It’s finally time to kick off the Olmecha Supreme VS Pataphysics tour this Thursday December 3rd in Canberra!

So excited were the artists that they went out an bought themselves tickets for the show only to learn that as performers they get in for free! So as not to waste these tickets the bands asked Very Good if there were any people in Australia who might want their double passes to enjoy one of the shows they are playing around Australia?

Olmecha Supreme Live at De La Soul Wellington New Zealand

If you would like to enter the draw to take them up on their offer email your name and city to vg@verygood.com.au with the subject line ‘community’.

TOUR INFORMATION:

ANU Bar Canberra, Dec 3rd w special guests TBA Tickets are at Ticketek

Beach Rd Bondi, Dec 4th w Laneous and the Family Yah and DJ Mike Who

Gaelic Club Sydney, Dec 5th w Budspells and DJ JC – Tickets will be on sale at Moshtix

The National Hotel Geelong, Dec 11th w special guests TBA Tickets at Oztix

First Floor Melbourne, Dec 12th w Kano and Guests – Tickets at Moshtix

Great Northern Hotel Byron, Dec 17th w special guests TBA tickets will be on sale at Oztix

Cooly Hotel Gold Coast, Dec 18th w special guests TBA tickets on sale Oztix

The Hi-Fi Brisbane, Dec 20th w special guests TBA Tickets on sale The Hifi

Ruby’s Belgrave, Dec 16th w special guests TBA  Tickets on sale at Moshtix.

Olmecha Supreme play The Woodford Folk Festival Dec 30th

See you there!

If you’re a regular reader of this site or just had a flick back through some of our old posts, you may have noticed a bit of info on our very good friend (see ‘Artists‘ link above) O.G (A.K.A Oakley Grenell).  A man with many musical/creative talents that always seems to have a few different projects on the go. Recently one of his bands Departure Lounge (a mix of Christchurch musical ‘Allstars’) released  their second album “In Session” and have been doing some touring in New Zealand to celebrate.  So to keep our readers in the loop I thought I’d add this info from a recent press release:

“They are some of Christchurch’s top players, featuring six musicians with a reputation for excellence in search of the good groove.

Departure Lounge will release their second album In Session on November 3, serving up ten crisp musical biscuits of psychedelic groove. “In Session” captures Departure Lounge’s solid reputation for soulful, mood-swinging melodies and a dynamic live performance that is a must-see for fans of progressive music.

It was, after all, a celebrated live performance that initiated the journey of Departure Lounge when Grenell collected some of Christchurch’s best jazz musicians for the 2005 Christchurch International Jazz Festival – a performance that was so electrifying that the recording was released as their first album a year later, Departure Lounge – Live.

The line-up is led by Grenell on guitar, who released his solo album Moving On in 2008 to critical success, and features drummer Nick Gaffaney (Cairo Knife Fight, Golden Horse), bassist Johnny Lawrence (Solaa), Cameron Pearce on trumpet (head of Chch Jazz School), saxophonist Chris Burke, pianist Darren Pickering, and the percussion duo of Sum Suraweera and Kurt  Dyer (Solaa).

Joining the band as guests on the album are vocalists Mara TK (Electric Wire Hustle), soul star in-the-making Mark Vanilau, and new recruit Roslen Langton (LA Mitchell). In Session was mixed by electronica pioneer The Nomad at his Fresh Produce studio in Melbourne, mastered by Grammy winner George Lambert of Massive Masters in the UK, and will be distributed by Border music in NZ. This will be Grenells seventh album released on his independent record label Central Records based in Christchurch.

It all adds up to an album with a damn-good groove from this exceptionally talented group of musicians!

Clip of Oakley playing Live on RDU:

…Yossarian

Since their beginnings in January 2005, Tahuna Breaks have always been a band built upon a simple philosophy- the love of music. With an open mind and an adventurous spirit, unafraid to mix genres and musical stylings- their ‘anything goes’ and sometimes unconventional approach is governed only by two criteria: passion and energy.

In the two years since the release of their last album ‘Reflections’, the laid-back party starters from New Zealand have been busy touring, writing and recording. The 8-piece band are pleased to announce that their new tunes are ready for public ears by way of their new album.

“Black Brown and White” was recorded in December 08 with the infamous Dr Lee Preeble at the Surgery Studio in Wellington and features 13-tracks in true Tahuna Breaks style – a diverse mix of soul, funk, blues, roots & reggae.

The lifeblood of this band is live performance and it is from countless live gigs and tours that they have crafted their own brand of roots reggae, funk, soul and good old fashioned rock and roll!

If you haven’t already seen or heard of these funky cats, give them a listen and look out for them next time they are touring near you!

