Tahkoe is Yearning... for More Matt Corby Live Performances!
Give Tahkoe a guitar, a beautiful island setting, his partner's support, and let him cook!
It is a blessing to hear how your favourite artists… and friends grows from project to project! Throughout the past two and a half years, I have met so many people, and none have stuck with me more than Western-Sydney’s Tahkoe. He caught my attention when our mutual friend Lxgcy played his song ‘gimmie time’ consistently on FBi Radio, and since then I have had the honour of running into him and getting to know him on different levels. He is also a ridiculously talented and unique voice in the Australian Hip-hop scene.
However, someone as talented as Tahkoe knows that boxing yourself in doesn’t push your craft forward, and the fruits of his growth show on his latest EP wayward. The 7 track, folk/singer-songwriter project is bound to drift you away to an island, similar to the one on the EP’s artwork, so I had to link with Tahkoe again and find out what secret sauce he put into it and why! Here’s how our convo went!
photo credit: Billie Cooper
Oh man! How long has it been since we last had an interview?
It’s been two years!
I was going to say! It’s been so cool to see your growth since then, congrats on everything! You said [on Instagram] that this was something that you’ve been yearning to do. Why did you feel like now was the right time to try this?
I think it was just the time of the year I was making it. It was winter and very grey, so all the music I was listening to was very slow, yearning, melodic music. I guess whatever I’m listening to kind of reflects in my music at times, and as soon as I made ‘hideaway,’ then I kind of knew, ‘Okay, let’s let’s figure this out.’
It’s interesting that you say it was a reflection of winter, and what you were listening to, yet the artwork and some of the guitar choices makes it feel like a summer or spring style album! Obviously you have such a love for not just Hip-hop, but singer-songwriter, folk style of music also. What is the difference between your love for the more singer-songwriter music and Hip-hop music?
I feel like the only difference would be the time period that I discovered it in my life, to be honest. I grew up with a lot of the singer-songwriter stuff. A lot of Bon Iver and Matt Corby. Man, I’m a Matt Corby diehard! That’s an Aussie legend, bro! He’s canceled two shows that I’ve got tickets to, but I saw him like three, four years ago at Splendor in the Grass. It was the best time of my life!
In high school, that’s when all the Hip-hop started like showing up. I remember the very first album I really liked was Wu-Tang’s 36 Chambers. Right after that, the first Kendrick [Lamar] song I ever heard was ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst,’ and once that started, I realized like what Hip-hop can be for me. I think that’s where it started, to be honest, for both of styles.
That makes sense! And it would be like ignoring a part of yourself to ignore all these styles of music that you were listening to prior to Hip-hop.
100% bro. The thing with Hip-hop is, I feel like it’s one of the only genres where it’s built off quite literally any other genre that you can find, and if you really really f**k with it, you can spit bars over f**king anything!
Let’s talk about Cherry [Rype;] What was your decision to have Cherry as your only feature on the project?
I think she’s just the best at what she does, bro. We’ve never been in the same room together creating anything, so everything that we have together has just been sent like through email, basically Google Drive. We’ve never given each other a prompt or anything when creating. I feel like when I send something to her, she’s going to catch on to whatever the feeling is very easily, and I’ve never been disappointed when I’ve sent a song to her. She’s brought every song that I’ve sent to her more alive, which is amazing, you know? I feel like once you listen throughout the whole of the EP, and then you hit ‘steady,’ and it starts with her harmonies straightaway in the back, it’s so refreshing! I don’t know who else I’d have other than the sis, you know?
How do you feel like both yours and Cherry’s working relationship has grown over the past few years in the scene?
I think it’s just more understanding with time. The very first songs that we made together was nearly two years ago; ‘talofa lover’ was made two years ago, and then ‘steady’ was made about two months ago. I think once you’ve listened to both of those songs, you definitely hear the growth in both of us, and because both of us are growing—kind of doing our own thing, we somehow find our way back through small things like these tracks and performing live. I think you can definitely see the progression.
What are you most proud of Cherry for? And what do you think she would be most proud of you for?
Damn… for Cherry, I’ve been seeing her do a lot of live shows lately. I know she was very nervous for the shows, I don’t know if she still gets very nervous, but I’m very proud of seeing her really f**king go for it, you know?
I think for me, I wouldn’t even know, bro! I guess consistency, like not letting things go to the wayside. Something that inspires me from Cherry is she’s always doing something. She’s always dropping bro. She’s always got some sort of new video coming. She’s at some sort of show. She’s been traveling to Melbourne, which is f**king mad! It’s only up from there, and that’s what I’m trying to be!
