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Music

Weekly updates


Willow Beats are Melbourne-based duo Narayana Johnson and Kalyani Ellis. Making dubstep-infused tracks with some seriously dreamy vocals, their debut self-titled EP is interestingly different. Narayana answers our questions and recommends a particularly good mixtape.

My name is… Narayana

I live in… Northcote, Melbourne

My EP is called… It’s self titled – Willow Beats.

Some of the things that inspired it are… Fantasy novels, creeks and rivers, crispy mornings, lush afternoons, my friends, Tim Burton, The Knife, Donnie Darko and probably a few other things too.

It’s cover art looks like… The physical CD cases are each made from cloth and screen printed with a W. The CD’s have a picture of a demigoddess sitting on a flying chair commanding the skies to part.

The digital art was designed by my good friend Bali. It reminds me of the Triforce from Zelda but spacey and with light tentacles engulfing the earth.

My favourite track is… I’ve always liked Sawtooth. It was the second track we ever recorded and was definitely a milestone in my production. Its pretty simplistic compared to the other songs but has a vibe about it I don’t think I could recreate.

The person I can imagine listening to it is… I haven’t really put much thought into that. I just make the kind of thing I want to hear so I guess people like me would listen to it.

My favourite mixtape would include… My favourite tunes fluctuate a lot but the following are a few of them at the moment:

Stars – Slugabed Did-A-Remix
Back Home – Egoless
I Love… That You Know -Disclosure
BTSTU – Jai Paul
The Suburbs – Arcade Fire Cover
Carbonated – Mount Kimbie
Accordion – Madvillain
How You Like Me Know – Joker remix
Lovely Bloodflow – Baths

When I’m not making music I… Read, talk shit with my friends, go to gigs… sleep…

The last thing I downloaded was… Colourwaves just released his debut EP titled Thoughtforms. It’s a beautiful dreamy journey from start to finish and it’s been playing a lot in the house lately.

The next project I’m working on is… I’m actually working on a new EP. It’s pretty chilled focusing more on the intricate details. I’ve been sampling all kinds of stuff like breaking twigs, kitchen percussion, skateboarders, birds etc.

Download the debut Willow Beats EP here: