WORDS BY ANNA HORAN
DATE 27th July 2015
The Australian hip-hop artist is graduating into adulthood with his debut EP. We meet him for a game of pool.
From his flippancy on social media and the content of his lyrics, Baro comes across as your typical teenage guy. He offers two-word answers to questions posted on his Tumblr, and his Facebook cover photo has a speech bubble that makes it look like his profile photo is saying “flaccid willy”. But in person, Baro has depth. The 18-year-old has a wiser and more thoughtful aura to him than you’d expect. He talks about his plans in earnest and uses words like “obdurate”. His internet presence might say IDGAF, but his IRL attitude is the complete opposite.
It isn’t surprising to learn that at school, Baro Sura Sarka felt like he was on another wavelength to his classmates. “I was always on a different level,” Baro says, sitting on the couches at Fitzroy’s Red Triangle, an upstairs pool hall. “I was listening to different music. Like, even hip-hop and like jazz and soul. So I was always onto that. And the way I thought was way different to other kids. I was making music; they were playing footy on weekends and going to parties.”
Those musical tastes are something that show through on his debut EP 17/18, out now, and previous mixtape Howgoodisgood, released last year. His mature sound is what’s set him apart from his Australian peers, getting him noticed by Triple J (Baro was an Unearthed High finalist last year) and turning heads at Complexmagazine offshoot, the taste-making music site Pigeons & Planes, which premiered17/18 earlier this month.
No longer at school (he graduated last year), Baro has now found his people in the crew 90’s RD, which he describes as having the same mindset. “If you’re surrounded by like-minded people you’re obviously going to excel,” he says. “Although we all think the same … there’re different little things. You get influenced by different people and better yourself as a person and creatively.”
90’s RD is made up of Baro, Charlie Threads, Marcus, Mosè, Nasty Mars, KushDaddy$lavens, Sol’MANIC, Te Waere and Yobi Masenqo. Similar in age as well as world view, the hip-hop collective has one goal. “The one thing we want to do is build a fucking empire,” Baro says. “That’s our plan.”
It’s here that Nasty Mars, sitting next to Baro, chimes in. “We’re like a bunch of people that don’t have, like, a box mentality. We see in terms of doing creative stuff,” he says. “We can make movies, we can make music and we can make clothes. We can do everything like the world is our oyster. That’s how everybody in 90’s RD thinks.”
Baro has said before how one of his biggest influences is Tyler, the Creator, and in this respect you can draw the parallels between 90’s RD and Odd Future. It’s more than just the music. Personal style and stretching into different creative outlets – whether clothing, art or film – is clearly inspired by the way Odd Future’s brand, Golf Wang, has extended beyond music.
But for Baro the music Tyler was making was what first set him on his path. “I was influenced by Tyler and Odd Future since I was in Year 9 when Goblin came out,” he says. “I was listening to Bastard and that was literally the best shit I ever heard in my life. I was so happy that was a thing. Like, that pretty much inspired me to pursue music. I was [already] doing music, but, like, to actually do it properly … I could be something.”
Being at the tail end of teenagedome, much of Baro’s lyrics have revolved around him transitioning from boy to man. He says it, “hasn’t really been tough. It’s just been different.”
“I didn’t really go to school last year because I was doing music, so [it’s] just that whole change – finishing school, doing music … expecting to make big-arse decisions. It’s been cool.”
While Baro has toured with the big names in Aussie hip-hop – Thundamentals, Allday, Remi, Spit Syndicate – he and 90’s RD are firing shots at the scene that he’s labelled as broken.
“Aussie hip-hop is weak as fuck, and there’s no character in it,” he says. “It feels so fabricated and … people feel they have to be a certain thing, and they have it completely wrong. [90’s RD] wants to bring authenticity musically and character-wise.”
90’s RD isn’t about empty words, though; it’s working hard to bring fresh blood and feeling to the Aussie hip-hop scene.
“It’s working out,” Baro says. “My friend Marcus just released his mixtape,PIZZA4BRKFST/CEREALAT3AM, and that’s doing really well. I releasedHowgoodisgood last year, and that went well, and everyone’s about to release their shit. And it’s actually really good. [There’s] not just one person in the crew who’s a good artist, everybody’s great at what they do. It’s beautiful.”
Baro plays at Shebeen on August 1. Tickets are available here. 17/18 is out now.
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WORDS BY FASHION JOURNAL
Get your space boots on, we’re going for a ride.
We’re getting pretty excited for the David Bowie Is exhibition at ACMI, so this David Bowie-inspired shoot really hits the spot.
The exhibition opens on Thursday 16 July and features over 50 legendary costumes, original stage set designs, handwritten lyric sheets, album artwork, rare film, video and photographs, and interviews.
We’re particularly pumped for the David Bowie on Film series, which runs from Thursday 20 August to Sunday 20 September.
Get your space boots on, we’re going for a ride.
