The Very Good Agency

Fink

If you’ve not already heard of Fink then it is about time you were reading this article. It would have come to you a lot sooner except the interview that we had scheduled with him three months ago is still yet to occur. Easily the best thing to come out of the UK music scene since Roots Manuva, Fink, originally from Brighton, now tours the furthest corners of the world playing his inventive mix of Folk, Blues and Dub. Words carry little weight in expressing an artist as unique as this, so check out his live performance below of Biscuits

Fink – Biscuits

Recently touring the US, Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, and most of Europe with some amazing artists like  Massive attack, and Zero 7, Fink told us he was “desperate to increase my love down under so i can get down there”… well we hope he can get here soon too and we encourage any fans in Australasia to show that love at www.myspace.com/finkmusic

Unsurprisingly the son of a folk musician and music manager, Fink worked as a club promoter in London throughout the time of his own musical exploration helping him to further understand the industry he would be so involved in. Playing such an eclectic mixture of styles, Fink unbelievably didn’t even feature his vocals on earlier releases he made which were based around acid jazz remixes, DJ sets, and electronic hip hop. Fink has also used his production skills for several major artists including Amy Winehouse.

Fink – This is The Thing

You can check out more of Fink at:

www.finkworld.co.uk

www.myspace.com/finkmusic

…bs

Tags: Blues, Roots

Common New Album

Common is reportedly heading in a new direction with his soon to be released ”Invincible Summer”. Common hooked up with Neptunes and one-time OutKast contributor Mr. DJ for his new album, which is said to have a heavy electro-tinged feel to it. The lead single (which can be heard on Common’s official site www.common-music.com is certainly evidence that favours such an opinion; this high energy track is a deviation from the norm for Common, but he pulls it off nicely. With thumping techno-inspired drums and a catchy hook, this track is sure to get some serious attention.

Overdue as it may be (was supposedly due out in May, now slated for August) Common is sure to come correct once again, However, he is this time without long-time friend and collaborator Kanye West, who was too busy with his extravagant “Glow in the dark” tour to be able to contribute towards the album. Features on the album include Cee-Lo and singer-MC Santogold, who Common states is “one of my favorite artists right now.
Common is also set to appear alongside James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in “Wanted”, his latest film effort, being released in America late June. Check out the official trailer below…

Common in Wanted

You can check out more of Common at:

www.common-music.com

…crack

Tags: hip hop

Flight of the Conchords

New Zealand is known around the world for a few things, Lord of the Rings, Team New Zealand , Sir Edmund Hillary, and now… Flight of the Conchords.

From their humble beginnings in the NZ television and music industries, New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody duo, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, now have their own American HBO comedy series. Scoring their American contract after doing an HBO comedy special, they are now moving on to a second series making them the first New Zealand comedians to do so.

‘Part time model’ from Flight of the Conchords HBO series

Receiving a string of highly celebrated awards around the world for their performances, television show, and albums, the 2008 Grammy award for ‘best comedy album’ means Jemaine and Bret have now become New Zealands ambassadors to the world. Not many people realise that Bret a.k.a. Video Kid is also a member of New Zealand dub reggae group The Black Seeds

The Black Seeds – So True

It’s really no surprises that Jemaine also has his own side projects, recently releasing Eagle VS Shark, a downbeat comedy portraying the blossoming relationship of two nerds while Jemaine’s character ‘Jarrodd’ returns to his hometown to seek revenge on his old high school bully…

Jemaine Clement in Eagle Vs Shark

You can check out more from Flight of the Conchords at:

www.conchords.co.nz

…bs

Tags: Comedy, New Zealand Artists

The Unified Tour

The night started with a rather adventure-like ride across the city, courtesy of True Live manager, Penny. I say adventure-like, where it was more an epic tour of Melbourne’s outer suburbs, as we fumbled our way through the Melways and missed numerous turnoffs. This resulted in the classic fashionably late entrance, which no one really seemed to notice anyway. The Winnie Coopers were thrashing out their own brand of Aussie hiphop when we got to the gig, voices hoarse from the energy they obviously put into their live shows. They got a great response from the crowd of students, who were particularly boozed for a Tuesday night fairly close to exam-time.

