A matter of days have passed since Kilter wrapped up his first coast-to-coast headline tour of the U.S., but there’s no time to rest and reflect. The Australian electronic music producer changes gears as he prepares for the release this Friday (June 9) of his debut album, Through The Distortion (via etcetc).
The new album sees Kilter (real name Ned East) and feted South African rapper Espacio Dios dig for “Treasure,” an uptempo, groove-laden collaboration which Billboard premieres early.
Through The Distortion contains 13 songs, including the first single “Count On Me” (featuring LANKS) which got a full addition in its first week on the Triple J network. “Treasure” is the only track off the album with an international feature.
Espacio Dios hails from the Northwest province and came to the attention of Kilter in an article published by OkayAfrica which identified the “25 rappers under 25 killing the game.” “I remember being completely blown away,” says Kilter of his intro to the teenage MC. “He had only put out one or two songs independently on Soundcloud but there was something about him that felt so special. After sending some ideas over through Twitter he hit me back with a demo over one of the beats saying that while it wasn’t his favorite it made him come up with such a different sound. I was in London at the time and probably played the demo a million times over that month before finally getting home and digging into it in the studio,” Kilter recalls. “Treasure” turned out to be “one of the songs truest to my sound and I think Espacio is only just getting started.”
Creating beats comes naturally for Kilter, a Sydney native who has a background as a drummer and displays his skills behind the kit in his live performances. He’ll support his new album release with a tour of Australia kicking off June 23 at Brisbane’s Triffid and plans are to return to the U.S. later this year.
Pre-order Through The Distortion here and stream “Treasure” featuring Espacio Dios below.