one of Sydney’s finest producers shows us a glimpse into his musical history…

Dro Carey might be one of Australia's most diverse and exciting producers, someone with a big emotional range who feels very comfortable in the studio. A glance over his discography shows an artist creatively nimble who can go from highly accessible tracks with summertime vocals to intricate pieces of electronica best listened to on rainy days. Soothsayer recently announced the upcoming release of Dro Carey's debut album Nothing is a Solo Project, and to kickstart the countdown to its 18th September release date they have released the Dancehall-inspired 'Hold A Vibe' feat. Alexx A-Game. It's a good time wrapped in a Xanax adventure exploring Tokyo. Indeed, it's a tiny departure from the other singles released so far (see links above), but as Carey explains, that’s exactly what lure him to include it: "Stylistically, it's definitely an outlier for the record, but the creative risk posed by that extreme level of variety appeals to me." A man with such range must have quite a library of influences, and as this Six For One shows, that statement is correct.

This track reminds me of my teenage years:

Lil Wayne - Mrs. Officer feat. Bobby Valentino and Kidd Kidd (2008)

‘I think it's important not to rig the answer with anything too cool for this one! The truly evocative track choices for teenage years need to be honest... ‘

‘I was really into this album at the time but not so much this track in particular, but it was the one you would hear ambiently coming out of boomboxes and phones (back when you had to move the mp3s to them with Bluetooth!). Coming back to it now though the production by Deezle is really slick and impressive—as the whole lineup of production on Carter III was–and it was an influential snare sound for me I think, that kind of really super shortened rim (before I had heard many other southern rap beats, or ever heard any UK garage, which would have been 1-2 years later).’

My first exposure to dance music was:

Angélique Kidjo - Batonga (1991)

‘When I was around 12/13 years old driving in the car with my parents we would listen to a lot of Fbi Radio, particularly The Sunsets programs which exposed me to a lot of dance music for the first time. Back then there wasn't back announcing or as attentive online tracklisting, particularly for guest mixes, so generally, I wasn't able to figure out which track was which.’

‘So I'm throwing the answer to this one way back to a very early childhood favourite from Angélique Kidjo, from the Logozo album released in 1991. Which I think is objectively the first music I heard with prominent drum machine programming.’

A track from my favourite local artist:

Kwame – WOW (2018)

‘Most people are probably across Kwame and this track, but as far as Sydney artists he's probably one of my favourite working at the moment. When someone can produce, mix and rap – just do everything on their own track – and it rolls out at this standard, it's crazy really. Obviously there's been a lot of really good producers working in Australia who have made good stuff in the current/trap sort of beats but I feel the 808 work on this one song really raised the bar locally in terms of the sonic palette.’

A recent discovery everyone should hear:

Rimarkable – I'm In Trouble (2018)

‘It's not a super recent discovery – I think I came across this track late last year. But then over the summer, it worked its way into basically every set since (obviously prior to COVID). Just on the strength of this track, for me, Rimarkable is the most exciting producer/artist creating house at the moment and I've been keenly waiting for more from her!’

I could listen to this track on repeat forever:

Crooked Man – Happiness (2016)

‘Both this song as well as another from this Richard Barratt project, called Walls, which also features vocals from Amy Douglas, are immaculately executed pieces of house music – wildly good songwriting, production and mixing all working together, deftly channelling the full weight of disco and subsequent generations of club sounds. They're both very often on repeat – not just as a matter of pleasure but also education. Just stunning tracks.’

if I could play you only one Dro Carey track it would be:

Monomiles (feat. Chocolate and Kid Kairo) (2014)

‘I worked on this track with Lion Mountain Studio artists Chocolate and Kid Kairo back in 2014 (it was released on an EP called Club Injury Handbook on Greco Roman). Since then, when people ask what my favourite track I've produced is, this song has remained the answer. And it's probably still what I go to for showing people what I do. It was the first collaboration with other artists I completed in person – and set me on the important path of producing music with vocals – and it just has this special place for me as a really spontaneous session with a really organic feeling ’

NOTHING IS A SOLO PROJECT IS OUT FRI 18 SEP THROUGH SOOTHSAYER. AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER HERE

SIX FOR ONE: Dro Carey