Around the world and back with 30/70

Are you heading to the Prahran Square Block Party on November 20th? Well, you should be, for two reasons. The first is the fact that the event is a free, all-ages and family-friendly day of fun featuring performances from Mildlife, Emma Volard, BUMPY, and contemporary Indigenous dance by Amos Roach and the Murrundaya Yepengna Dancers & Orchestra. The second is that along with all of that great stuff, 30/70 are also on the bill.

If you’ve been in Melbourne for more than five minutes, you’ve heard of 30/70 and their amazing vocalist and keys player Allysha Joy. Well-known throughout the local contemporary jazz and hip-hop scene, her work with the collective 30/70 and her solo releases, including the recent Torn: Tonic, are nothing short of amazing.

Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.

Allysha keeps busy, and we were lucky enough to chat with her post-European tour just before the appearance at the block party to see what’s been happening in her world. From loads of touring to a solo album release and forthcoming compilation record that she has curated, there is plenty to debrief on.

The past six months have been particularly busy as Australia (and the rest of the world) begins to open back up to live music. Allysha has wasted no time jumping back into it all, “It’s been the most amazing, life-affirming journey, with, of course, a whole lot of turbulence and tired working along the way,” she says. “I feel like I’ve crammed two years’ worth of experience and music and learning into this short window of time, so I am so excited to be heading back home to Melbourne to let it all settle.”

Allysha mentions that one of the highlights of this wild ride happened to take place on her birthday. We Out Here is a UK festival that celebrates UK club culture and a great way for any artist to spend the mark of another lap around the sun. “Just being surrounded by friends and incredible music, I just got absolutely showered with love.”

On the recorded front, 30/70 have recently dropped some new tracks, ALL 4 U and Within Me, both of which continue the group’s experimental exploration into the world of jazz, soul and hip-hop. If you’ve heard and enjoyed these cuts, Allysha has some good news for you via a Beat Magazine scoop; “I guess I can probably say now that there is an album on the way and that we’re all really proud to be releasing it with the family, Energy Exchange Records.” Boom!

Back to more imminent happenings, however, 30/70’s appearance at the Prahran Block Party shifts our conversation to Allysha’s thoughts on the current state of Melbourne’s local music scene and how it is recovering in the wake of the fungus that shalt not be named. “Yeah, it’s definitely been a challenging time for so many people in a wide variety of ways,” she says.

“At a distance and from what I feel around the rest world, the music industry is definitely still recovering and catching up with itself, plus the shifting and unstable economies of the present moment definitely do not help. Australia is also battling against severe weather conditions, and it feels to be just a difficult time for touring musicians and people existing in more fragile workspaces the world over right now, so very important to go out and support the scene in whatever way you can.”

To help prepare your mental space for the weekend’s event, why not chuck on Torn : Tonic, Allysha’s most recent solo release? Released in May of this year, Allysha has had a little time to reflect on the public’s reactions and her own thoughts on the record.

“The journey with this record has been so interesting because really my intention was all about the message and process.” Allysha’s goal was to create a body of work that explores political, social, environmental, and personal systems of change from a personal perspective and that of other female and non-binary people. “It was important that the process and delivery met my values. I, of course, always hope that the music reaches people and that it resonates or makes them consider their own states of being, but I really felt that it was far more about the message and intention than it was about how it is received or even dwelling in it after its release.

“I am immensely proud of the process within this album and hope that it inspires other women and non-binary people, as a self-taught artist and producer to follow through with whatever goals or dreams or wild thoughts that they hold deeply.”

If you have been spinning Torn : Tonic and the new 30/70 singles to death and are hankering for some new music, you are in luck. Allysha has curated the They’re Energised compilation, a collection of antipodean bruk and broken beat tracks set for release this Friday, November 18th.

Featuring a bunch of incredible artists from so-called Australia, the record is coming out on the London label CoOp Presents, which Allysha connected with last year, “I am so proud of this one! For me, this project is like a cultural, generational, and musical exchange in so many ways! It is both sharing and extending the sounds of the Broken Beat movement and simultaneously shining a light on the incredible talent that exists in “Australia” and our own sound that subtly swims through varying genres and moments and states.”

For the remainder of the year, 30/70 will be back in Australia for summer and announcing a run of shows very soon. “We are all splitting our time across a bunch of different projects as well as 30/70 and will be getting into the studio over summer and just continuing to practice, expand, learn, connect with crew and community and just do what we do. It’s a really exciting time for us all, individually and collectively, and we appreciate the support so much.”

See Allysha and the 30/70 Collective at Prahran Square, Cato Street, Prahran, this Sunday, November 20th from 12pm until 7pm. The Prahran Block Party is an all-ages, family-friendly event that will feature 30/70 along with Mildlife and more amazing live music, food and drink stalls from local businesses. The Block Party is part of the government initiative On The Road Again, which is working to bring live music back all across Victoria.

Info on that here, or keep track of the latest 30/70 news here.