Like the peripheral all-star who has his breakout season, Other Joe is finally getting the recognition he deserves.
Most know Other Joe as the guy who makes really emotional ambient music with funny song titles; or the guy who https://www.fbi.radio/articles/independent-artist-of-the-week/cloud-ice-9; or maybe as the guy who’s mastered hundreds of songs for artists across all genres in Melbourne.
“Diehard Other Joe-heads might know that my first project was a lo-fi house project, maybe 12 years ago now… I've always been making dance music, but now I’m releasing it.”
Truthfully, it is hard to confine Other Joe to any one genre of music, but you would be forgiven for being surprised at the sharp left turn towards dance in his new release, Flawless. Even with the hints dropped with 2024’s one billion kisses, (which perhaps showed his roots in lo-fi house), and even earlier with 2021’s Jealousy Tulip, where he first started to flirt with breaks and low-end. Flawless is the culmination of all the music Joe has made thus far, resulting in a record full of cold, spacey atmospheres straddling the line between ambient and dance, and fully crossing over with the final two tracks. Unsurprisingly, ‘Ice in my Veins’ ends with an ambient piece, an epilogue to the record, reminding us he isn’t leaving ambient behind, just yet.
Funnily enough, says he sees himself as a rocker first and foremost; not an ambient music guy, not an IDM guy, and not a DJ. He values his work with Cloud Ice 9 as much as he does his own solo work, if not more. If that’s the truth, we’re all in trouble when he really decides to lock in.
Words by Matt Do