TSiD Interview: tyDi Talks About His New Album, Redefined (Part 2)

tyDi is the latest in a trend of “EDM artists” to release albums featuring songs, not just a handful of tracks put together as a DJ mix that’ll be heard in the clubs the day after it’s released. The album, ‘Redefined’, will be released on September 30, 2014 and in our recent interview we discussed the upcoming release featuring 20 tracks and his thought process in making it.

During his set where I saw him he played a couple of tracks off of the upcoming album and for tracks that didn’t have a heavy beat behind them the vocals were catchy and I’m looking forward to hearing the finished product. I asked for a listen of the new album but he politely denied the request with a laugh. Artist albums like this one that has tyDi has coming out gives an open window into the mind of a musician.

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TSiD: Let’s talk about the new album.

tyDi: It’s done. It took 3 years. The album that people know me for is shooting stars that came out in 2011. ‘Hotel Rooms’ was the chill out one, not really an album, was more of a side project. This new one is called ‘Redefined’, it’s coming out in September. It is my follow-up to ‘Shooting Stars’. It’s got 20 tracks on there. I’m not even kidding, I wrote close to 300 songs to nail it down to 20. I just wrote song after song after song. Every week I was in the studio just writing songs and scrapping them or keeping them a folder and filtering them down to the best ones so the album is the best 20 songs that I’ve made over the last 3 years.

TSiD: When you started, did you have a goal in mind? A direction for the album?

tyDi: It’s really eclectic, more so than my last. The only goal really is to write really good music and by good I mean… (paused) what I did on purpose, I’m getting really bored with EDM at the moment because it’s getting more and more dumbed down. Especially this stuff dubbed as the Melbourne Bounce because it’s just so simple. It’s literally a kick, a baseline, percussion and some sort of bendy sound and sure its fun and I won’t argue subjectivity, people love it but as a song writer and where I really love music that really stirs your emotions. I can’t find it in that music. Dance music is getting more and more about these mindless beats. So with my album the approach was to treat it like a band would. I wrote every song so that you could break it down and play it on a guitar or piano. They’re all songs, they all have lyrics and they have verses and choruses and the whole album is about song writing and each track is just maybe produced in a different style. There’s one song that’s somewhere between dubstep and rock and then there are ones that would be more my sound that you’d hear from me at clubs and there’s chill out.

TSiD: lyrics, do you write them? The vocalists write them?

tyDi: These days I’m writing them with the vocalist. I get in the room with them, we sit down and write them together.

TSiD: Who else is on the album?

tyDi: I can’t announce everyone yet, I’m under strict rules with that but some of the ones we’ve announced so far is Chris Carrabba whose the lead singer from Dashboard Confessional and he has a new band called Twin Forks. His voice is amazing. Jordan Mark Witzigreuter known by his stage name as The Ready Set, he’s also on The Warped Tour. Melanie Fontana, she sang on my track Nothing Really Matters and I have a new song with her, the title track called Redefined. Dia Frampton and many more.

A press release that came out after our interview also mentioned that the album will also features vocals from an Australian singer named Kerli along with Kasmir and Island Def Jam recording artist, Sinead Burgess.

TSiD: What’s the status of the album?

tyDi: It’s all done, just has to be mastered.

TSiD: What label is it being released on?

tyDi: This is going out on my label. The way I do it even with “Stay”. I release it first on my album and then I license it out. The album could end up on Universal or any label but I start it out on my label, I like to make it my baby and if someone comes along that really believes in it then I’ll talk to them about it but at the moment it’s mine and I want to make sure that it’s treated right.

TSiD: You talk about being bored EDM which is obviously party music but as a song writer you say you’re bored with it. Porter Robinson recently made a new album as well that wasn’t just EDM. An album is obviously different from a club set, do you see fans being more open to things like this going forward?

tyDi: Absolutely, an album is sort of a portfolio of studio work. My album’s definitely extremely different to my club shows because the songs, just some of them wouldn’t work in clubs. The albums are more about showing off songwriting and production. Some of these tracks on my new album have full orchestral sections and live string quartets and guitars and things like that. Sections that you just couldn’t play in a club but I then make club versions and remixes done by other people. Like Frank P. remix of “Stay”, the original version of “Stay” isn’t as club friendly as his version. I wrote that more as a radio song really and then Frank Pole did his remix and that’s the one that’s blowing up right now on BPM and Sirius.

TSiD: Remixes, is that something you think about now or is that after it’s all mastered and done?

tyDi: I’m going to put the album out first and give it some time for everyone to get to know it and then I’ll have my club versions that won’t get released so when you do go to my shows and the albums out you’ll definitely hear the tracks. Later on I’ll release remixes.

TSiD: Anything else you’d like to mention about it?

tyDi: The fact that the album is done, three years in the making, 20 songs. These are the best songs that I’ve ever written I think. I’ve tried very hard to make the album the best I can make it and just to know now that it’s coming out.

Listen now to the track Box of Lego (Feat. Kasmir & Sinead Burgess)

Tracklist:
1. Somebody For Me (Feat. Cameron Forbes)
2. Forever (Feat. Michael Paynter)
3. Redefined (Feat. Melanie Fontana)
4. Shipwreck (Feat. Luke Mansini)
5. Die This Way (Feat. The Ready Set)
6. Not That Beautiful (Feat. Masha)
7. Box of Lego (Feat. Kasmir & Sinead Burgess)
8. Black Wine (Feat. Prince Charlez)
9. Until I Met You (Feat. Cameron Forbes)
10. The Closer I get (Feat. Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional)
11. So Alone (Feat. BC Jean)
12. Untraceable (Feat. Briana Cuoco)
13. Die Without You (Feat. BC Jean & Silas)
14. Perfect Crush (Feat. Kerli)
15. Apollo (Feat. Cameron Walker)
16. Give Ourselves Away (Feat. Khaz)
17. Racing Kites (Feat. Sinead Burgess)
18. Carry You (Feat. Jennifer Rene)
19. Make it Last
20. Goin’ Solar (Feat. Carmen Keigans)

TSiD Interview: tyDi Talks About His New Album, Redefined (Part 2)

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