Tssssss, ah! Is what i said when first clicking play on Holiday Party’s debut single. Unbeknownst to me, HP’s only track, I’m Still Here is a heater as the soft scolding I received from my laptop’s trackpad pointed out. Now in fairness to my ignorance, when I stumbled across these dudes Soundcloud page, I wasn’t expecting a group with a few hundred plays, a handful of reposts and a single uploaded track to be so damn fierce but I guess the ol book and cover proverb in a music context would translate to never judge an artist on their amount of streams. Annnnyyyyway, Holiday Party are a duo working out of Brisbane that seem to be exploring a pretty interesting brand of electro- pop. Both members of the group have, each in their own right, collaborated in varying capacities with some pretty big names in Australian music- but it’s cool to see their past projects have lead them to Holiday Party.
Shortly after burning my finger I was caught by another surprise as the first five or so seconds of I’m Still Here sounds like Holiday Party were Sampling Blur’s Song 2. After regaining my composure and waiting a few more seconds I quickly realised there would be no loud Wohoo’s only glistening xylophone samples, dusty pianos chords and a really smooth vocal melody. The Blur like Beat that crunches throughout the whole song provides a solid foundation for other samples to weave in and out of the track. Today’s Juice is glitchy, in parts and ambient in others and makes it pretty clear that both parties involved aren’t starting from scratch but have been refining their craft for some time. I’m Still Here is a really exciting debut single. If i were to compare this duo to another group I’d say that the sample heavy soundscape with peculiar arrangements sounds a little Avalanchy. Be sure to touch test the trackpad before diving in below.