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Music

Rebel Yell Cuts Through Music Industry Bullshit on “Toxic”

We're premiering a video from one of Brisbane's finest new techno exports.

I really enjoy techno, but the self-seriousness of some techno artists can get pretty tiresome. It’s refreshing, then, to listen to Rebel Yell, one of Brisbane’s finest electronic exports of recent years. Loud, industrial, and painfully abrasive, Rebel Yell’s actual music is intense; but she counters it with a coy sense of humour in her videos and the spoken word lyrics that occasionally pop up in her songs.

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“Toxic”, which we’re premiering today, is one such song: a noxious piece of acid techno, “Toxic” finds Rebel Yell––Brisbane-based musician Grace Stevenson––taking shots at sleazy music industry dudes. Stevenson delivers burn after burn in a scathing tone over the track, before issuing a warning that also forms the song’s hook: “Back off, don’t touch me, get off my wave/ Back off, don’t touch me, get off my stage”.

The song’s video, which exists somewhere in the centre of a ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians/bondage porn’ venn diagram, is just as fun, featuring Stevenson and friends partying over the course of a weekend. Watch above.

"Toxic" is taken from Hired Muscle, Rebel Yell's debut album, out this Friday via Rice is Nice. Pre-order here.