Links to follow up:

The offical site

Their myspace page

…Yossarian

[Info gathered from press releases]

Over the next 7 weeks, we are lucky enough to be working with some of the greatest crossover artists in Australasia for  a series of one off collaborative performances.

Over the next 7 weeks, Very Good readers are lucky enough to have some free tickets on offer from the bands who have generously offered their community the chance to come along and enjoy the events as their guests.

We are talking of course about Batucada Sound Machine, Olmecha Supreme, Pataphysics, King Tide, LABJACD, and DJ JC. To enter the draw, all you need to do is email vg@verygood.com.au with the subject line saying ‘community’ and your name, city, and preferred concert.

Batucada Sound Machine - He Said She Said

Batucada Sound Machine will play:

Gaelic Club Sydney, Nov 19th with King Tide and DJ JC – Get your tickets From Moshtix

AWME Black Box Melbourne, Nov 20th – Get your tickets to AWME

Ruby’s Lounge Belgrave, Nov 21st with Pataphysics – Get your tickets From Moshtix

East Brunswick Club Melbourne, Nov 26th with LABJACD & Pataphysics – Get your tickets here

Robe Village Fair Robe, Nov 27th and 28th – Get your tickets here

LABJACD Live at Woodford Folk Festival

Olmecha Supreme VS Pataphysics will play:

ANU Bar Canberra, Dec 3rd w special guests TBA

Beach Rd Bondi, Dec 4th w Laneous and the Family Yah and DJ Mike Who

Gaelic Club Sydney, Dec 5th w Budspells and DJ JC

The National Hotel Geelong, Dec 11th w special guests TBA

First Floor Melbourne, Dec 12th w special guests TBA

Ruby’s Belgrave, Dec 16th w special guests

Great Northern Hotel Byron, Dec 17th w special guests TBA

Cooly Hotel Gold Coast, Dec 18th w special guests TBA Get Tickets

The Hi-Fi Brisbane, Dec 20th w special guests TBA Get Tickets

Tickets on sale next week.

Olmecha Supreme – Bebestyle

…bs

Isaac Aesili is heading to Australia this week to play a few shows in support of his new album ‘Eye See’.

Isaac’s debut solo album Eye See is a rich tapestry of sound with R&B at its heart, and lashings of soul, reggae and funk woven within. Experimental and futuristic in some parts, warm and soulful in others, the album, an extension of its author, is a tribute to diversity.

Adopted as a baby and raised in Aotearoa, New Zealand with a cultural and ethnic heritage comprising Guyanese, Pakeha, and Maori. Eye See is an album that celebrates people’s differences and explores the universality of music in an increasingly diverse world. The album features collaborations with a variety of gifted vocalists; Aaradhna, Rosita Vai, Rachel Fraser, Mara TK and Deva Mahal.

Isaac Aesili feat. Aaradhna – With you in my bed

Isaac is a classically trained trumpet player and self-taught producer, vocalist and DJ with a love of R&B, soul, funk, jazz, fusion, world and electronic music. In 2003 Isaac completed a Masters Degree in Political Science From the University of Auckland with a thesis on the topic of Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples and Neo-Colonization. Over the last decade Isaac has been an integral member of: Solaa, Opensouls, Eru Dangerspiel and The Recloose Live Band with whom he has toured Europe, the US, Australia and Japan. Isaac’s debut Eye See is an album of soulful inspired music; in essence it is an investigation of our world from the perspective of the youth looking towards the future.

You can check out Isaac Aesili at:

First Floor – Melbourne Thursday October 29th

Beach Road – Bondi Friday October 30th with the after party at Melt in Kings Cross

and some tunes at:

www.myspace.com/isaacaesili

…bs

Very Good things are happening now that the spring has arrived and everyone’s coming back out to play… 3 tours coming up over the next 3 months are definitely going to make for some great nights out, first up in November it’s Batucada Sound Machine visiting from New Zealand to drop their massive 13ish piece bands sound on your doorstep if your in Sydney, Melbourne, or Robe. BSM are partnering up with some other great live acts along the way, making for some pretty sweet lineups including King Tide,  LABJACD, Pataphysics, and heaps of wicked local and international artists at Melbournes AWME and Robe Festival, (dates and ticket info  at the end of article)

Dec 3rd will see the first friendly battle of Olmecha Supreme VS Pataphysics at Canberras ANU Bar. The tour will hit most cities in Australia before Olmecha Supreme carries on to play the Woodford Folk Festival Dec 30th. These two 5 piece multi genre heavyweights go head to head, as well as being joined along the way by some special appearances including Laneous and The Family Yah, Budspells, DJ JC and DJ Mike Who among others. You can get a feel for what will be going down from

Olmecha Supremes awesome live performance at the De La Soul Concert in Wellington.

