W Hotels Worldwide, the lux rebel of Marriott International, today announced it has once again joined forces with Mixcloud, the world’s leading long form music streaming platform that is fostering a global community for audio culture. Now in its second edition, Future Rising is the cutting-edge, creative platform that brings together rising talent from both the worlds of music and visual art. Kicking off on 20 September at W Guangzhou, Future Rising will then travel to W Bangkok (26 September), W Goa (18 October), W Kuala Lumpur (7 November) and W Brisbane (15 November) to explore the intersection of music and visual art to celebrate zeitgeist of a city and introducing cultural changemakers who you’ll soon be seeing everywhere.

“Music has been integral to the W brand since its inception. W Hotels is committed to supporting future creative leaders and immersive experiences for our guests through our shared passions, including music. said Bruce Ryde, Vice President, Luxury Brands and Brand Marketing Asia Pacific, Marriott International “Our continuation of partnership with Mixcloud is just one of the way to bring the brand’s new/next vision to life for travelers around the world and connect them with this cult of talent present in distinct locations selected for this year.”

FUTURE RISING APAC: RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW! will feature musical talents paired with visual artists. Together, these artists will explore each cities spirit to co-create a unique audio-visual performance that will be premiered at each Future Rising event.

W Guangzhou – Friday 20 September, 2019: Partnering with influential music publication and promoter Yeti Out, FUTURE RISING will welcome Lexie Liu X Adrian Yu. Beijing-based singer-rapper-songwriter with a futuristic vision, Lexie Liu makes music oozing with cross-cultural appeal. From the last female finalist on The Rap of China in 2018, to forming her own record label and charting #13 in this year’s Dazed100, it’s no surprise she’s been described as the voice of the next Chinese generation. Interdisciplinary artist, director, creative director, Adrian Yu’s work combines a love for music, film, design and technology. Yu often explores Asian American identity by creating installations that challenge his audience with provocative environments; recent solo shows include Hong Kong Art in Basel and Wallplay in New York. Adrian Yu is currently Creative Director and Founder of Offline Projects, a creative studio that focuses on progressive underground talent across new media, art and experimental music.

W Bangkok – Thursday 26 September, 2019: Culture collective and club promoter Blaq Lyte, is back for this edition of FUTURE RISING welcoming Notep X Kobored as our Bangkok collaboration. Musician, artist and creative director based in Bangkok, Note Panayanggool a.k.a Notep (No-Tep) combines music, art, design and technology to shift the focus from physical experience to something spiritual. Notep’s latest exhibition, Energy Diary 02 experiments with electronic and spiritual sounds that explores balance in the spiritual and modern world. Notep’s DJ sets and live performances are a regular fixture at Thailand’s pioneering, sustainable Wonderfruit festival. Expect ethereal vocal loops with dark melodic electronics. Specialising in light installation and projection mapping, Bangkok-based visual artist KOBORED is driven by digital experimentation. A recent collaboration with London artist D-Fuse explored how Thai and international artists have shaped his home city and translating those visions through digital and other emergent technologies. Meanwhile, current explorations into A/V experiences and large-scale projection mapping in public spaces hint at his tireless creativity.

W Goa – Friday 18 October, 2019: Partnering with Indian promoter Krunk FUTURE RISING welcomes BLOT! X Sam Madhu to Goa. BLOT! is a live electronic music project based out of Delhi, India. Straddling music and art, party and performance, Gaurav Malaker is the producer and DJ at the helm of the project. With a recent release on iconic label Diynamic Music, he is one of India’s most sought-out producers. His current musing is with warm, analogue sounds and classic synthesizers that have resulted in a slew of recent productions. They are deep and delicate in equal measure, warm tracks with delicious chords and big basslines that are destined for the dancefloor. Thus, channelling his ‘basic love of things’ with an always hands-on approach to creativity. Designer, artist and art director based out of Bombay, India. Sam Madhu’s work shatters taboos through psychedelic, powerful visual commentaries combining traditional Indian imagery and urban futuristic concepts across mediums such as digital illustration, motion graphics, animation, projection mapping, video direction, set design and installation.

W Kuala Lumpur – Thursday 7 November, 2019: Music promoter SaturdaySelects and FUTURE RISING introduce Shelhiel X Zulamran Hilmi as our collaboration for Kuala Lumpur. Artist, singer/songwriter, DJ and producer – Shelhiel is Malaysia’s much-hyped musical polymath making waves in English and Mandarin electronic pop scenes. He’s been making his name through genre-defying sounds and mystical creative vision, and when he’s not opening up for FKJ, Tennyson, Hyokoh and Crystal Castles, you’ll find Shelhiel behind-the-scenes, whether producing for internationally renowned  acts such as Penny Tsai and SHIO, or on a remix tip.From a young age, Zulamran Hilmi would spend hours creating illustrations inspired by comics and sci-fi films, and his passion for art, combined with his love of music naturally lead him to pursue a career in the music and design industries. His multi-disciplinary work has earned him recognition for art direction and visuals for Adam Kasturi, Yuna, Killeur Calculateur and Joe Flizzow, while his musical explorations have evolved through his co-founded Botanic Records label with Tim Sharp of ‘Into The Blue’, plus CLUB NIGHT and Cahaya event series’ exploring the juxtaposition between art and music.

W Brisbane – Friday 15 November, 2019: FUTURE RISING will be landing in Brisbane for the first time partnering with industry-leading touring company and tastemaker Niche Productions. Here we will be seeing a collaboration between the Genesis X Tszuj. Making his mark on the Australian music scene, Genesis Owusu delivers his own ever-changing, unique style of hip-hop. Noting a long-list of influences from Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis to Frank Ocean and Wu-Tang Clan, his artistic versatility and poetic approach has seen him collaborate with Grammy-nominated band Hiatus Kaiyote and perform explosive live sets at Groovin’ The Moo, Spilt Milk and St. Jerome’s Laneway. At just 20, he’s a serious ‘One to Watch’. Tszuj is an experimental, interdisciplinary art collective specialising in light-based installation, stage design and live animation. Tszuj marries sculptural form with projection mapping by saturating and automating suspended static objects, transforming and repurposing space. Characteristically immersive and meditative, Tszuj constructs impactful experiences to enhance audience engagement and stimulate sensory response.

“Each year, Future Rising has gone from strength to strength and this year’s theme RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW! came about because we wanted to create something that’s urgent, necessary and vital for today in these different cities,” said Kazim Rashid, Creative Director at Mixcloud. “This is the first time we will bring together a host of exciting collaborators from the audio and visual worlds to co-create work that will launch at W Hotels across APAC. At Mixcloud, we are hugely excited about the art that will result from these collaborations.”