Cementing himself as the Godfather of so called australia’s underground club and rap culture/scene, Sydney producer and founder of label TRACKWORK known as UTILITY (or Austin Benjamin) has gifted us with an offering of his debut album ‘Futures’.
A collaborative piece of work spanning experimental composition, underground rap and contemporary club music. Built through a lengthy career of meaningful relationships between artists across Sydney, Kampala, Durban, Paris, Rome and Los Angeles, ‘Futures’ travels between ethereal ambient collages, dreamy deconstructed rap forms and low-end sound system structures.
For the past six years, much like Don Vito Corleone (The Godfather, 1972), UTILITY has been meticulously orchestrating the production and creative direction of a plethora of wildly successful iconic albums and EPs, including producing for local royalty artists VV Pete, T-Breezy, Walkerboy, Snoee Badman, Cherry Chola, Baakio and Eco$ystem to name a few. UTILITY or Don Austin has now brought together a project that draws on his long term collaborators as well as his international collaborators; Brodinski, Bby Africka, MC Yallah, Kelman Duran and Boyz of Corruption.
To further capture the wealth of knowledge and expertise that UTILITY has exemplified in this album, it is important to note that UTILITY has an extensive academic and professional background. He has taught and guest lectured in production, composition and sonic art at the Australian Institute of Music, The University of New South Wales, The Columbia University Sound Department and numerous other music and creative arts faculties.
This album is then not only, simply put, a successful project but the materialisation of years of collaboration and mentorship.
Landing with ‘Ora Siamo Noi’ as the first single release, the track title translates from Italian to ‘now it’s us’. Featuring Rome based artist DoloRRes, who formerly resided in Melbourne, as well as Atlanta trap via EDM Pioneer Brodinski (Yeezus, 2013) who currently resides in Paris. The track sets the tone of the project with haunting, echoey, apocalyptic production that is juxtaposed through DoloRRes’s holy, sacramental and angelic high-pitched vocals. His lyricism is deeply guided by spiritual imagery that marries magical-realist storytelling with invocations of smoking, drinking and dancing to state a philosophy of radical acceptance in the face of inevitable societal collapse.
In his own words UTILITY explained that ‘Ora Siamo Noi’ “feels like a turning point in the language I’ve been developing over the last few years. It came together through two meaningful relationships that have grown slowly over time — meeting Brodinski through Vv Pete projects, connecting with DoloRRes through Trackwork, and eventually finding ourselves in the same room in Sydney. Those kinds of collisions seem to be a core part of my work, and those unique voices directly inform the music.”
Long term collaborator and friend MC Yallah adorns track 2, titled ‘TOBUZA BUZIBWA’ which translates to “DON’T GET CONFUSED” in Luganda, a language widely spoken in Uganda. MC Yallah is a Kenyan Award winning futuristic hip-hop artist based in Uganda and is a key member of the Nyege Nyege crew, she often raps in Luganda and other East African languages including Kishwahili and Luo.
Drawing on her own personal experiences, MC Yallah delivers a powerful, fierce message with her tightly controlled vocals, sending a mighty message addressing self-determination and integrity. Cloaked in gritty, sound system pressure production, MC Yallah’s signature and rare flow dominates the track, calling on the listener to look inwards through “BASOME NAMANYI, BAKOLE NAMANYII, BEWONYEE ENAKU” — “THEY STUDY HARD SUCH THAT THEY DON’T SUFFER” and “TOBAWULILA NGA BAGASOMA, ESANYU LYABWE YE NAKU EKULUMA” — “DON’T YOU HEAR THEM ANNOUNCING YOUR PAIN IS THEIR HAPPINESS”.
‘Futures’ is a sprawling album that has seamlessly cut through all the sludge of so-called australian music. It is a sophisticated creation that epitomises UTILITY’s ability to delve into an expansive and eclectic spectrum of genres and his passion for every facet of his craft, from the intricacies of his sound design to the nuances of his visual aesthetics. In the prophetic words of Princess Vv Pete “you can choose to ‘Toss It’ (Varvie World, 2025)” but ‘Futures’ has already made its sonic mark on us.
Words by Virginia Barahona