American singer-songwriter, electronic music artist and music producer operating under the stage alias of Simulated Youth has managed to put together a sound that has become uniquely their own, both distinguishable and a benchmark.
Returning from some of the earlier music in their discography, Simulated Youth is set to enter people’s playlists with their latest track Money in My Tummy. Understandably, the musician is not shy of creating music on topics of socio-political importance, which is a trait that becomes evident in the thematic inclinations of their latest track. The near four-minute number is a dark electronic dance track in a unique fusion of electronic dance music, noisecore and electronic crunch.
The track is the artist’s stream of consciousness in the form of a commentary about wealth inequality in the world and the consolidating of wealth in the hands of a select few, explained through the electronic extravaganza and its near occult soundscapes that pulsate in the listener’s ears. To a certain degree, Money in My Tummy is hauntingly bare, revealing the crux of honest truths about such distribution of the world’s resources. It reveals the futility of material resources and the rat race that ensues in search of it, explained through Simulated Youth’s lyricism such as “Money, money / I don’t think you love me / I don’t think you want me / But I want you inside of me / Inside my tummy”.
We reached out to Simulated Youth for their inputs into the track. Here is how that went:
Congratulations on your latest track! How would you describe Money In My Tummy to someone getting into your music fresh?
This dark dance track is about greed and wealth obsession around the world. The character in the artwork isn’t meant to represent any particular person or class of people. It’s meant to be generic in a sense, really representing EVERYONE. The blue hair adds more of a futuristic style to match my overall visual aesthetic. If you look closely, the syringes are filled with “liquid money,” and this character is forced to consume what is essentially the notion that money is the most important thing on the planet. If you are not rich, you have no value – this is at least what today’s society enforces on a worldwide scale. Following a similar theme as all of my songs, the goal with Money in My Tummy was to create something unique, danceable, and fun, yet with a darker message to balance things out. Each of my songs hopes to put listeners into an almost dreamlike state, where they become entranced by what they’re listening to.
Understandably, the track has some socio-political thematisation regarding the uberprivileged. Tell us how that is.
Think of a handful of people out of nearly 8 billion that have more wealth and power than the rest of the planet combined. There is so much good that could be done in this world if people weren’t so greedy and obsessed with material things. Even on a smaller scale, one must ask themselves whether the $500 pen or $4,000 purse or $800 watch, etc. really make them a better person, or could they use that money for better things (self-development, personal security, or dare I say maybe donate a bit to help those less fortunate?).
We read that your tracks maintain a balance of happy to dark themes. How do you maintain this sense of dichotomy in your music?
Sometimes it’s easy, for example using the same melody in two different parts of a song, but using a higher octave or a different instrument will make it sound happier, or even just removing a couple notes from the overall melody can easily change the mood. Other times a drastic change in musical tone just doesn’t sound right with the overall song, and in that case I try to balance things out on the lyrical side.
Who are your greatest musical influences? How do these influences trickle down into your own discography?
I definitely think Crystal Castles for the overall tone/aesthetic of several of my tracks, Die Antwoord for the wackiness combined with aggressiveness, and perhaps Björk on the melodic side of things. Of course not all three of these are apparent in every song of mine!
With quite some singles under your belt featuring a flurry of them just this year alone, should your fans expect an EP or even a full-length album anytime soon?
I thought about this earlier on, but I cannot foresee doing anything but singles for the next couple years at least. By far the biggest opportunity to expand my audience is Spotify editorial playlists, and I can submit a different track every four weeks for another shot at getting onto one of those. But you can only submit one track at a time, so an EP or album would greatly reduce the overall chance of me getting onto an editorial playlist. Plus unfortunately these days most people don’t want to sit down to listen to an entire album from the same artist. In fact I don’t even sell my music yet, I just give it away for free download. But eventually if I lose my regular job I suppose I could release a compilation album with everything!
Be sure to check out the track here:
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
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