Sydney – Monday 6 November, 2023. The Sydney Opera House today announced two electrifying contemporary music events over summer with genre-raiding psych-rockers Unknown Mortal Orchestra making their Concert Hall debut on January 30, and alternative R&b star Steve Lacy performing two shows in-the-round on 31 January and 1 February 2024.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s (Umo) appearance follows the March release of their definitive fifth album, V – an exquisite collection of songs that evokes the 70s rock and 80s pop of frontman Ruban Nielson’s childhood, while exploring love, loss and his Hawaiian heritage. The album makes a strong case for itself as his sun-bleached masterpiece, earning a 4.5 star review from Uncut and a place on The Guardian’s ‘best albums of 2023 so far’ list.
Umo initially achieved runaway success following the covert release of an anonymously penned track, ‘Ffunny Ffriends’, on Band Camp (2011). They’d go on to release five albums over the next 12 years, each...
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s (Umo) appearance follows the March release of their definitive fifth album, V – an exquisite collection of songs that evokes the 70s rock and 80s pop of frontman Ruban Nielson’s childhood, while exploring love, loss and his Hawaiian heritage. The album makes a strong case for itself as his sun-bleached masterpiece, earning a 4.5 star review from Uncut and a place on The Guardian’s ‘best albums of 2023 so far’ list.
Umo initially achieved runaway success following the covert release of an anonymously penned track, ‘Ffunny Ffriends’, on Band Camp (2011). They’d go on to release five albums over the next 12 years, each...
- 11/6/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
I know there are things wrong with my music,” says Ruban Nielson, vocalist and guitarist of psych-rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. “My mixing is bad, and my recording is purposefully amateurish sometimes, but I’m trying to concentrate on how to deliver something that feels worth saying.” The New Zealand-Hawaii singer is calling on Zoom from his dimly lit basement studio in Portland, where it’s just begun snowing. For Nielson, perfection has always taken a backseat when it comes to the band’s distinctive DIY sound, which he finds impossible to sum up. “I’ve always made up genre names,” he tells me, offering up suggestions like “Dad-wave” and “trouble-gum”. “Depression funk” is another fan-favourite.
If the latter is accurate, then Umo could now be considered masters in mental health music. The band are on album number five. The latest, V, a double offering, is stuffed full of warm,...
If the latter is accurate, then Umo could now be considered masters in mental health music. The band are on album number five. The latest, V, a double offering, is stuffed full of warm,...
- 3/20/2023
- by Megan Graye
- The Independent - Music
Unknown Mortal Orchestra released their new album V Friday, and with it, the new video for the LP cut “Meshuggah.”
The Morian Mikhail-directed visual gives a candid look into the world of street racing, cannonball runs, and other motorsports, deviating from the laid-back, tropical vibes of the new album itself.
Umo mastermind Ruban Nielson was inspired by “West Coast Aor, classic hits, weirdo pop, and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music” for the band’s new double album, which was written amid the pandemic and family crises saw the singer and his brother...
The Morian Mikhail-directed visual gives a candid look into the world of street racing, cannonball runs, and other motorsports, deviating from the laid-back, tropical vibes of the new album itself.
Umo mastermind Ruban Nielson was inspired by “West Coast Aor, classic hits, weirdo pop, and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music” for the band’s new double album, which was written amid the pandemic and family crises saw the singer and his brother...
- 3/17/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Unknown Mortal Orchestra have returned with “Nadja,” another look at their upcoming double album V. Listen to the single below.
“Nadja” pulls the curtain back on Umo’s usual dense instrumentation, instead focusing on singer/multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson’s voice and guitar. The melancholy track serves as a sequel of sorts to previous single “Layla”; both songs come with music videos directed by Vira-Lata, and the clip for “Nadja” sees the main characters separated after the joyous adventures of its predecessor.
Vira-Lata explained the storyline within “Layla” and “Nadja” in a statement. “We were in awe of the power of the songs’ simplicity; how its beauty rises without pretension, creating an honest and poetic testament that reaches into the heart,” they said. “We wanted to match the poetic tenderness of the songs with a visually intimate storyline that felt extremely honest and showcased fleeting moments of a true friendship.”
V...
“Nadja” pulls the curtain back on Umo’s usual dense instrumentation, instead focusing on singer/multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson’s voice and guitar. The melancholy track serves as a sequel of sorts to previous single “Layla”; both songs come with music videos directed by Vira-Lata, and the clip for “Nadja” sees the main characters separated after the joyous adventures of its predecessor.
Vira-Lata explained the storyline within “Layla” and “Nadja” in a statement. “We were in awe of the power of the songs’ simplicity; how its beauty rises without pretension, creating an honest and poetic testament that reaches into the heart,” they said. “We wanted to match the poetic tenderness of the songs with a visually intimate storyline that felt extremely honest and showcased fleeting moments of a true friendship.”
V...
- 2/21/2023
- by Carys Anderson
- Consequence - Music
Unknown Mortal Orchestra return from a five-year gap between albums next month with V, the globe-trotting indie pop project’s first LP since 2018’s Sex & Food and Ic-01 Hanoi.
Umo mastermind Ruban Nielson was inspired by “West Coast Aor, classic hits, weirdo pop, and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music” for the band’s upcoming double album, which was written amid the pandemic and family crises saw the singer and his brother Kody Nielson jumping around from Portland to Hawaii to Palm Springs, where the majority of V’s tracks were conceived and recorded.
Umo mastermind Ruban Nielson was inspired by “West Coast Aor, classic hits, weirdo pop, and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music” for the band’s upcoming double album, which was written amid the pandemic and family crises saw the singer and his brother Kody Nielson jumping around from Portland to Hawaii to Palm Springs, where the majority of V’s tracks were conceived and recorded.
- 2/2/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
In April, Kimbra released Primal Heart, a slick electronic pop album teeming with sharp hooks. She’s been tinkering with the results ever since.
She took “Version of Me,” a brooding, self-castigating ballad from the piano-and-microphone school, and reworked it with simmering harmonies from the singer Dawn Richard. “Top of the World,” a thunking, sing-song record co-produced by Skrillex, was re-released with a new rap verse from Snoop Dogg. On Friday, Kimbra also releases a new Ep that takes four other Primal Heart tracks and whittles them down to acoustic murmurs,...
She took “Version of Me,” a brooding, self-castigating ballad from the piano-and-microphone school, and reworked it with simmering harmonies from the singer Dawn Richard. “Top of the World,” a thunking, sing-song record co-produced by Skrillex, was re-released with a new rap verse from Snoop Dogg. On Friday, Kimbra also releases a new Ep that takes four other Primal Heart tracks and whittles them down to acoustic murmurs,...
- 10/25/2018
- by Elias Leight
- Rollingstone.com
If you have seen or read interviews with director Taika Waititi, you would definitely think that he is a fun-loving guy — and it shows in his work. He brought his humor to Thor: Ragnarok which elevated it to a whole new level of funny for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and if you haven’t watched What We Do In The Shadows, then you are missing out. But in a recent interview, Waititi put the comedy on hold and discussed a wide range of topics including his personal experiences with racism in his native New Zealand.
In an interview with musician Ruban Nielson for the London-based magazine Dazed & Confused, Waititi talked about being half Polynesian in New Zealand and while growing up he would be “the kid a shop owner will follow around.”
Being the son of a Maori father of Te-Whanau-a-Apanui descent and a Jewish-European mother, Waititi said that New...
In an interview with musician Ruban Nielson for the London-based magazine Dazed & Confused, Waititi talked about being half Polynesian in New Zealand and while growing up he would be “the kid a shop owner will follow around.”
Being the son of a Maori father of Te-Whanau-a-Apanui descent and a Jewish-European mother, Waititi said that New...
- 4/9/2018
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
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