Featured Artists, Songs and Posts

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
New Age, Celtic, Neo-Classical or just romantic piano :) A unique defining style puts music outside the pigeon holes or genre descriptions.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at the age of eight and found solace in the piano. I buried my head in music, found my calling and discovered a gift that allowed me to believe in my own possibilities. I went into the recording studio for the first time in my 30s and have never wanted to do anything else since.
Im classically trained, love touring and performing and hail from a small village in Australia. I want to reach other people and turn them onto the idea that music has health and connection benefits and the power to make our lives better.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
My Mother was 17 when I was born and my Grandmother moved in to help raise me. She arrived with an old German iron frame piano and it was pure magic to me from the first note that I touched. I literally fell in love with the endless possibilities for sound and its all I have ever truly wanted to do - be a musician.

Nagamag:
What advice would you give newcomers to the music industry.

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
Firstly, hone your skills and learn your craft. After you have that in check, if you want to compose you need to have something to say. Being a composer is about story telling and that comes from the depth of your soul , the ups and downs you have experienced in life. Regarding the business of music.... that is the conundrum we all face, be prepared to work seven days a week for little money except the satisfaction that you are doing something you love and touching lives with your music.

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
Wivajoy "Warm Glow"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Fiona Joy Hawkins:
FLOW "Promise"

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Lonely Faces:
Acid, Techno, EDM

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Lonely Faces:
I have been interested in instrumental electronic music from a very young age. Originally playing piano and then bass guitar, i made the change to synthesizers by means of my first set of keys when i was in high school. Having always been fascinated with pattern and repetition, it was natural for me to gravitate towards dance and club music. During my late teens and 20s, i was heavily influenced by what was going on here in Melbourne-it was the 90s- there was a thriving rave scene and the music was very fresh and new. You could go out just about every night of the week- it was a very Inspirational time and i feel very honoured to be part of a very exciting era in music.

It was really a decade later that i really became serious about production and really started to build my studio and learn my craft. I had a strong leaning toward analog synthesizers and classic technology form the 80s being a prolific user of many of the Roland instruments from that era, namely the x0x series of devices that we all know and love.

My association with Tempest Recordings and more recently, it's subsidiary Slice Records, began around 5 years ago with the release of some work under the name Guilty Hero (a duo)- a name i no longer use. I decided to forge ahead with Lonely Faces, as this satisfied my various creative desires, and this is where I find myself today....Happily working in my studio, experimenting and exploring.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Lonely Faces:
Music has always been a combination of escapism and self expression for me. From a very early age, i had an interest in the process of electronic music making- even long before i knew the techniques, i was compelled my the musical result of sound design and sequencing. I listened to a lot of krout rock and decided that one day I was to create my own technology based art.

Nagamag:
You talk about 80s Synthesizers. Can you please elaborate about the uses of this technology.

Lonely Faces:
I think a lot of people would assume that technology based music would use the most up-to-date equipment at the time....Not so for me, as most of the sound sources i use really have there roots in previous decades. As with many of my contemporaries the TR series of drum machines and of course the 303 are very important devices. The way these instruments sound has always intrigued me, both in use and result.

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

Lonely Faces:
Mike Oldfield "Ommadawn Pt1"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Lonely Faces:
Thomas P. Heckmann "Himmel & Hoelle"

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Sbeady:
I never thought about my music in genres or at least subgenres, because it's obviously hip hop, that I make most of the time. Nevertheless, I would never limit myself to a genre. I'm influenced by everything that hits me and gives me emotions in whatever mood. But to be honest, currently I'm all into this lofi hip hop and chillhop thing. I really began to love this sound and I want to dig deeper into it, while keeping and pushing my own unique style and recognition value.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Sbeady:
I started in the early 2000s after I were exposed to music production through a friend of mine. I was a huge hip hop fan, listening to non Phixion, Necro, Mobb Deep, Nas, Cage, Beatnuts and many others all the time, but also German acts like Kool Savas and Azad were running through my headphones frequently.
Over the time, the love for music got bigger and bigger. I made beats 24/7, skipped school to make music together with my friends which used to rap. We hung out and wrote songs as a crew in our own self made studio. Seriously the best time of my life. From time to time, I worked together with other underground acts. For example Millionadi, Peat38, Favourite and Casper. The last one became a bit more known some years later.
As time went by, the old crew drifted in different directions, people lived their own life. We stopped making music together. I took years off from music.
In 2016, I decided to make a beat album. Some turbulent private stuff came along, I needed a break again, so that I eventually finished it at the beginning of 2020. The kind people at the independent label "Vinyl Digital" gave me a chance, agreed to release it in May and I signed a contract there. To work with them is great and uncomplicated (Shout out to Julius).
Only after all that, I really came in contact with lofi hip hop and now here I am!

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Sbeady:
The first real connection was in my early days as a rug rat. Hardly able to walk, my favourite thing to do at home was putting my dad’s headphones on and listen to his vinyl records. We lived in the former GDR - East Germany - and my dad used to buy his records on East Berlin black markets. He collected music, you normally couldn't get there, because it was forbidden. Blues, Rock and Metal bands were his favourites like Canned Heat, Deep Purple, Genesis, Metallica, Motörhead and Scorpions.
Since I was a small child, I loved to listen to these vinyl treasures and I still do to up until this very day when I dig samples out of the crackling and warm sounding records from the good old days.

Nagamag:
How do you aproach a new Song? Do you start with a beat or do you come with melody first and how do you go on from there?

Sbeady:
I always always start with the melody. Regardless if I start from scratch, have something in mind and begin to write some chords into the piano roll or if I listened to some vinyl records, found a lovely sample, chopped it and played around with the slices on my Maschine MK2. I always start with the melody or chord progression. Then I would add synths or other instruments and the bassline of course. The drums are usually the last thing I write into the song. I know many producers out there that start with the drums, but I never did because I have to feel the vibes the melodic parts give me, before I play the drums. Sometimes I write the whole song arrangement before I even choose the drum sounds.

Nagamag:
Would you ever consider having a feature on one of your tracks?

Sbeady:
As I used to produce beats for rappers and singers for many years and just started with lofi hiphop in 2020, I’m excited to work on my own and don't have to wait till vocals are written and recorded. I can just write the song, finish it on my own, produce the sound design, and release it whenever I want. I enjoy this freedom. But of course, when an artist catches my attention and we have somewhat of a connection, I'm happy to work with him. No matter if it's a rapper, singer, beat producer, pianist or other instrumentalist. If we click, we will rock!

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

Sbeady:
Journey "Don't Stop Believin' "

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Sbeady:
Turnawai "honeymilk"