The Very Good Agency

Low:Fi – NAS and Chali 2na head up hip hop feast!

Australian hip hop fans are blessed with the announcement of the massive ‘Low:Fi tour’ that will be traversing the country late October/early November this year. Featuring east coast hip hop heavyweight NAS, supported by the baritone himself Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, as well as turntable master Q-Bert and MC Supernatural, this is surely to be one of the biggest shows to hit our shores in 2009.

Long regarded as one of the best in hip hop, self proclaimed King of New York Nasty NAS heads back to Australia to headline his very own tour after supporting Kanye here late last year.  Since his 1994 debut album, ‘Illmatic’, regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, NAS has remained at the forefront of the scene. Whether that be with his masterful flow and provocative rhymes, his well publicised ‘beef’ with Jay-Z (and subsequent reunion…) or the attention garnered by the controversial naming of his most recent album, there has been no escaping NAS’ impact on the shape of hip hop.

Coming through with strong support is the irrepressible Chali 2na of the now defunct Jurassic 5. Having just released his debut solo album, Fish Outta Water, the ‘verbal Herman Munster’ will be performing with a live band and is sure to entertain. Hip hop these days lacks such down-to-earth and laidback artists; having met 2na in Wellington back in 2004, I can honestly say he is everything that is right with the industry and is one of the nicest guys out, not to mention a solid performer on the mic and sure fire crowd-pleaser. No doubt he will be keen to impress fans with a combination of classic J5 bangers as well as decent collection of his new material.

Nas – I can

But it doesn’t finish there, the Low:Fi tour also features the MC/DJ combination of Q-Bert and Supernatural in a freestyle battle the likes of which you’ve never seen; a powerhouse pairing of arguably the most technically sound DJ in hip hop, and strongest freestyle MC in the scene. Qbert‘s involvement in the DMC team The Invisble Sqratch Piklz in the mid 90’s (along with Mix Master Mike) positioned him as the world’s most respected hip hop DJ, and was subsequently banned from competing after wining 3 consecutive titles! He and two time U.S. freestyle battle champion MC Supernatural will amaze with their man versus machine, head to head, battle to the death that is rarely seen outside of the U.S.

Now, some lucky punters across the country are going to be fortunate enough to see all of these artists in one show, others, however, will have to attend separate gigs; let me spell this out to avoid confusion:
Sat 24th October, Adelaide – Summer Break, Rymill Park
(CHALI 2NA, QBERT & MC SUPERNATURAL ONLY)
On Sale Date: Thursday 20th August
Sun 25th October, Perth – The Aberdeen Hotel, Aberdeen Street & The Shed
On Sale Date: Thursday 6th August
Wed 28th October, Melbourne – The Palace Metro Theatre
(NAS ONLY)
On Sale Date: Thursday 20th August
Thurs 29th October, Adelaide – The Barton Theatre
(NAS ONLY)
On Sale Date: Thursday 20th August
Friday 30th October, Melbourne – The Esplanade Hotel
(CHALI 2NA, QBERT & MC SUPERNATURAL ONLY)
On Sale Date: TBC
Sat 31st October, Sydney – The Enmore Theatre
On Sale Date: Thursday 20th August
Sun 1st November, Stradbroke Island – Island Vibe Festival
(CHALI 2NA ONLY)
On Sale Date: TBC

And if you’re a Sydney dwelling hip hop and drum and bass fan, check out the link below, the above artists combined with some of the world’s best drum and bass DJ’s will surely make for one of the events of the year!
www.lowfi.com.au
Get your tickets soon as this will be one show you will not want to miss!

…Crack

Tags: gigs, hip hop, Old School

Batucada Sound Machine – Auckland and beyond

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

Tags: Funk, gigs, hip hop, New Zealand Artists, Reggae

The Good Agency – Well OK Then

A keen reader of Very Good sent me a link to an agency they found in the UK which has such a great brand! I really dig the concept, but I’m sure Ive seen something similar before that I just can’t put my finger on.

Could it be that somewhere in London, a future partnership awaits with a group who have such a similar mindset to us?

I think I would have been slightly annoyed if they had a superlative in their name such as ‘The Extremely Good Agency’.

But they don’t so – Kia Ora The Good Agency – Kia Ora

www.thegoodagency.co.uk

…bs

Laneous and The Family Yah – ‘St. Ill Regal’ Album Launch Tour – Free Tickets Anyone?

TICKET GIVEAWAY – Hey peeps, QLD hip hop crew Laneous and The Family Yah are touring around Australia at the moment in support of their upcoming album release for ‘St Ill Regal’. Sydney got their turn last weekend, and from all accounts the tour kicked off with some mad energy from these crazy kids. Next up Laneous and The Family Yah will be hitting Victorian and Queensland fans with a few shows around Melbourne, culminating in their album launch party in Brisbane.

