Van Staden & Böhm (VSB) is the electronic duo of Madison Van Staden (she/they, Moody.v & the Menstrual Cycle, Babyteeth) and Amelia Berry (she/her, Amamelia, Babyteeth, Fimo).
Currently based in Naarm (Melbourne) the pair’s high intensity debut ‘Hardcore’ (Related Articles, 2021) has had a long reverberation in Aotearoa, shifting stagnant dance floors with its devotional queer lyricism and 170bpm euro production.
Today the pair return with Number One Girl Raver, a new stand alone single accompanied by a music video created by animator Simon Ward (with assistance from NZ On Air Music).

Number One Girl Raver hits it with pace, speeding to the rave at 172 beats per minute to the tune of  90s Hardcore, Hyperpop and dirty Bubblegum Bass. Now we’re sucking diesel!

“I just love how Happy Hardcore can combine over the top sweetness and real melancholy with this kind of tough, hard, blow up your speakers kind of sound.” says Berry. “I wanted to try to really push that contrast.”

“With that in mind getting the vocal right was really important for Number One Girl Raver. I had sketched something out and Maddy came in and really made it into something special, coming up with the harmony that I think ties it all together.”

After two minutes of revving chainsaws, booming drums, and chants of “Number One Girl Raver,” the song shifts to its heartfelt refrain: “Even though you’re so far away, I feel your love like yesterday.” Berry shares her inspiration, saying, “When someone is out of your life very suddenly, sometimes, you just have a flash of feeling like they’re back beside you or like nothing has changed.”

After a typo turned “Raver” into “Racer” in Sunreturn’s music grant submission, animator Simon Ward seized the opportunity to take the view on a nostalgic journey through the world of 90s and 00s console racing games. Inspired by the Wachowskis’ 2008 film Speed Racer, the music video for Number One Girl Raver features our blue-haired, pigtailed heroine navigating colourful tracks and fierce competition. Will she cross the finish line and claim her place on the podium?

“The idea for the music video all stems from the spelling mistake made while applying for NZ On Air grant,” jokes Van Staden. “I feel Simon instantly understood what we wanted and went beyond what I imagined the video to be like.”

“Van Staden & Böhm sent me a very helpful youtube playlist of PS1 games, old CG TV intros & animation related 90s music videos,” says Ward. “I think I was on a 2000s Speed Racer movie tip, which opened up the floodgates for Amelia who happens to love that movie. From there we cooked up an overly ambitious combo of PS1, Speed Racer & Wacky Races.”

“The animation was made using a procedural car driving system in the 3D software Blender. You can set up a kinda rabbit on a path for the cars to chase.  It took a lot of trial and error, with quite a few hilarious massive crashes before I got the right car animation. It was a bit like a combo of the movies Speed (1994) and Sorcerer (1977). Also there’s a few other performance moments in the video, the dancing driver at the bus stop is me in VR, with a headset and hand controllers, recording my movements.  Luckily no one was around to see that in real life!”

Now the track is out, Van Staden reflects “I can’t wait for it to be released into the world. We feel more motivated to work on new music and the new VSB EP!”