The Winnie Coopers

Next to hit the stage were the Funkoars, who again were well received by everyone involved. Having listened to their album “Greatest Hits” prior to the gig, I was well aware of what they would bring to the stage, and enjoyed hearing live versions of standout tracks such as Blackout and The Greatest Hit. Next up was True Live; the real reason we were there. Don’t get me wrong, I love hip hop, and Aussie hip hop has some real talents (and as a Kiwi I actually enjoy most Aussie Hip hop more than NZ hip hop). But the style brought to the table by acts that simply incorporate MC’s and a DJ playing a beat, often leaves me unfulfilled; especially if the sound system isn’t up to the challenge. I knew this wouldn’t be the case with True Live, however. Consisting of MC Rhyno, Thomas Butt (double bass), Tamil Rogeon (violin), Jesse Martin (cello), Joel Mammone (drums) and Thai Matus (keys); they dominated the stage from the minute they arrived. Their opening tracks impressed with intense intros building and building until they dropped into funky riffs and banging hip hop beats. Led by the fast flowing, smooth rhyming MC RHyno; the band were amazingly tight. RHyNO interacted well with the crowd hyping them up and getting the room bouncing in no time. At one stage he even had everyone sitting on the ground!

True Live with audience sitting on the ground (excuse the poor quality image, but it’s worth seeing right?)

The Crowd were treated to an exhibition of older classic’s like TV, Question This, and Keep Myself Awake, as well as a selection of new material being released on their new album due this year. Each of the artists performed outstanding solo’s on numerous occasions, with newest member Tim on Cello having time on stage by himself to display his amazing talent on a classical instrument adapted to fit comfortably within the jazz hip hop culture. Seeing True Live really reminded me of why I love hip hop and how quality makes a difference. Quality for True Live comes in the form of all of the artists being classically trained in their respective instruments; something that really shines through in the way they perform and gel together on stage.

Bliss n Eso

By the time they had finished their set i was ready to head home, confident that Sydney hip hop group Bliss n Eso (a group i knew little about) had no chance of up-staging them. After watching their opening few tracks the crowd loved them and really got into it, however, indicating that perhaps i need to listen to a bit more of their material.

All up a great evening of artists, with special mention going out to True Live for adding to Australia’s list of artists to keep an eye on in coming months and years. So we hit the road again and managed to find our way back without missing any turnoffs for a change. A particularly enjoyable evening thanks to True Live, and i’m sure there will be many more as I will be lining up as soon as their next gig is announced. Many thanks to Penny for taking care of us for the night, for more information on True Live head to their myspace

… Crack

Floetry … Damn

Having only recently heard of this amazing duet, we know little about them. What we know is that people need to hear this. So check out some of their appearances below…

Floetry – Everybody Heard

Meeting originally through their mutual love for basketball, Marsha and Natalie both studied at the Brit School for Performing Arts & Technology. Natalie came to attention in the music industry as a founding member of the performance poetry group “3 Plus 1” which was making plenty of noise around London, Birmingham, and Manchester. After inviting Marsha to join her on stage to perform at a spoken word night, together they cemented their signature style in a piece they had created called “Fantasize” (below). Seamlessly combining their talents for singing and spoken word, they deliver a powerful performance unlike anything in the world of poetry or hip hop today…

Fantasize – Floetry

Damn…

If your still reading this, then I can assume you like what you see here. Def Poetry Jam has been a source of inspiration for many people as well as artists we know. Well worth a look at, perhaps best introducing yourself through the appearances posted on www.youtube.com

Another breathtaking poet featured throughout Def Jam Poetry worth checking out is Black Ice seen below:

Damn

Tags: Poetry