One of the shining lights of the Aussie hip hop scene in 2017, Allday, is back with a new album this week, so we were eager to get the run-down on what the new record’s all about.
You can grab Speeding this Friday April 21 on fellow rapper Illy’s label Onetwo, and can preorder it right here, but until then here’s each and every track in Allday’s own irreverent words – from an accidental crack at a country tune, to underage bong hits.
1. ‘First Light’
This is the opening track so it doesn’t really count – even if it’s bad, people are going to keep listening until the second track. The stupidest part is when I say “I’m the second shooter like Klay Thompson” – this was clearly recorded before Kevin Durant went to the Warriors.
2. ‘In Motion’ (feat. Japanese Wallpaper)
See, here we are at track two and we’ve forgotten all about track one because the production is so lush and I’m in Hyper-Exaggerated-Romantic-Allday-Mode™.
3. ‘10 Drinks’
I was listening to Tom Waits – on ‘Ol’ ’55’ he sings, “Riding with Lady Luck, freeway cars and trucks”. I like that lyric so I thought it would be interesting for me to be on an overpass “watching the cars and trucks whiz by”. Is that stealing? Maybe – I think it’s an ode, but you be the judge.
I think the 16-year-old bongheads will really like this one, and that’s an important market for me…
4. ‘No Saint’
I think the 16-year-old bongheads will really like this one, and that’s an important market for me.
5. ‘Ghost’
‘Ghost’ is dope. Maybe that’s because I recorded it last and I’m quite not sick of it yet. This is my attempt at a country song, talking about sitting around and being sad.
I was watching a documentary on some country singer and I heard someone say, “All of a sudden you’re cruising along at 75 beats per minute.” I was like, “Hey, that beat I have is 75 beats per minute, maybe I should write a country song on it.”
6. ‘Raceway’
It took me forever to get the chorus perfect on this – the high harmony is actually slightly different on all the choruses; I can’t even hear the differences any more but I know it took us a whole day in the studio, so I had to tell someone.
All this information about mixing and recording is probably super boring to read. Basically this track by track has become an essay of me criticising my album now. I would still give it four stars FYI.
7. ‘Codeine 17’ (feat. Gracelands)
The lyrics for the chorus were originally “18 wanna die” not “18 won’t die”, but when Gracelands sung it the syllables just didn’t fit. “18 won’t die” vaguely makes sense too, so whatever. I recall the shaker/hi-hat thing in the second half of the verses was the subject of much debate.
We must have made ten different versions of this beat. Shout out to Cam Bluff and Mitch Graunke for dealing with that. Cam isn’t even returning my texts right now so it would be fair to say he’s sick of my bullshit.
8. ‘North Melbourne’
The best part of this song is in the pitched down part at the end, I sing, “We go together like chips and seagulls in the sand with rubbish and needles”. Not sure why I pitched it down because now nobody will understand it and I won’t get the praise that I so deeply crave. At least I’ve mentioned it here.
Basically this track by track has become an essay of me criticising my album now. I would still give it four stars FYI.
9. ‘Sides’ (feat. Nyne)
‘Sides’ was something I wrote quickly intending to put out as a throwaway. Then, I guess I didn’t have that many good songs because people convinced me to put it out as a single.
My favourite thing on this track is there are some good rhymes in it. Like the stuff about sculpting stone like “Donatello, of the clouds, visionary” – Madonna Of The Clouds is the name of one of Donatello’s sculptures; it’s actually the one we used on the cover art of Raceway. *insert cheeky emoji here*
10. ‘Spill My Blood’
‘Spill My Blood’ is about sneaking into your ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend’s house and cutting your wrists in his kitchen. It’s not something I’ve done, and I don’t usually like making songs about things that didn’t happen. But this felt very natural to make – it didn’t feel like I was inventing anything. So maybe it’s within my capabilities.
11. ‘Baby Spiders’ (feat. Mallrat)
I like this song. It’s just fucking good. It’s produced by Feki who I think is going to be hugely famous soon. I didn’t have a good chorus, I had three or so shitty ones that I sent to Mallrat and she just wrote her own and sent it back. So we have Feki and Mallrat to thank for this one.
12. ‘Ultramarine’ (feat. Mallrat)
‘Ultramarine’ is about a blue night sky, then the first song on the album is called ‘First Light’. So if you put the album on repeat it’s almost like the night ending and a new day beginning. Would you look at that, and think, ‘He’s thought of everything.’ I also believe outro songs don’t count.
So I just went on a stream of consciousness trip through life with no drums because drums are for real songs, and an outro isn’t a real song. Then we put drums at the very end just because. And the snare is DOPE. Probably my favourite snare on the album.
Speeding is out this Friday April 21 through Onetwo, and Allday will be touring the country in July with Japanese Wallpaper and Nicole Millar, and playing a set at this year’s sold-out Splendour in the Grass.
