Royalty Noise is less a band than a collective of independent and creative souls. The two core members are Chief and Bizz, who originally hail from East Africa and only made the move to Australia in the early 90’s. They are joined regularly by the Royalty band: Yoseph, David Robinson, Warren Howden, Alasdair and Stu McDonald. Together, they explore their mutual love of all things soulful and poetic. Songs stay in the theme of their rough upbringing and life on the streets. Their style is to drive the message home with their old school hip-hop beats and killer hooks. You can stream their single “Playing With Matches” on their Triple J page. It brings you in with soulful, sultry female humming. Pretty soon the drums and the keys hit, and then the masculine hip-hop vocals take over. The hook is a classic uplifting message to carry on despite obstacles, with lyrics, “change gonna come, won’t be long, hold strong, we’re marching into Babylon”.

The r&b feel of the female singing definitely harkens back to acts like Lauren Hill, whereas their rootsy instrumentation carries the vibe of the great Shabazz Palaces. Be sure to come out to the Epsy in Melbourne on the 20th this month to see them play live. ROYALTY NOISE is not to be missed.