Introduction
Since forming in 2010, Australian electro house duo Peking Duk have been mainstays on the Australian festival scene. It wasn’t until 2014 that Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles first got noticed with their single High, which earned them triple-platinum certification, a top 10 chart placing in their homeland and a record deal with Sony Music/RCA Records.
High was followed with other big hits including Take Me Over and Stranger (Feat. Elliphant), amassing over 74 million streams combined. With a string of ARIA awards under their belts, the notoriously ostentatious double-act, who grew up in the suburbs of inner northern Canberra, have completed numerous headline national tours, including this year’s massive 18-date Clowntown Tour.
Having performed at some of the biggest festivals around Australia, this month sees them hitting the main stage at Splendour in the Grass. Captivating fans with their unique flavour of indie electronica and performing electrifying live sets, the duo have been fully endorsed by the likes of house legend Tiesto and EDM kingpin Steve Aoki.
In their own words “Peking Duk not only tastes good, but sounds even better.” Click through the gallery to find out the 10 records that most influenced the dynamic duo…
Check out Peking Duk and AlunaGeorge’s new single Fake Magic. For more information, visit the duo’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
1. Francis and the Lights - May I Have This Dance (Remix w/Chance the Rapper)
Adam Hyde: “This song made me cry with happiness the first time I heard it. There hasn't been many songs from this era that have taken me to such a beautiful place.
“The lyrics in the chorus are super relatable... fucking it all up with someone you love and trying to make it up to them as best you can.
“Sometimes the best you can is asking to have a dance and forgetting about it all - it definitely doesn't work, but after listening to this song it feels like everything will be ok.”
2. Kanye West - Young Thug
AH: “Hearing this dude constantly break the mould of what modern music should sound like when you get put in a category is inspiring as fuck.
“He constantly gets put in the rapper box cliché, then wears a fucking dress on his album cover and drops a beautiful song like this.
“This dude keeps progressing against what is conventional and I couldn't love it more if I tried. Watching people bitch about him is one of the funniest things to witness. Long live thugger!
3. Cigarettes After Sex - Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby
AH: “This song reminds me of one of the funniest and most beautifully pivotal periods of my life to date.
“This was my go-to song every night whilst travelling through Europe and then heading back to Sydney in the company of some amazing people I’ll never forget.
“It's nostalgic and haunting at the same time, with a touch of pure ecstasy. It’s lovemaking music at its finest!
“Everything from Cigarettes After Sex is pure fuego too... can't wait for the album. This song is one of the few I would consider a solid 100 out of 10.”
4. Jamie T - Back In The Game
AH: “This reminds me of getting stoned in the drains next to my high school and listening to Jamie’s whole Panic Prevention record on repeat with my fellow stoned brethrens in class, sharing those old shitty iPhone headphones amongst us.
“I've recently revisited this whole album and have realised it really is a fucking masterpiece. The lyrical content covers everything that late teens through to 30-year-olds go through in the most realistic manner.
“It's like you're having a chat with Jamie T at the pub over a pint of lager. No sugar coated ambiguous poetic bullshit, just straight up melancholic magic at its finest.”
5. Scar - Cloud Control
AH: “We were lucky enough to tour India with these legends a couple of years ago and I hadn't heard of them until I saw them play this song live.
“It grabbed me in a way I can't explain and still gives me that exact same high every time I hear it. Fucking beautiful.
“These dudes have a lot of fuego on the way. Not to mention we have something very, very special that we've created with them that we can show to the world soon! It's our favourite thing we've worked on to date.”
6. James Brown, Fred Wesley, The J.B.'s - People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul (Remix)
Reuben Styles: “This track puts the word funk in a state of perfection. From afar, it seems that not much happens in the song at first, and it is quite repetitive, but the more you listen to it the more you discover.
“Even 20 listens in, I guarantee you'll find a new favourite 'moment' in this tune. It's a 10-minute adventure worth reliving over and over and over again.
“Although I spend much more time listening to Parliament and Funkadelic, and would love to include their funk jams in this list, I can't go past this James Brown joint for one of our top 10 tracks that blew our minds.”
7. John Frusciante - Murderers
RS: “I heard this first on the skateboarding video by Girl called Yeah Right. They sprayed the decks lime green and made the boards invisible for the whole section.
“It blew my mind to watch but I eventually forgot about the skateboarding and the invisible boards on the video and the song stuck with me.
"It was the first song I tried to replicate the sound of within the first music production software I owned, Reason. The end product was terrible and I hope it never sees the light of day, but it was so much fun learning that songs could be made on computers. What really makes this song mind blowing is that it keeps coming back to me in phases.
“I saw the skate vid 15 years ago and can't even remember who’s in it, but this song is once again at the top of my playlist right now. I can't thank John Frusciante enough for having this in my life for so long.”
8. Tame Impala - Elephant
RS: “People say they miss the days when bands were as good as The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. I'm gonna say it now; there are bands just as good. For this track that blew my mind, I'm naming Tame Impala.
“This riff is possibly the greatest I've heard since Zep's Whole Lotta Love, but I think the magic of the song as a whole makes it even better.
“Tame Impala are making music that takes you to an entirely new world and place. This song is a great intro to anyone not familiar, but I can't stress enough, it's not just one song that will let Tame Impala improve your daily life, it’s all of them - so get amongst their albums now if you haven't!”
9. D'Angelo - Ain't That Easy
RS: “This song is also a taster from an album of magic; D'Angelo's latest - Black Messiah.
“Simply put, this man is a genius. I couldn't have devoted more time to any album in the last five years.
“The sounds and the feel within the album are so real it's almost daunting at times. The way Questlove drums throughout the album is what captures the vibe; each track feels 5-10 bpm slower than it actually is and, in turn, the realism hits so hard.
“There isn't much to say or much that could be said, just listen and enjoy!”
10. RÜFÜS - Innerbloom
RS: “Last of my five is an adventure and a half. Hands down my fave electronic song in the last five years and I'm sure it's the fave of many others.
“Another 10-minute escapade of ups and downs, lefts and rights and a shit ton of magic.
“The Rufus legends are simply perfecting what they've always done, so when this song came out it was not even that surprising, it was kinda just what we all really wanted and hoped for.
“If you don't have one, please get an amazing sound system and listen to this once a day on your own until it is engrained in your activity or daily life outside of just listening to it.