July 4 sees the release of Allday’s debut album, Startup Cult.
The rapper from Adelaide uses distinct lyrics, hip hop tones and simplistic choruses to create a diverse 55 minute experience into the world of a rising star.
The track Right Now featured on Triple J for quite some time and is the first single off the album, closely followed by You Always Know the DJ. Both songs are strong examples of the direction taken by the artist, to which he attributes influences by Drake and Justin Timberlake. They remain the highlights, along with Wasting Time, a six minute epic that appears to be directed towards a female in his life.
From the initial thirty seconds of the opening track, Go It, Allday’s personality and humour seeps through and demands a listen, preaching honesty and positive vibes.
Each entry has a separate message from a section of his young life.
“I’m anything but sober,” echoes throughout the only track he wrote while on drugs
Hometown Pride raises his humble beginnings, “first kiss, first fight, first fuck, first drink.”
“Climbing up the beanstalk, giants never fazed me,” in Wolves represents his approach to the music industry.
Allday isn’t afraid to speak his mind, as his legions of followers absorb every word. The album is a guaranteed success as the formula improves on his previous work, bringing further professionalism to a unique voice and confident style.
The one worry is that many of the tunes sound quite similar, changed only by the lyrics and speed. Extra listens may erase this issue, but initially it is hard to distinguish between parts of the album.
The title Startup Cult is explained in two parts: “Startup, because this is the beginning of everything. Although I’ve put out a lot of free music in the past, this is my debut album and I wanted people to know that this is the first piece of art I want to be judged on. It’s also the beginning of a new era in Australian Rap music.”
“Cult, because I don’t want to be a flash in the pan artist, I don’t want to be a cool artist, I want to be somebody whose music makes a difference to your life. It’s also to say that… I don’t care if I never sell a million records, as long as the people who do buy the record
love it and treasure it like it’s their religion.”
Allday desires prolonged success and to influence his fans the way his heroes influenced him. He is trying something different to other rappers, evident in the fact that he doesn’t feature handfuls of other artists to help promote his work or add snippets of their talent. Allday relies on his own ability, earning early praise from critics Australia-wide, but only time will tell if he achieves the goal of longevity.
Startup Cult is the beginning required, and properly introduces everyone to Tom Gaynor; the man now known as Allday.
For my interview with Allday, click here.
Chris Sutton
