Melbourne singer-producer Oscar Key Sung makes heartfelt R&B pop, combining buttery vocals with his electronic production that will make you want to move your feet.
Key Sung just released his brilliant new EP, Altruism, which our reviewer (yours truly) described as “his most polished, matured release to date”.
To celebrate, we decided to ask him about the records that shaped him into the artist he is today. The results are an eclectic mix, spanning from old school avant-pop right through to contemporary hip hop. Oscar was also kind enough to share the cute backstory behind his first ever record. Warning: it will give you the fuzzies.
Björk – Medúlla
When he discovered it:
I think I would have been in Year 11.
Its influence:
I studied this album by listening to it constantly. I was aware that the source of every sound as a rule was made from the human voice in some way, and this premise is what drew me [towards] it as a body of work.
It was satisfying to acknowledge the different processes involved in augmenting the voice to create the sounds. Reverse, pitch shift, sampling techniques, layering, etc. If nothing else I think this influenced my tendency to try and make a sound’s source unrecognisable. If something is shrouded in process it tends to be more appealing to me.
Another inspiring aspect of this record is how Björk does not always have rhyming schemes to her lyrics. She almost seems to purposefully divert from typical song form rhyming, but some how the strength of the words as images anchors the lyrics. And also there is a lack of symmetry in the same way in the vocal melodies – the lines flourish in a way often unrepeated. Again here I think she is challenging the form of pop, yet still managing to have a compositional flow that is coherent and lets you in, in the same way as a more typically structured pop song.
Björk always bends the rules of a number of aspects of pop, but never all of them at once.
Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
When he discovered it:
Probably around when it came out my friend Grant [Gronewold, HTML flowers] showed it to me.
Its influence:
When Grant was showing it to me he was very excited to show me the patterns and phrasing of Kendrick rapping. The way he syncopates the rhythms of his rapping on this album was kind of mind blowing – especially at the time.
What’s more is he does these super unexpected rhymes while still having them as catchy as a simple hook, and at the same time so vivid with imagery, atmosphere and stories. So many boxes ticked at once!
It sounds so good when you’re not thinking but is still amazing to listen to when you focus on the lyrics, which a lot of the time doesn’t happen for me. (Some of my favourite tracks to dance to are pretty terrible, lyrically.)
I think, though, the most inspiring thing for me about this record is the way it’s mixed and arranged. The drums and vocal are so present and have so much force and range. Every element is visible in the mix because of how bare and powerful each element is.
The production on the voice itself is so inspiring. The sound of Kendrick’s voice layered in digital harmony, or distorted, or just completely bare and out there alone. This sense of emptiness and clarity, while at the same time creating an impression of tremendous presence is just too genius. So good.
Alireza Mashayekhi & Sote (Ata Ebtekar) – Persian Electronic Music
When he discovered it:
I found this album around 2007 when it came out in Sydney in the record store Title on Bourke St. It was a retrospective of two Persian sound artists; one from the present and one from the past.
Its influence:
When I first got this record I listened to it quite a lot in the background while I was drawing. I love the way each piece or ‘track’ is like an object, or sculpture. I feel this way about them because they each have one featured idea that doesn’t change in the way most music does; it just inhabits a space in its own way and then ends. This gives an emphasis to the sound design.
The sounds and note choice were the main things that have influenced me. There are keys or synth patches that to me sound like layers of bells and other sounds all melted together and then triggered by middi. I love the way the sounds are stacked and thick with character.
A$AP Rocky – LiveLoveA$AP
When he discovered it:
When it dropped in 2011.
Its influence:
Such a listenable album. Rinsed it so much when it came out.
I really A$APs flow style, and the way he references fashion non-stop is kind of genius. I think the main influencing thing was the production by Clams Casino. The distortion and crunchiness sort of reminds me of bass saturation. Some of them are so raw and crunchy but there is also this really pretty dreaminess to the tracks.
Rhye – Woman
When he discovered it:
My friend Jon watts showed it to me in 2013.
Its influence:
I just really loved this album. I listened to it so, so, so much one broken hearted summer wandering around, and catching trains here and there. I think one thing I took away from it is that sometimes a really consistent atmosphere through a record is really strong. This album does sort of sound like the same song over and over, but amazingly it doesn’t get tiring and feels really full. I guess it’s one idea slowly unpacked across 10 songs.