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Photography: Hayley Benoit
Styling: Jade Leung
Hair and make-up: Kate Radford
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http://bryggmagasin.no/2015/aunty-pegs/
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Aunty Peg’s
På kaffelaben Aunty Peg’s, serveres karbonisert cold brew. Kaffebobler, rett fra krana.
WORDS Lene Haugerud
PHOTO Hayley Benoit
TIME July 11, 2015
Det nærmer seg varmere dager, en av de store internasjonale kaffetrendene de siste årene, cold brew, ser endelig ut til å finne veien til oss her oppe i nord. Andre steder, i varmere klima, har eksperimentering med den klassiske oppskriften for lengst begynt. I et gammelt industrilokale i Melbourne-bydelen Collingwood finner vi Aunty Peg’s, en kaffelab som ligger et lite hestehode foran resten.
Hos Aunty Peg’s får du cold brew på tap, om man ikke visste bedre kunne man kanskje tro det var øl. Kaffen har kost seg på plastkanner i førti dager, med en temperatur nøye regulert til fire grader gjennom hele prosessen. Karbon er tilsatt, slik at brygget blir smått perlende. Musserende kaffe? Ja, takk.
Brygget lages i omganger på 500 liter, populært som det er, tar det cirka to uker – så er det tomt. For hver runde roteres kaffen som brukes.
Aunty Peg’s eies av kaffebrenneriet, Proud Mary.
Vi spør eier, Nolan Hirte, hva som har vært favoritten så langt.
– Vi laget et sinnsykt Geishabrygg fra Best of Panama small auctions lots. Det var latterlig godt, det tok pusten fra alle.
Selv med et Geishabrygg å skrive hjem om, er ikke Nolan helt i land enda, han gjør små forandringer ved hvert eneste nye brygg, for det handler om å eksperimentere, og å lære mens man går.
Nolans Proud Mary er vant til å sitte i førersetet, som en av de første kafeene i Melbourne til å tilby det vi nå ser på som den australske kaféopplevelsen, kvalitetsmat- og kaffe i kule omgivelser. I løpet av de siste årene har disse kafeene formert seg fortere enn kaniner, og Aunty Peg’s er Nolans forsøk på å vise at Proud Mary fortsatt er annerledes enn resten.
– Aunty Peg’s er et sted hvor vi skal koble prikkene mellom kunden og bonden. Hvor enn kunden sitter i baren, kan vi tilberede kaffen foran dem – det en del av opplevelsen som gjør det lettere for kunden å engasjere seg, og for oss å fortelle om hvor kaffen kommer fra, og hva som egentlig gjemmer seg bak det kunden ser.
– Nøkkelen er ikke hvor mange kopper vi selger om dagen, men hvor mange historier vi kan fortelle.
Med vilje er bryggebaren plassert midt i kaffebrenneriet. Herfra kan kundene se kaffebrennerne stå side ved side, de kan tre inn i det kjølige lageret hvor sekker med grønne bønner sover, de kan noe overraskende se vintagebiler klare til å bli mekket på, eller de kan lukte bakervarene fra kaffebrenneriets eget bakeri i annet etasje. Dette er et opplevelsessenter, mer enn en kaffebar.
Et annet sentralt punkt i rommet er det Nolan kaller “the genius bar”.
– Vi ønsket å skape et rom hvor kunden føler seg komfortabel med å kjøpe kaffe, og lære å brygge den bedre hjemme. Vi ønsket ikke den hektiske følelsen du finner på en normal kafé. Vi laget derfor en “genius” bar hvor kunden kan lære å brygge kaffe, presskanne, V60 og Aeropress, men også få gratis råd og tips. De som bestiller en time får en-til-en veiledning fra en av våre ansatte.
Men å lære bort karbonisert kaldbrygg har de ikke startet med enda, den må nytes i baren – noe som gjør drinken ekstra spesiell. At den drikkes i et pusterom av ektefølt kaffekjærleik og kaffekunnskap må sies å være mer enn en bonus.
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“Hu La La’s” For Ballad Of Magazine © Hayley Benoit March 2015 | Fashion by Sinead Hargreaves | Hair + Makeup by Kate Radford | Modelled by Holly Watson @ Pride Models | Featuring clothing from Fame Agenda, Muscrats Vintage, Shag, Discount Universe, American Apparel, Matcho Suba + Zhivago.
Look 01: Discount Universe bra and Fame Agenda shorts
Vintage wedges from Muscrats vintage (worn entire shoot)
Look 02: Fame Agenda jumpsuit
LOOK 03: Fame Agenda pants
LOOK 04: Vintage top from Shag
American apparel underwear
LOOK 05: Matcho Suba dress
Fame Agenda cape
LOOK 06: Zhivago top and shorts
LOOK 07: Matcho Suba skirt and Fame Agenda top
LOOK 08: Fame Agenda pants and top
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