Aussie producer Luude seems to do no wrong these days, gliding from one belter to another. This time, he’s back with another stunning sample.
With a relaxed energy and a beaming smile on his face, the producer is candid in the best way possible when he catches up with Rolling Stone AU/NZ on a video call.
He’s naturally buzzing in the wake of the release of his new single “Oh My” – and it’s proving to be as much of a banger as his fans have come to expect. “I feel like I did the least amount of work on it,” he wryly says. “I feel like they did all the work and I just got lucky.”
The track breathes new life into Moby’s utterly iconic “Porcelain”, a turn of the century classic that ushered in a new era for downtempo electronica in 2000. Under Luude’s guidance, it’s updated for modern listeners with rollicking drum and bass production, the original’s melancholia replaced with a stirring euphoria, accompanied by able assistance from the exquisite vocals of UK singer Issey Cross.
“Moby seems like an absolute legend and Issey is so talented. It’s pretty trippy having a song come out with them,” he gushes. Luude was hanging out in Ibiza when he jumped into a studio to try and put a draft together – and in similar fashion to the composition of some of his other mammoth hits, it didn’t take him long to put his own spin on the classic.
“We came up with a draft really quickly and Issey laid her vocals on it and it was one of those tracks that just came together in a day,” he recalls modestly.
“Oh My” follows Luude’s beloved remixes of “Down Under” and “Big City Life”, but he’s about to upend the winning formula by preparing a bunch of originals as he looks ahead to visiting New Zealand at the end of the month.
“When I get over there, I just feel like I’m back at home,” he says. “I’m originally from Tasmania, so even the scenery and the forestry and all that, it’s kind of like on the same level. I was just in Europe for about four months and every place you go there, they all know that New Zealand is the drum and bass capital of the world. They can’t wait until their next tour in New Zealand, the hype is there, it’s good.”
Luude’s set to take the stage at That Weekend in Tirau which takes place over January 28th-29th, before returning to play in Auckland on February 25th with Netsky and Friends. He’s yet to cross paths with Netsky in person, but says they’ve been working on a song together after being handpicked by the Belgian DJ to play his Crystal Garden stage at Tomorrowland.
“That was a trip, that was the weirdest experience ever because I remember before I started producing music, I would watch those videos,” he says. “It’s on everyone’s bucket list, everyone has to go to Tomorrowland at least once. He (Netsky) was one of the first ones to get around the drum and bass stuff at the start. He’s been super supportive.”
Luude comes into 2023 fresh off completing a whopping 32 festivals last year, but he’s maintains gratitude for the viral sensation that projected him to another level of popularity.
“The year was just chaos,” he remembers. “I’ve got to give it to Colin Hay for letting me use those vocals, people still talk about it now which is very weird, but it totally changed my life. The one you spend the least amount of time on is always the one that does the best.
“We’ve basically had one weekend off since March, so you go from out of COVID to then you’re literally away for the entire year, you get very wrecked after a while but it’s so much fun.”
Luude and Issey Cross’s “Oh My” ft. Moby is out now via Sweat It Out.
