Roland Tings

Australian-born producer Rohan Newman makes summery, bubbly house music as Roland Tings. A blend of deep house and spacy techno, his tracks typically consist of propulsive beats, buoyant melodies, and trippy effects, occasionally peppered with a dash of melancholia. First surfacing during the early 2010s with recordings on labels like 100% Silk and Internasjonal, he expanded his sound with subsequent material on Cascine, at times venturing into pop-influenced songwriting on releases such as his 2019 full-length Salt Water. Newman began playing at house parties and clubs in Melbourne near the beginning of the 2010s, and it wasn't long before he received international attention. Los Angeles-based label 100% Silk released Roland Tings' debut 12" Milky Way in 2012, as well as his Live in Thornbury cassette the following year. Also in 2013, Tomita's Basement was issued by Club Mod, and experimental EP Brain Foam (with Bronze Savage) appeared on 1080p. Roland Tings' track "Swimmer" was included on Cut Copy's Oceans Apart compilation of Melbourne-based dance artists in 2014, and the producer's self-titled full-length debut was released by Prins Thomas' Internasjonal label in 2015. After several years of constant touring, including gigs supporting the likes of Jamie xx, Chrome Sparks, and Com Truise, Newman released Each Moment a Diamond, his first release for Cascine, in 2017. The EP included "Higher Ground" (featuring Nylo), his most pop-friendly tune to that point, and stand-alone track "One Hundred" (featuring HIGH HØØPS) continued in this direction. Newman spent much of 2018 and 2019 living in a secluded house in Southern Australia's Otway National Park, surrounded by forests, waterfalls, and beaches. Incorporating field recordings of these natural spaces into his tracks, he released his second full-length, Salt Water, in 2019. ~ Paul Simpson