Where are you based?
Azren – Melbourne, Australia
Frankie – Adelaide, Australia
Where do you work? What do you do?
Azren – I’m an artist manager/A&R and one of the founders and creative directors of Analogue Dawn.
Frankie – I’m a soon-to-be fully qualified graphic designer and photographer and I head up all things creative at Analogue Dawn alongside Azren.
What are you listening to?
Azren – I’m slightly erratic when it comes to my music taste; it tends to cover a broad mix of different genres depending on my mood and the time of day. I’m currently jumping between shoegaze, hip-hop, jazz and lots of indie.
Frankie – My music listening is so all over the place. As of right now, I am listening to lots of jazz, RnB, psych rock and house, but that rotation will most likely change by next week.
How do you discover new music?
Azren – I’ve been a big fan of Phil Taggart since his days at Radio 1. His new podcast ChillDaBeats is an invaluable source of music discovery for me. I can’t overlook the Spotify algorithm which has introduced me to a number of my current favourites based on previous listening patterns. Frankie is also particularly on the ball when it comes to new music, we’ve got a shared ‘office’ playlist we’ll both add to which has helped me find heaps of new gems.
Frankie – Lately I’ve been getting into Bandcamp’s discovery page, it still feels like a really underrated aspect of the site and I’ve discovered some amazing music through it. As Azren mentioned, we have our shared playlist which I often listen to as we both have a collectively diverse taste which tends to keep the music in there feeling quite fresh. Additionally, a lot of friends will send me music and thanks to the Spotify/Apple Music algorithms, my discoveries will end up snowballing from whatever they suggest to me.
What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?
Azren – Given how closely interwoven it is with work, I’m a stickler for the ease of access advocated by digital streaming, particularly Spotify. I do however love listening to vinyl, which I’ve started collecting way more proactively since last year.
Frankie – As I’m usually working remotely, streaming is the most efficient way for me to consume music, but when I have time to myself at home, vinyl is always my go-to.
Where do you do most of your music listening?
Azren – I split most of my listening between the office and when I’m in the car. I’ve got some old B&O speakers, a pair of KRK Rokit 5’s (gross I know), a pair of Nuraphones (great purchase), and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO’s which all serve their various purposes nicely. Listening to music while driving tends to open my mind up to entirely new perspectives. Whether this comes as a reflection of the journey I’m travelling (physically and emotionally), listening to the music on a different set of speakers, or a removal from the monotony of staring at a screen to clear my head, it’s a very introspective and gratifying experience.
Frankie – I always find myself driving a lot so listening to music in the car is an essential part of my day. There’s something really relaxing about this process, I view it as a sort of think-tank for when I need to problem-solve in my head. My daily drivers are the bulletproof (“I’m a bedroom producer”) KRK Rokit 5’s connected to my desktop. For vinyl, I use a set of Wharfedale’s speakers with my 90’s Pioneer amp and my Audio Technica turntable; it’s an exceptionally reliable set-up that just works so well.
How do you find and listen to pre-release music?
Azren – I get sent quite a bit of new music through mailing lists and label engines. I also find a lot of new music through podcasts and radio shows like Metropolis with Jason Bentley on KCRW and The Chillest Show on Radio 1. Pitching new music is part of the job so yes, I’m frequently sending music pre-release.
Frankie – When I’m commissioned for artwork or visual assets for a project, the biggest perk is being able to experience an artist’s music pre-release and working with them to unlock a new aspect of their creation through a visual medium. Other than that, Azren sends me a bunch of unreleased music via radio shows or blogs that he’s following.
What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
Azren – Audio quality is a sacrifice, particularly when I’m privy to the process of how tracks are made and the painstaking quality control that goes into perfecting the mix/master for it just to be digitally compressed once it reaches DSPs. Ease of access is definitely the biggest benefit to listening digitally and to be fair, I’d much rather a few clicks on an app than downloading and uploading entire catalogues onto an iPod (although, I do miss my 64gb brick).
Frankie – There are so many ways to share music nowadays, it can become slightly overwhelming to keep track of which songs exist on what platforms. Audio quality is the biggest bottleneck when listening to music digitally. Still, I am looking forward to what Dolby Atoms technology could do for the music industry and the listener experience.
How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
Azren – Hope I’m not harping on too much about the benefits of Spotify here, but I tend to use the save function quite regularly to keep track of music I’m enjoying. As mentioned, Frankie and I regularly add new music to our shared work playlist which acts as a great resource for cataloguing what we’re both listening to.
Frankie – I wish I kept better track of what I listen to! Consuming so much new music on a pretty regular basis, I routinely forget about something unless I make a note or download it. Being a pretty visually inclined person, associating the music to the artwork or visuals behind the projects helps me remember the song and the emotions I felt when listening.
“associating the music to the artwork or visuals behind the projects helps me remember the song and the emotions I felt when listening.”
Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Azren – Absolutely, introducing people to new music is always a really rewarding experience and has been the catalyst of many new friendships being formed. I tend to send YouTube links as it’s a fairly universal medium that doesn’t require a subscription.
Frankie – I find it fun discovering what kinds of music people listen to! I have lots of shared playlists with friends that we keep adding to. I really enjoy sharing music with others and I find music curation to be quite a social experience.
Anything you want to “promote”?
Azren:
-My management client Tutara Peak recently released the second single taken from his debut EP which is out on Aug 27th
-The extremely talented Little Snake released his debut album on Brainfeeder a few weeks back and it’s still in my top rotation
-My Dutch management client Zes also put out a single recently through our friends at bitbird, ahead of his new EP which drops in September
Frankie:
I’m fortunate to be surrounded by very talented friends who each work with different mediums from photography, art, design and fashion. Their drive and work ethic inspires me to push myself and I highly recommend you check their workout.
Oliver White (3D Artist / Graphic Designer)
Nick Astanei (Photographer / Graphic Designer)
Pierre Mukeba (Artist)
Josh Aldridgee (Cartoonist)
