan Sultan" to Dan Sultan's abs at the AIR Awards. Manson told me all about the making of Garbage's excellent new record, but I also swapped words with Jamie Hince (so lovely), Ladyhawke (a total sweetheart), and a bunch more including currently touring Tassie punk lords Luca Brasi. Get in. Zo ë Radas (Music Editor) RATES R ates jumped into the Aussie hip hop scene back in 2013 with his debut album Destroy and Rebuild . In 2016, Kerser’s brother is back, and he’s got a point to prove. Work on the new release, Untold , began back in ’14: “I did a bit of a tour and then I had a six month break, and [then] I got stuck into it,” says the rapper. “A lot of it was writing tracks to promo beats, and just trying to find out lyrically where I wanted to go – until I met Benny on the Beat, my producer, and that sort of defined exactly the route I was going to take.” INTERVIEW By Alesha Kolbe

Q1/ It’s been said that you’re all alpha personalities. Did you ever think that too much of your input was being sacrified to make the project worth it? Neko Case: I was always more worried that I wasn't contributing enough ! It’s not like those two can’t make a kick-ass record without me! Haha! Laura Veirs: It was cool (though sometimes hard at first) to see them take hold of an existing song and completely change the lyrics, or radically change the structure, or merge two versions of a song together. In the end though I was happy to be surprised by all of their exciting ideas – ideas that I never would have come up with on my own. Q2/ Did you try to push yourself out of your comfort zone musically? NC: Well, I’d have to give a lot of that credit to Veirs. She is an extraordinary guitar player who used a lot of tunings in a constant effort to come up with really interesting melodies. K.d. is the "perfect chord for that part that is actually odd but totally makes it" genie. She’s not afraid to mix it up. I was amazed by how effortlessly she could pick something out on the guitar or piano. She’s a natural musical encyclopedia. I was the guy who came in and took things 360 with a bridge. LV: To me there was enough of that happening naturally because of the new mix of songwriting styles and aesthetic approaches. But this whole project definitely has me out of my comfort zone, because I’d never co-written before and I’ve never headlined huge stages as we’re about to do on our summer tour. Q3/ The I-5 is a highway that runs through California up to Oregon - what significance does it hold for you, which the song Down I-5 alludes to? NC: Laura and I both grew up along that cursed stretch of road. K.d. lived in Vancouver where it concludes as well. It’s a devil for many, many reasons. LV: Any band who has toured has travelled it endlessly, and anyone who’s trying to make a beeline to some place on the west coast will take it. It’s not always scenic, but... it has significance for me simply because I’ve spent a million hours on it.

Luca Brasi

“We’ve got a lot of live instrumentation on this, a lot of musical influences that I’ve never been able to explore with hip hop before – but now with Benny, I’m able to.” The “bigger, darker” result of their working relationship feels, Rates says, “more me.” Having recorded the new tracks with Benny in Coffs Harbour, you can expect some seaside influences. “Some of [Benny’s] rhythms, and especially his acoustic guitar stuff, have a real coastal vibe to them,” the rapper tells us. “And me living up here for a year and a half now, it’s changed my life too. I love it up here. Musically, it’s just a great creative space, you know?” Including those inspirations of sand and sea, Rates leaned heavily towards his muses Tupac and Wu-Tang Clan. “’Pac had this very aggressive, abrupt sort of attitude,” he says. “He was a great songwriter too. I mean, his songs had awesome meaning.” The rapper also points to a long-time admiration for The Notorious B.I.G.: “Nobody can rhyme like

MUSIC

Speaking of his beloved producer, Rates only has kind words about the comradeship they share. “He’s one of the best producers I’ve worked with,” he says. “He has the same influences as me. He used to listen to a lot of the same sort of music. I

just find when I explain stuff to him – musically, what I’m after – he just gets it. It’s been an awesome working relationship; I’m very grateful that I’ve met the dude.” Destroy and Rebuild was, in his words, an “ode to hip hop” – Untold is completely different.

that now, you know? Nobody can flow like that or rhyme like that. He still inspires me. It’s a good benchmark.” Untold is a brand new direction in an Aussie scene that’s only continuing to unfold and reveal its best. “It’s been growing for 10 to 15 years,”

case/lang/veirs by Neko Case, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs is out June 17 via ANTI/Warner.

Untold by Rates is out now via Warner.

Rates agrees. "I hope internationally it can grow as well.”

03