Seth Sentry Talks New Album, Tour And Why Iggy Is Good For Aus Hip Hop

Seth Sentry (real name Seth Marton) was repping Australian hip hop in the US before that Southern rap wannabe Iggy Azalea blew up bigtime. Marton, “this kid from Brunswick, Victoria”, won a battle at SxSW to perform on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2013 – a first for an Aussie MC. The reaction from Americans? “It was better than I thought!,” Marton bursts out. “It was an awesome experience.”

Iggy may have divided the local hip hop ranks (and the US scene) over her authenticity, yet Marton is diplomatically supportive. “Is she good for Australian hip hop? Yeah, I think so. She’s drawing attention to it in one way or another. I mean, all publicity is good publicity, isn’t it? I don’t think what she’s doing is necessarily indicative of any sort of Australian sound, but I don’t think that matters. I don’t think she’s doing more harm than good. It’s definitely a good thing. Good on her!”

Marton is an ol’ b-boy. “I used to breakdance when I was a little teenager and drag bits of cardboard down onto Sorrento fishing pier and bring a fucking boombox,” he laughs. Active in Melbourne’s hip hop underground in the early 2000s, Marton came to national attention via triple j’s Unearthed scheme – the station added his singles, starting with The Waitress Song. In 2012 he independently released the album This Was Tomorrow, which bumrushed the ARIA Top 10 and was certified gold. Listeners dug his mellow, comic and self-effacing raps. Dude ditched his job as a waiter.

Listen: Seth Sentry – Run

https://soundcloud.com/sethsentry/run

Marton is touring nationally behind Run, the first hint of his long-awaited second album. The single, which tells of Marton’s misspent youth, is distinct musically from his previous forays. It’s actually closer to Flume’s airy, wobbly electronica than trad Aussie boom-bap or even urbanised EDM.

“It’s pretty indicative of what the album’s gonna sound like, and feel like, [in terms of] both subject matter and sonically. I didn’t want to make the same album again. Everything that I did on the last album felt all very uptempo and had a similar feel. So I just wanted to do something a little bit different. The beats are a little bit slower and a little bit more spacious.” In fact, Marton sought the kind of beats he remembered from ’90s skate videos. “It’s definitely a throwback sound.”

Marton has progressed on his soph. He’s collaborating primarily with Styalz Fuego, 360’s main guy – and ARIA’s 2012 Producer of the Year. (He notably helmed Marton’s Float Away.)

“We’re in the recording stage of it now. It’s going really well. It’s my first time working with someone who is an executive producer. Last time, or every other time that I’ve done projects, it’s just been me running around between a bunch of producers and trying to get some sort of consistency between the sounds and making a cohesive album – it’s always just an extremely stressful thing. But this has been really nice. It’s cool – it feels like it’s a team effort. I go in and hang out in the studio with Styalz and he’s just a motherfucking genius, so that helps. I feel really good about it.” The MC will “roadtest” songs in upcoming shows.

And Marton – who hasn’t returned to the States since his Jimmy Kimmel triumph, but did holiday in Europe last year – already plans to head back overseas. “This year we wanna do a bunch more stuff internationally,” he says. “We’re gonna hopefully play some shows in places like Germany and London and stuff, so I’m excited.”

———

Seth Sentry’s national ‘Run’ Tour kicks off this Friday, 20th February, at The Hi-Fi in Brisbane — details below.