There is a real sense of tender patience. It has a transporting power, like a fragrance connected to a memory.
Shlohmo & Jeremih – No More EP
When he discovered it:
Since Jeremih put out the Late Nights mixtape I have kept a close eye on his movements, so I think I just noticed this coming out on blogs or social media somewhere in 2014.
Its influence:
The track ‘The End’, in particular, achieves a level of cold space that reminds me of some deep house and very late-at-night techno, where you have just an acid bass line, filter sweeps and drums. Anyway, this level of sparseness is usually paired with raps – if any vocals – but in this case it has the Jeremih-style sweet R&B vocal. One thing that I am always really inspired by is super aggressive heavy instrumental with a sweet vocal. I love the tension it creates.
Ryuchi Sakamoto – Discord
When he discovered it:
I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was around 2007. My mum took me to see a collaborative performance at the arts centre by Ryuchi Sakamoto and Chritian Finnesz. I became obsessed with the two artists from there, and discovered a lot of music from researching them.
Its influence:
One way this record influenced me is with its sense of narrative and the way an interplay, like a story, can develop between the different lines in the arrangement.
In the piece ‘Grief’ we are first introduced to a monophonic string melody played in the high mid-range; next we hear a monophonic melody played in the low mid-range. Next they play together, bringing a new sense of emotion to the melodies as the notes collide, forming harmonies and changing the intent of the separate melodies.
Not only does this sound gorgeous, but I feel techniques like these are used to be analogous for people or relationships. The separate melodies are individuals with their own character and movements [and] when they are brought together each one’s movements effects the meaning of the other.
To me, the music of Ryuchi Sakamoto, and similarly that of composers like Benjamin Britten or Arvo Part, is filled with stories and conflicts if you choose to read into it. I find this very inspiring, and definitely imagining story lines in this way for all the sounds in the arrangements i make.
Bonus: “Here is a rant about my first CD”
The first CD I owned was the Mystery Train soundtrack. It’s a film by Jim Jarmusch, that I’m pretty sure John Lurie did the soundtrack for. I think it was my mum’s CD, but I got all kid-level obsessed with it so she gave it to me, or at some point it was just mine. I would have been super young, four or five from memory.
There was this song on it by The Bar Keys called ‘Soul Finger’ that used to send me wild. No matter what mood I was in, if it came on i would just flip out and dance around to it, and probably play it a few more times for good measure before moving on.
I also was really into ‘Blue moon’ by Elvis. I liked the whole soundtrack [but] those two were my favourites. It’s all mainly old blues music. Apparently when I was super young that was my favourite style, and I used to make up songs that sounded like they were from that era. Pretty soon after that I got super obsessed with The Jackson 5, which I think makes sense as the ‘Soul Finger’ track is a bit Jackson 5-y.
Jackson 5 was a big part of me getting excited abut music. Me and my dad’s girlfriend at the time – I would have been 6 – used to sit in her car and listen to their greatest hits CD really loud while eating pretzels that we dipped in a jar of mayonnaise. Good times.
Anyway, I still own the Mystery Train soundtrack. The same copy. It’s one of the few CDs in my collection, actually. I got it with my Craig David Born To Do It and my Steve Reich albums.
I watched the film when I was in high school and enjoyed recalling the familiar tunes – it’s funny when you know a reference to something before the prior thing. For instance, I have a little brother who is 12 years younger than me called Henri. Ever since he was really little I would do versions of that 2pac song ‘California Love’, replacing the lyrics but keeping the melody of the tune. For instance – with the ‘California Love’ melody – “Henri Slorach, knows how to partay/ Henri Sloraaaach knows how to partaay/ On the citaaayyy, city of Sydney, he keeps it rockinnn…”.
So anyway, one day when he was about 7 or 8 I realised that he wasn’t really in on the joke, so I showed him the original and he was so shocked that it was an actual song. You had to be there, it was hilarious.
Oscar Key Sung’s new EP Altruism is out through Warner. Read our review here.
Oscar Key Sung Australian Tour 2015
13th June, 2015
Howler, Melbourne
Tickets: here
19th June, 2015
Flyrite, Perth
Tickets: here
20th June, 2015
Rocket Bar, SA
Tickets: here
26th June, 2015
The Brightside, Brisbane
Tickets: here
27th June, 2015
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Tickets: here