Speaking of someone else who was involved in the project. Maybe not on the vocals, but I’d be remiss to not bring her up; your partner, Del, who obviously is such a big support system and creative muse for yourself. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that she was basically an executive producer on this project?
Yeah, it would have never come together if she didn’t tell me, ‘These are the songs. This is the order you want to put it in. This is how I feel you should do it,’ because all of them were kind of unfinished ideas, and Del came in and was like, ‘You need to put the hook here and repeat it. You need to put this after this song because that just makes sense,’ you know? It’s not s**t I think about.
Could you explain the conversation that y’all had that encouraged you to make that Instagram post breaking down the themes of the album a bit more? Was anything specific said that made you go, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I should probably talk about this and explain this a bit more?’
She asked if any of the songs were legitimately about her, and none of them were. All of them were different perspectives and things that I’ve seen growing up in relationships around me; in friends, family, and stuff like that. So I’m just explaining what each track meant to her, and she was like, ‘You know, we might be onto something here! Can you write down what each track means to you and send it over to me?’ I don’t really think about the music I make, so it was a bit different doing that. That’s why the writing was a bit tongue-in-cheek, bulls**t, you know?
Yeah definitely! And for myself, not just as a fan, but someone who operates in the music media space, having context is so important to someone like me. Having that little bit of extra information, even if it’s a small paragraph. I really appreciated that little thing, and I’m glad that she kind of challenged you a little bit.
Tahkoe: I always feel like if I just chuck it up, it’s going to find the audience. Whether or not that’s thousands of streams or just a few hundred. I feel like whoever’s listening to it and enjoys it, that’s good enough for me. *Tahkoe looks past camera* Del just came in and she said she wants to say something.
Adele: Hi Ruu. Sorry I was eavesdropping! Only because he didn’t mention it, and you and I both get the importance of context. This is his most different project, you know what I mean? Even though I am familiar with the sound for him, you and everyone else, not so much. So I felt like it was justifiable to come out with a carousel to explain things. Because every single song carries so much weight, at least to me, so why not delve a little deeper into it and put it into words, so that people can have a brief idea of what to expect when they go into like the listening experience. That’s all I wanted to say! *everyone laughs*
Tahkoe: You know, people are either going to love a certain few songs, hate a few songs, but whatever they take from whatever we create, I’m happy with it. But yeah, I never really thought about the whole context, that actually makes a lot of sense!
Looking into the future, do you have any idea how you would like to approach your music? Whether that’s going into this style again? Going back into Hip-hop? Doing something different?
I have a project that I’m going to drop, and I’m going to start releasing that starting next month. We’re calling it Pacifica Jazz, and it’s just going to be a bunch of rap over jazz, about being an Islander. I think it’s like 12 tracks, a lot of it’s just jazz chops. We made it right after we finished wayward. I love rapping, bro. I genuinely love it. I love chopping up samples. I love putting down real grimy drum loops, bro. I have the most fun producing Hip-hop beats, like genuinely, that’s what I love doing.
I just got lost in finding, and listening to a bunch of music: Nigerian funk, a lot of Brazilian Bossa Nova, all this old Soul and Jazz from the 60s and 70s on the Akai pads the MPC room. And yeah, that was us, and these 12 songs is what we ended up with.
How has your love for production grown over the past, however long you have been doing it? And does it feel nice to not be like, ‘Okay, I have to rely on emjay[soul] or SOLLYY for beats?’
It definitely feels good! I honestly feel like I’m nowhere near those guys in terms of producing, I definitely know my limits. I know I can’t play any instruments—I can’t do any of that. But I know I have a good ear. I know what I f**k with. I know my own taste, so I have a lot of fun producing! I’ve sent some tracks out; iPod’s got a few tracks from us. All my tracks go to [Station] Hayds, to be honest. Like, I’ve gotten to the point where if I chop something, I don’t even want to spit on it because I would do it injustice. I know Hayds would sound way better over it, you know?
As a final question, we’ve just been talking about some local artists. Who are some local artists you’ve been rinsing lately?
I’m still stuck on ALL GEAR, NO IDEA. I’ve been rinsing that because I know what the bro put into that. I’ve been rinsing that emjaysoul song he just recently dropped [POINT, BLANK, PERIOD.] Whenever that guy drops, I’m going to be screaming it from the top of the mountains! I’ve been listening to a lot of REDD. lately. Del came back from BIG SOUND, and she was raving over REDD. We both got nominated together for the whole Acclaim [All-Stars] thing. Yeah, that’s good energy over there. I think that’s what all I’ve been rinsing lately, to be honest.
photo credit: Billie Cooper
wayward. by Tahkoe is out now!
written and edited by: Ruedi “Ruu.” Holbeck