As if this wasn’t enough, just confirmed in Sydneys world famous live venue The Basement, a performance from New Zealand’s incredible neo soul duo Oakley Grenell and Mark Vanilau. Stepping aside from their hectic solo and group projects, the duo will start in Sydney on January 14th and work their way around the east coast from there. This will be the first time that the duo have toured Australia together and with them will travel some of Australias finer jazz musicians and special guests.

Oakley Grenell and Mark Vanilau – Moving on live at Red Bull Studio New Zealand

Batucada Sound Machine plays:

Gaelic Club, Sydney – with King Tide Nov 19th – Get your tickets From Moshtix

AWME Black Box Melbourne Nov 20th – Get your tickets to AWME

Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave Nov 21st with Pataphysics – Get your tickets From Moshtix

East Brunswick Club Melbourne with LABJACD & Pataphysics Nov 26th- Get your tickets here

Robe Village Fair Robe Nov 27th and 28th – Get your tickets here

Olmecha Supreme VS Pataphysics plays:

ANU Bar Canberra – Dec 3rd, Beach Rd Bondi – Dec 4th, Gaelic Club Sydney – Dec 5th, The National Hotel Geelong – Dec 11th, First Floor Melbourne – Dec 12th, Hotel Great Northern Byron Bay – Dec 17th, Cooly Hotel Gold Coast – Dec 18th, Hi Fi Bar Brisbane – Dec 20th.

You can check out more from the artists in their artist profiles or at:

www.myspace.com/olmechasupreme Olmecha Supreme

www.myspace.com/brotherpataphysics Pataphysics

www.myspace.com/batucadasoundmachine Batucada Sound Machine

www.myspace.com/kingtidesydney

www.myspace.com/labjacd

Press Release:

Isaac Aesili & The Vision and Electric Wire Hustle Dual Album Release Tour!

After branching out with their individual projects the two founding fathers of Christchurch Hip Hop Soul Collective Solaa – Isaac Aesili (pictured) and Dave Wright – are releasing their respective albums on the same day, 9 September 2009!

For Isaac it is his solo album Eye See and for Dave the album with his new band Electric Wire Hustle alongside Mara TK (vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and Myele Manzanza (drums).

“It seemed natural to want to celebrate the release of both of our albums together. Both projects have their own spin but are formed from a similar grounding.” Says Dave

Isaac Aesili and The Vision band and Electric Wire Hustle will be celebrating all their hard work by touring a multi-media, multi-sensational show in 5 centres – Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Queenstown and Christchurch in early September.

Pre – sale tickets are available from Cosmic Corner stores nationwide for $12 or for bFm, Active card, RDUnited and 1 Card holders $10.

See Isaac Aesili & The Vision and Electric Wire Hustle live at:

11 Sept – Khuja, Auckland, with support from Recloose
12 Sept – San Fran Bathhouse, Wellington
17 Sept – ReFuel, Dunedin
18 Sept – SubCulture, Queenstown
19 Sept – Double Happy, Christchurch

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Isaac Aesili feat. Aaradhna ‘With You In My Bed’

…Yossarian

(Aotearoarepresent)

Miss P and bs caught up with Electric Wire Hustle’s Taay and Myele recently in the lead up to the release of their self titled debut album.

Released on EWH’s independent label ‘Every Waking Hour’ 9.9.09 in NZ, we wanted to know what the plan is now…

What’s in a name like Electric Wire Hustle?
T – A glimpse into what’s to come, a glimpse of what we want to achieve through our music.

So what is typical of EWH? and how do you feel that you contribute to the NZ music scene?
T – Our own take on soul music and how it can be expressed through the myriad of different influences we have collectively. Hopefully for NZ our own voice offers something different.

Your sound goes from very sultry and seductive D’Angelo styles to electro funk Kanye style. Is this intentional to create a new flavour for NZ or does it just flow naturally?
T – We’re just following what comes naturally to us now. There will always be influences that form the basis of what we create but hopefully it will continue to progress as we do.

Electric Wire Hustle – SHOWREEL

Are there any artists in Australian or Aotearoa music scene would you guys want to collaborate with? or maybe you are already?
T – In time more collaborations will happen. We’ve got a lot to explore between the 3 of us  – although we have started to scratch the surface having the opportunity to work with one of our local heroes Warren Maxwell – stay tuned.

Your Myspace currently has 2 tracks on it…less is more? or busy little boys?
M – We’re finishing our album – more tunes are coming! there are 3 now. Don’t you love the anticipation!?

What’s on the horizon for EWH? When can we expect you down under in Australia again?
T- soon. We’ve been honing our craft in the studio post summer and now that’s set for release it’s back to honing the live show for the real.

