Agung Mango & Nikodimos Absolutely Arrive on Yo El Rey
There is a handful of artists in Australia that sit in a league of their own. Artists like Genesis Owusu, Sampa The Great and BLESSED that break genre moulds and refuse to rest on their laurels. Could Genesis Owusu ride hard on his stage flooding high intensity hip-hop and still find success? Yes, but he doesn’t. He expresses an entirety and ever changing artistic face that floats between sounds, at times tender and at times tearing down your front door.
It’s this completeness, the whole picture of the aforementioned artists that make them feel bigger than what the Australian music scene has capacity to carry. The inability to be neatly placed into an ARIA category. The future facing sound palette that pushes beyond the four chord staples of Hottest 100 toppers. Musicians that are bigger than our local industry and ready to conquer any stage they can step up to.
The world feels at their finger tips and they seem to play in that global space with ease.
The latest artist to emerge into this undefinable space of untouchable quality is Agung Mango. A name fast emerging from the Melbourne MC scene that will undoubtedly boom well beyond it.
Yo El Rey the latest release from Agung Mango, comes out of the gates with fierce energy that barks and beckons you to take the backseat. An aggressive flex that turns a relaxed beat laced with flute flourishes into a battlezone. That dominance is flipped on a dime and returned to a relaxed soulful groove as we ease into the first chorus. A change of pace that carries throughout the song as Agung Mango relaxes the energy, only baring his teeth on the odd bar as if to show that sharpness is ever boiling behind the smoother sounds.
Vicious, soulful, smooth and absolutely magnetic, the flexibility of Agung Mango as an artist is truly world class.
Every element of production from the flute to the bouncing drum beat and big bassline has been laid down by producer Nikodimos, in a pairing that feels entirely odd and natural all at once. Nikodimos manages to match Agung Mango in every way. Bringing their own eternally refreshing soundscape and building a platform that remains ever interesting and entirely compelling from start to finish.
If you told me this song was featured on Pitchfork tomorrow, or made BBC Radio 1’s track of the week I wouldn’t blink. It deserves to be held in the highest regards on the biggest platforms available.
Get out of the way, Agung Mango is about to boom.
