About this artist
What So Not’s ambitious, wide-ranging discography includes aggressive festival trap bangers as well as more atmospheric electropop songs. The brainchild of Australian producer Chris Emerson (and initially a collaboration with Flume), What So Not released several EPs throughout the 2010s, including 2015′s Gemini, before making its full-length debut with 2018′s Not All the Beautiful Things, which featured Skrillex, Toto, and Rome Fortune among its many guests. Second album Anomaly, with appearances from Killer Mike, MØ, and DMA's, arrived in 2022.
What So Not was founded in 2010 as a duo consisting of Chris Emerson (aka Emoh Instead) and Harley Edward Streten, the latter of whom operates under the nom de plume Flume. The duo issued a debut EP, 7 Dollar Bill, shortly after forming, and also began releasing remixes of artists like Major Lazer, Peking Duk, and Tom Piper. The year 2013 saw the release of a second EP, The Quack, which featured a collaboration with American rapper Action Bronson. Later that year, the single “High You Are [Branchez Remix]” arrived, followed by 2014′s “Tell Me,” a collaboration with RL Grime. Flume left the project in 2015, shortly before the release of the Gemini EP. The EP included the eponymous hit single, which featured Sydney-based singer and producer Jessica Higgs, better known as George Maple.
Another single, “Lone,” appeared the following year. That track appeared on 2016′s Divide & Conquer EP, which included collaborations with Kimbra and Rome Fortune as well as Maple. Instead reunited with Maple for that October’s “Afterglow,” a single by Australian rapper Tkay Maidza that also featured production work by Djemba Djemba. In late 2016, What So Not and Skrillex teamed up with Grime on the single “Waiting.” After the release of the stand-alone single “Better” in 2017, What So Not began the rollout for his debut full-length. Arriving in early 2018, Not All the Beautiful Things featured appearances by familiar faces Skrillex (“Goh”) and Rome Fortune (“Demons”), as well as an inspired roster of additional guests including Daniel Johns (Silverchair, the Dissociatives), Slumberjack, San Holo, and Toto.
“We Can Be Friends,” a bittersweet collaboration with Herizen, was released in 2019, followed by “OOGAHDAM!” (with Diablo) and “20:25” (with Flux Pavilion and the Chain Gang of 1974). “The Change” (with DMA's) and “Messin’ Me Up” (featuring EVAN GIIA) appeared in 2021, previewing the second What So Not full-length. Additional singles featuring Oliver Tree, Killer Mike, and Louis the Child appeared in 2022, and Anomaly landed in September. ~ James Christopher Monger & Paul Simpson