Your music kind of has the feel of one of hip hops best albums “Do You Want More” from The Roots released back in ‘93. Would you say that you guys are more representative of the old school styles?
T – Thank you. I think we can only hope to make music that is timeless.

M – Dizzy Gillespie said you always gotta have one foot in the past, one in the present and the other in the future.

O.G. told us to look out for you guys in an interview he did a while back… so how bout we pay it forward… who are you telling us to keep an eye out for in Australasia next?

T-Julien Dyne. His music is reaching, next level ish that you should be plugged into!!!

nice one guys… can’t wait to hear the 4th track on myspace… and 5th, and the 6th…

Aotearoa Represent!

You can check out more of Electric Wire Hustle at:

www.myspace.com/electricwirehustle

miss P

&

…bs

Yeeeeeah! New Zealand’s 13ish piece super group Batucada Sound Machine are putting on a very special show for Auckland on September 4th at ‘4:20′. For this special performance they bring along the infamous King Kapisi, Cherie Mahieson, Miho Wada and DJ Bobby Brazuka. If you haven’t seen Batucada Sound Machine play before, the energy of this massive group sets them apart from most live shows these days, with almost as many people on stage as in the crowd. The incredible musicianship and talent of the individuals involved in the group, forming a Brzilian style afro beat bigband will set any night off, so with the addition of more talent to a night from BSM, it’s sure to make for an epic evening out.
Batucada Sound Machine featuring Che-Fu – Smoke

With MC Hazaduz (right hand man to Che-Fu) and King Kapisi both on the mic, Auckland will get to enjoy two of New Zealands finer MC’s, and potentially from memories of performances when I was still at high school, one of the best beatboxers Australasia has to offer in King Kapisi.

King Kapisi – Reverse Thoughts

Following this performance, BSM will be hitting the ‘Brisbane Arts Festival’, back to NZ for the ‘Nelson Arts Festival’, and then back to Australia for another run of concerts and festivals in November. Keep an eye on their myspace for additions to the tour run as they confirm them, and be sure to check out the performance in your hood if you get a chance.

And the three amigos in the horn section in their Adidas track suits look cool man…

You can check out more from Batucada Sound Machine at:

www.myspace.com/batucadasoundmachine

…bs

Kia Ora people!

If you didn’t already know, Kia ora is the Maori (New Zealand native) greeting, like saying hello.

And if you didn’t already know, 2 cats from New Zealand; OG and Mark Vanilau have been raising the bar with a few projects they have teamed up for that are putting some soul back on the radio.  Kia ora Oakley and Mark.

I’m not suggesting that soul and blues music are not represented in Australasia, but it’s been some time since a pairing like this has come along. The first time I came accross this pairing of artists was when we interviewed Oakley not too long ago

The live video for ‘Moving On’ has a rawness and yet subtlety that just isn’t apparent in many artists work at this time. I guess only in a place like New Zealand could such a peaceful sound be created by a bunch of young fellas. mean

So a few months on, and Oakley Grenell is set to release his new album in October of 2009 “Departure Lounge in Session” with the first single again having the two paired. Perhaps the press release explains it best: “Once again Grenell joins forces with Mark Vanilau continuing on from the nu jazz soul liaison that started with last years ‘Moving On’. The achingly seductive  ‘Between The Sheets’ gives a nod to the lust and passion reminiscent of D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ album and aims to evoke similar stirrings”.

Funnily enough, I had already made the D’angelo comment before reading this, as i’m sure many others have. Not a lot of people can be compared to D’angelo sitting so far ahead of the game in his area. Mark however has a certain softness and delicacy that sets him apart from others including D’angelo, that can only begin to be described in my mind as the sound innocence and selflessness would have if they were audible.

‘Between the Sheets’ (streaming at the top of the article) is a real fusion of styles and genres which hints at Oakleys incredibly diverse career so far. A patchwork quilt of blues, funk, soul, rock, hip hop, jazz, & ragga, with incredibly simplistic and pre-mediated musicianship, tied together by Marks innocence and realness.

“Once again Grenell has collected some of Christchurch’s most talented and accomplished musicians to make up the
Departure Lounge band – the stalwarts – Johnny Lawrence (Bass), Cameron Pearce (Trumpet), Chris Burke (Sax), Nick Gaffaney (Drums), Sum Suraweera and Kurt Dyer (Percussion), guest vocalists Mara TK (Electric Wire Hustle, Fly My Pretties), MC KP (Sunshine Soundsystem) and the exceptional soulful talent Mark Vanilau alongside new additions Darren Pickering on keys and guest vocalist Roz Langdon.”

Kia ora boys and girls… Kia ora.

You can check out more from Oakley and his band at:

www.myspace.com/centralrecords

www.centralrecords.co.nz

…bs