Laneous and The Family Yah – Bubblegum

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Laneous explains ” ‘St. Ill Regal’ was recorded with Brissie Buzz Man Peet G @ Psi Fi Studios throughout 2008, the 17 track slammer features a whole flock of extended Family Yah members including MC’s, an 8 piece string section, Nepalese Table Master and others”.  The album tour looks to boast some talented guests also including LOTEK (UK), Very Good‘s own Pataphysics, and New Zealand’s funkiest Olmecha Supreme in QLD with his Soundsystem brothers along for the ride.

Olmecha Supreme – Snowblood

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So Laneous has been cool enough to hook up a double pass to the ‘Bar Open’ show in Melbourne with Pataphysics, and the Hi Fi show in Brisbane with Olmecha Supreme for some Very Good readers!  Thank you to Laneous, and to his wicked massive family.

To enter the draw, email your name to vg@verygood.com.au with the name of the gig you want to go to in the subject line and we’ll notify the winners by email on Thursday.

You can check out more from Laneous and The Family Sly, and get full details of the performances at:

www.myspace.com/lachlaneous

…bs

Tags: Australian Artists, breakbeats, Competitions, Funk, gigs, hip hop

Pete Philly and Perquisite update

Yes yes y’all, it’s been too long since we’ve last hit you up. We wanted to send you this earlier but in light of our hero passing away last month we did some proper soul searching and MJ listening sessions first.
So here goes:

Stuff we’ve been doing:

– We’ve played at a couple of European festivals last month. We were at ‘Flow.Er’ in Catania, Sicily on June 27th. Next came ‘Rheinkultur’, Germany’s biggest free open air festival, which was great. Check out the short video on our website. The week after we’ve played at ‘Frauenfeld Open Air’ in Switzerland alongside The Game, 50 cent, Gentleman, N.E.R.D, Sammy Deluxe and many others.

– Perq has been composing the score for Dutch movie “Carmen van het Noorden” which will see it’s theatrical release this autumn. The movie which features Tygo Gernandt and Sanguita Akkrum in the lead rolls will have it’s premiere on September 24th at the Dutch Film Festival. The soundtrack, which will entirely be produced by Perquisite, features the cream of the crop of Dutch hip hop including GMB, Typhoon, Sticks, Jiggy Djé, Turk and Duvel and will be released the same day through ‘Unexpected Records’. For more news on this check out www.myspace.com/perquisite.

– Pete produced the remix for and featured on Jiggy Djé’s song “Ik heb je”. A video has been shot last week to accompany the single. Check out the song over here.

– Pete also featured on Candy Dulfer’s new album “My Funk” and The Kindred Spirits Ensemble’s song “Shining Liberation feat. Pete Philly”.

– Perq has made remixes for De Staat, Voicst and Kim Hoorweg. Check them out by clicking on the links:

De Staat – Wait For Evolution (Perquisite remix) (free download)

Voicst – A Year and a Bit (Perquisite remix)

Kim Hoorweg – The Moment I Open My Eyes (Perquisite remix)

– Pete has been playing the lead in the play “Man From Nowhere” and is currently writing new songs. Follow him on twitter to know what’s up:  www.twitter.com/petephilly

– Perq has won the prestigious ‘Duiveltje’ award for best producer of The Netherlands.

Pete Philly and Perquisite – Empire

Stuff we’re gonna do:

– After this summer, we’ll be doing our last tour for an undefined period, which we’ve called the ‘Final Celebration Tour’. It’ll be a reprise of the theater tour that we tried out last year. In this tour we will present our material in the most musical and intimate way possible. We’ve enlarged our live-formation to 13 people including a horn section, a drummer and a string quartet and we will play songs that we usually don’t perfrom in our normal live setup, like ‘Believer’, ‘Amazed’, ‘Mellow’ and ‘Grateful’. This tour will be a celebration of all that we, as a group, have accomplished in the last 5 years. Check our website for the dates. Don’t miss out on this one!

And an announcement:

– After 3 years of touring with us, a couple of months ago our saxophone player Remco Keijzer has decided to leave our live formation to pursue his other musical ambitions and move to Australia. We’ve enjoyed playing with Remco a lot and wish him lot’s of luck with his solo career! Keep an eye out for Remco‘s quintet! At the same time we welcome Floris van der Vlugt as our new saxophone player. Check out his website right here.

Stay blessed and stay safe,
… Pete & Perq

Tags: hip hop, Jazz, Soul, World Music