Remi’s Raw X Infinity Coming

Fast-Rising Australian Artist REMI Set to Make US Debut at SXSW 2015; 

Award Winning Album RAW X INFINITY out April 14, 2015

REMI aka Remi Kolawole (along with collaborators Sensible J and Dutch) is one of the fastest rising stars in Australia and in 2015 he’ll be making his US debut.  On April 14, 2015 REMI will release his award winning and critically acclaimed new album RAW X INFINITY in North America for the first time and just prior to the album dropping, the 23-year-old Melbourne native of Nigerian descent will bring his energetic live show to the US for his first ever SXSW performance.

2014 has been an incredible and exciting year for REMI who cleaned up at the AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) Awards this past fall, winning Best Independent Hip Hop Album for RAW X INFINITY and taking home the coveted $50,000 Carlton Dry Global Music Grant for having the most potential to break internationally.  In addition, he was nominated for the AIR‘s Breakthrough Artist of the Year award, he won Best Emerging Artist at The Age Music Victoria Awards and Hip-Hop Live Act of the Year at the first annual AU Awards.  RAW X INFINITY was also nominated for Album of the Year at Triple J’s 10^th annual J Awards where he won Unearthed Artist of the Year in 2013.  REMI’s RAW X INFINITY has also been nominated for Album of the Year by the 10^th Coopers AMP awards whose coveted $30,000 cash prize winner will be decided in March and was created to discover, promote and reward Australian music of excellence. 

On the live front, this past year REMI sold-out his own headlining tours and was a sought after opener, sharing the stage with an impressive list of artists including Danny Brown, Vic Mensa, De La Soul, Joey Bada$$ and most recently Damon Albarn who asked the young MC to join him to perform The Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood” on each of his Australian shows.  REMI also joined fellow Australian act Hiatus Kaiyote this past fall when they headlined the Sonic Architects National Tour and graced the stage of numerous festivals in Australia including Pushover Festival (Melbourne), St. Kilda Festival (Melbourne), Come Together Festival (Sydney), Splendour in the Grass (Red Bull Academy Stage), Valley Fiesta Festival (Brisbane), Sunny Dayz Festival (Cairns), Bayside Festival (Perth), Falls Festival (Lorne, Marion Bay, Byron) and the South Bound Festival.

While 2015 will bring REMI’s US debut both live and on record, a few notable stateside media folks have already taken notice of this incredibly talented artist.  OkayAfrica caught up with REMI in May 2014 about working with longtime collaborators Sensible J and Dutch on RAW X INFINITY.  NPR Music’s All Songs Considered included the song “Sangria” from REMI’s F.Y.G ACT:1 on their weekly show in October 2013 (the song is a bonus track on RAW X INFINITY) and in August 2013 VIBE said REMI is “on our watch list” when they posted his early video for “Saggin.”  In addition, the Australian edition of Rolling Stone featured REMI in a piece titled “RAW AND READY: THE RISE OF REMI,” that came out in September 2014 and in January 2015 they included RAW X INFINITY in their “2014 In Review: Albums Of The Year” alongside other notable releases including Benjamin Booker’s Benjamin Booker, Alt-J’s “This Is All Yours,” FKA Twigs’ “LP1,” Flying Lotus’ “You’re Dead,” and Run The Jewels’ “Run The Jewels 2.”

With REMI’s appeal as diverse as it is impressive and with his US debut this year both live (SXSW 2015) and on record (RAW X INFINITY – April 2015), he’ll be joining a number of other incredibly talented Australian acts that have found recent success in the US after garnering similar awards and accolades in Australia including Courtney Barnett, Flume, Vance Joy, Chet Faker and Jagwar Ma.