Heaps Good

Muph & Plutonic, the Melbourne hip hop duo who won our hearts with their track ‘Heaps Good’ back in ’04, are in the process of creating a new album after an extended break. â€œWe took a bit of a hiatus; we weren’t doing shows for about six or seven months. So we’re chipping away at our next record, hoping to have the first single out in the next few months,” one half of the duo, Daniel Young, aka Muph, says. “Plutonic is working on a few other things as well, so we’re just trying to balance out the time. And getting in the studio and nutting out the songs.”

While the record hasn’t taken shape yet, the pair are working hard to develop it. â€œIt’s still early stages, but we’ve got five beats and I’ve written a few of the songs already. We’ve kind of talked about the theme and the vibe we want to go down. It’s hard to tell exactly where it’s going to end up at the moment. It’s probably got a jazzier vibe.”

The record marks a progression in sound for Muph & Plutonic. â€œIt’s probably an extension. We’re kind of trying to challenge ourselves with each record so there’s a few tracks in there that are going to be a bit different to what we usually do.”

We’ll be seeing the group in Brisbane soon enough, as they’re itching to get back on the road even before the album is released. â€œWe’re going to plan a tour with a single release so we’ll definitely be hitting up Brisbane later in the year. Because we haven’t toured for a while, we’re pretty excited about doing it. And that’s why we’ve started doing some shows again in the last few months or so, because we couldn’t really wait. We’re too keen.”

To keep their sound fresh, the boys aim to stay abreast of the latest releases. â€œAs far as inspiration comes, we just try and keep up with newer music. And have your finger on the pulse of what’s going on.”

Their live show, however, requires a different tactic. â€œAs far as us performing, it’s been a difficult task because we were doing the same shows for quite a while. And now we’ve changed it up by actually going back to older songs, and bringing them out and making them a little more modern.

“It makes it interesting for us,” he continues, “to remember the old songs that we’ve done and incorporate them in the set. I have to go back and relearn all the lyrics. As long as you keep yourself challenged, change up the set and really focus on making sure we don’t do the same show too often.”

In the past their live show has been elaborate. Lately, Muph & Plutonic have simplified it. â€œWe’ve stripped it down now so it’s just the two of us, whereas before we had DJ Bonez. So the set up’s a little different. Plutonic has his drums, but he also has a trigger pad. So we set up his live drums and then we have the samples so he can, for example, use the snares from the track and it’ll sound more like the track off the CD. It’s pretty cool, we’ve been testing that out and it’s been good.”

Although they’ve waited a few years between records in the past, Muph & Plutonic are keen to continually produce music after releasing the album they’re currently working on. â€œWe’ll put out this record and see how it goes. But we’re definitely not going to stop and have a big break like we have had now. The way things are today, you have to really keep churning out songs.

“When we were coming up you’d do an album every two years. Basically it’s been three years now for us. And if you don’t keep putting out new music, basically you can get left a bit behind. You know, I see all these young dudes now and they’re so focused and driven. And that’s a good thing, and something we want to try and take on board as well. Once this record is finished we’ll be working on another one pretty much straight away. The plan is to just go as hard as possible.”

MUPH & PLUTONIC WILL BE JOINED BY URTHBOY, JESS MAUBOY, BUSBY MAROU AND OTHERS FOR THE RECONCILIATION BEATS FESTIVAL AT MUSGRAVE PARK JULY 9.

RECONCILIATIONBEATS.COM