rufus du soul x

TL Talks With Rüfüs Du Sol

[mp3j track=”Desert-Night.mp3″]

 

TL went down under to uncover serious noise with some key players in the indie dance scene. Sydney’s Rüfüs du Sol is about to hit the stage at SXSW as a part of their first North America tour to promote their new EP Desert Night as well as their forthcoming debut album ATLAS (summer ’14).

 

Tyrone Lindqvist (guitar), Jon George (keyboard) & James Hunt (drums) drop pulsating beats and vocal punctuation catapulting them to the forefront of indie dance. Deserts Nights and its mixes deliver an elusive and minimalist approach to music, and a good look at what lies ahead.

 

After a packed show in San Francisco, the trio sweep LA+ SD before hitting Austin. Humble, hungry, and wildly in tune with new wave dance floors, Rüfüs du Sol know how to keep the room alive. Online or Live. Already a must-know throughout Sydney and some of Europe’s top club scenes, hear what they have to say about breaking out.

 

TL: Congrats on the success of ATLAS in Australia this past year – how do you anticipate its release in the US later this year?

 

RDS: It’s hard to anticipate that kind of thing. We didn’t expect the reaction we got in Australia, and we really don’t have any expectations for the U.S release. We’re keen for people to hear it though. Hopefully it connects with people over here and we can keep coming back and visiting

 

TL: Also congrats on a great lineup of shows in North America and SXSW! So what about your current tour are you most looking forward to, and/or nervous about?

 

RDS: Nervous about the whole thing. It makes you super manic this kind of touring. You’re not sure if people are gonna come check the show out. In some places they don’t and in other they do. We owe the crew from San Fran a high five for selling that one out before we even got on the plane.x We didn’t think they were going to let us in the country to be honest. Our flight was delayed 5 hours and if it hadn’t been, we would have missed the flight because our passports were still at the U.S embassy.

 

TL: How do you feel the indie dance scene has evolved in recent years, and can you name a few of your icons, influencers in the scene?

 

RDS: It just keeps growing organically. The scene in Australia is amazing at the moment. So many good people doing amazing things. Hayden James, What So Not, Movement, Polographia, Flight Facilities, Flume… the list goes on. It’s surreal to be surrounded by so many people with the same vibes and aspirations all pushing each other to take the next step.

 

As far as icons go. James Murphy is I guess the godfather of indie dance. Not sure indie dance properly existed before DFA drums. Godfather sounds corny, maybe he is the spirit animal. Either way he rules.

 

TL: We would love to get your take on music come up from you neck of the globe – what can rest of world expect this year from down under?

 

RDS: Accidentally explored this answer in the last question, but there is so much to talk about here. Pretty much every artist on Sweat It Out and or Future Classic is killing it right now. But, there are so many others. Our Sweat it Out label crew; Motez, What So Not, Frames, Indian Summer, Silversix, and Crooked Colours are all ones to watch this year. Then there are people coming out of nowhere really impressing us. Check out Golden Features and Boot Action; they both dropped massive releases out of no where. Owl Eyes and Nicole Millar seem to be popping up on every classy track with a female vocal because they are so talented. The scene is good in Australia at the moment.

 

TL: As your work gains more ground internationally, are you guys already framing up new material and exploring beyond the dance scene or is that where you feel you’ve found your groove?

 

RDS: We are trying to enjoy what we do every day. Listening to and playing music we like. We’re thinking about album number 2 right now. We’ve been looking for spaces in berlin that we can convert into a studio to write the next record. It sounds like a dance record in my head…

TL: Can you speak a bit about the track Desert Night and the EP as a whole? What’s the story behind this work?
RDS: We wrote the track during a month at an old farm house South of Sydney. It was beautiful there, surrounded by hills and beaches with cold water and relentless swells. Not sure if that kind of got into our minds and shaped the track. It’s the song we wanted it to be though.

 

TL: What’s you ultimate karaoke jam?

 

RDS: Womack and Womack – Teardrops

 

TL: How did the three of you come together, and how has being from Australia influenced your musical direction and/or inspired your career?

 

RDS: We were lucky coming together. It was pretty serendipitous… Started writing tunes one night in Byron Bay because it was raining and there was nothing else to do… We knew as soon as we wrote the first idea for the first song that we wanted this to be a band and we wanted it to be what we did every day.

 

TL: You’ve collaborated with some great remix talent, now what’s your dream collaboration?
RDS: James Murphy, Booka Shade, Nick Cave, Trentemoller, Win Butler and Thom Yorke. It would be a beautifully dark, driving, masterpiece




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