Melbourne electro-pop dude OLIVER SOL is currently celebrating the release of swaggering new single How Did You Know, featuring hip hop artist Citizen Kay, and a track that really thumps:

It signals the beginnings of a big year for the producer, with an upcoming EP release this September, working with longtime production partner Samuel K (Kimbra) and new friend Simon Lam (Kllo, Buoy). To mark the release, and the collab vibes, OLIVER SOL sent us a few of his favourite collabs, a varied and excellent list that ranges from Moderat to Tool, check it below and keep your eyes and ears peeled for more SOL goodness as 2017 marches on.

Moderat - A New Error

While more of a project rather than a once off collaboration, this is probably the most important collab for me on this list. The union of Moderat and Apparat is hands down, my biggest influence as OLIVER SOL. While Apparat was a flawless purveyor of emotion through electronic music, Modeselektor would invent these left of centre glitch/hip hop club tracks that would force you to just move. The merging of the two was otherworldly. I still remember the very first time I heard A New Error. That first drop just opened up a whole new world to me and I haven’t looked back since.

Kanye West/Bon Iver - Lost In The World

I’ve always been a Yeezy fan. Even his most divisive album, 808’s & Heartbreaks, to me, is pure genius. While that genius wasn’t fully realised by all back then, one way or another, it led him to his masterpiece, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. For me, Lost In The World was that album's knock-out blow that still slays me each time I hear it. Introducing the commercial world to the beauty of Bon Iver. I still remember front row at Coachella 2011, Kanye headlining, cherry picker and all, no one had any idea who the auto-tuned white guy was. Not anymore.

Method Man/Mary J Blige - All I Need

This is one that immediately takes me back to being a 12-year-old fat white kid thinking his Gangsta was unparalleled. Somehow some buddies and me had sourced the video for this track on VHS, we’d just get high and watch it on repeat for days on end, completely oblivious to the Marvin Gaye sample. Simpler times…

Deftones/Tool - Passenger

While I grew up on a steady diet of Gangsta rap, it was always complemented by a steady dose of heavy music. White Pony was perfection from front to back, and Passenger was a merging of two of the biggest names in heavy music at the time, Deftones and Maynard from Tool. I still get chills everytime the pre-chorus builds up to the chorus proper. After listening to this track for the better part of the last 15 years, I still get to the end of the bridge and think the last chorus is about to come in. Spoiler alert: It never does. (This is a fan made vid - dtill pretty good though).

The Roots/Cody Chestnut - The Seed 2.0

This is my ‘go to’ track to look for when I’ve got someone’s iPod at a house party. I’m such a big Roots fan and this rework of the Cody Chestnutt track is flawless. So feel good, so much groove and that bounce from Questlove is the reason he is one of the best.

Royksopp/Robyn - Monument (T.I.E. Version)

While not the only time these two artists collaborated on a track, for me, it’s their strongest. Oozing cool from the opening kick drum, I’m all about that bass tone. Plus Robyn just seems so effortless in her delivery. Peep the vid for example of said cool.

Bone Thugs/Biggie - Notorious Thugs

Another one from my early teens, I always had Bone Thugs on repeat. They showed me that singing could still be done in a cool way, no more so than on the intro of this one. I’d go as far to say that they we’re the reason I transitioned into singing as a kid. Biggie's verse on this is an absolute classic too as a perfect demonstration of why he was one of the greats.

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