Mathas - Armwrestling Atlas Tour

Perth rapper Mathas is the kind of modern, multi-faceted artist that can't be pinned down by the rigid genre boundaries of hip hop. A ferociously talented songwriter, producer, poet and performer, the genre-bender's accolades include being the first ever rap or electronic artist to win the WA Music Industry's coveted Song of the Year award, being named in Triple J presenter Dom Alessio's Top 10 tracks of 2013 and winning the 2012, 2013 and 2014 WAM Award for Urban Act of the Year.

But it's without doubt the dense, Swiss-watch like intricacy of his lyrics and beats that have captured the attention of music lovers of all genre persuasions. Tracks like Nourishment (featuring fellow West Australian Abbe May) saw him use native food as the framework for a poetic discussion about the complexities of indigenous Australia. Elsewhere he's tackled - without preaching - youth alienation and drugs in Doctorshopping, the dirty tricks of the food industry in White Sugar and more personal, internal struggles in Stone Cold Sober.

The son of a painter, Mathas (or Tom Mathieson as his grandma calls him) is the kind of artist that is constantly observing, lifting the worlds' trapdoors and pointing out the cogs and inner working of our culture. He's also interested in developing culture and for the past 10 years has been a driving force in pioneering and progressive WA music collective The Community. This twenty-plus strong collective of local musicians has released more than 40 recordings as well as producing multiple events, festivals, weekly and monthly residencies and it's own radio shows.

Named by triple j as one of their Next Crop Artists, Mathas will be releasing his highly-anticipated sophomore album Armwrestling Atlas in 2015 - the follow up to his highly-regarded debut 10lb Hairless Sasquatch. A highly personal project that's taken five years to manifest, Armwrestling Atlas sees Mathas handle the majority of production, recording, mixing as well as hand-painting the albums artwork.

It's an album title that suggests an artist with the troubles of the world on his shoulders... but it's also at his feet.