Feel the heat. Oli Sabin is Unicorn Kid, an 18-year-old Scottish wizard who has spent the past year building a buzz most acts would give their right arm for.
The Kid's year has seen US and UK tours, the release of the Lion Hatdebut single and a banging remix for the Pet Shop Boys. The latter was Sabin's first remix and he threw it together in his bedroom during the school holidays without listening to the original first.
All of the above activities have contributed to a rapidly growing fanbase and a strong sense of excitement about his music.
Sabin’s electronic pop owes its genesis to the 8-bit scene where old-school videogame consoles are recycled to make music. For the most part, 8-bit practitioners tend to veer towards the underground and alternative.
Sabin, though, is making bleepmanic pop thrills with a much bigger audience in mind. While his bright, brash, high-energy sounds have roots in the euphoria of hard-trance and happy hardcore, tracks such as Lion Hatpossess enough pop kinks and melodies to hook more mainstream ears.
When he was 15, Sabin started messing around with and sampling Casio keyboards and kids’ toys. He stuck the tunes he was producing on MySpace and the hits started coming.
He soon started gigging, an activity which sometimes involved persuading bouncers to actually let him into the venue in the first place. He moved to all-ages shows and his audience moved with him.
As befits a proper would-be pop star, Sabin is already locking down sidelines. He teamed up with tech company Popmorphic to create an interactive music video-cum-game, while his trademark lion hat has become a best-selling piece of merchandise. No flies on this Kid.
www.myspace.com/ unicornkid
