The Very Good Agency

True Live – Found Lost

Listen up kids… because following ‘The Shape Of It’, one of the greatest Australian hip hop albums of the decade, Melbourne six piece jazz, hip hop, classical, crossover group True Live have announced their new album release ‘Found Lost’.

With the album hitting the streets on April 4, True Live will play in Melbourne tomorrow night (March 10) if you can make it to ‘The Toff in Town’, before undoubtedly touring more extensively post release to give all of their new and old school fans a chance to catch their energetic live show (which is really responsible for this group’s massive reputation after a relatively short career so far). Maybe it’s the classical training and wealth of experience that these guys have that brings such a raw energy to their performance, or maybe it’s the breath of fresh air they promote from such an array of influences, but who really cares where it came from, all I care about is that feeling you have every time you walk away from one of their gig’s that you have worn your legs out from bumping to the madness they always inspire in any crowd.

True Live are unlike any other Australian crews really, and with the rumours i’ve heard surrounding the new release suggesting MC Rhyno has twisted their sound, with a heavier reliance on vocals as well as his traditional smooth rap style, maybe the new True Live will even be unlike True Live… if that can make sense? hmmm anyway…

here’s a look at the old True Live, and you can go from there I guess

True Live -Keep Myself Awake

nice huh

You can check out more from True Live at:

www.myspace.com/truelive

…bs

Tags: Australian Artists, Funk, gigs, hip hop, Soul

I-Nation Festival 2009 about to go off

People……. If you can remember/scroll back to an article on this site from last year, about the New Zealand musician/producer/all round nice guy: Mr. Oakley “O.G.” Grenell, then you might have already heard of ‘I-Nation’. If you haven’t heard of it yet, I would like to inform you about this legendary annual music festival held in Whitecliffs, North Canterbury. This years line up includes Very Good favourites like Tiki, The Little Bushman, Ladi 6 and members of shapeshifter.

I-Nation was described as “the outdoor party of the year” by one NZ magazine, which is a pretty big statement these days, with the amount of outdoor parties going on in NZ. So it basically goes down (and off) out in the bush with a mean-as sound system and family-friendly environment. As the official website states: “This year the legendary valley of Whitecliffs just 45mins west of Christchurch will once again host some of Aotearoa’s finest talent in Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Jungle, Funk, Soul & Breaks.”

There is less than three weeks to go and tickets are selling fast for the gig, which is expected by the organisers to sell out. If your not in the area to catch it, make sure you at least check out the website! It has some cool stuff, full information on all the artists, maps and a full run-down off the whole situation really.

Ticket Info:

$85 Tickets plus BF available from Cosmic Corner Stores NZ-wide or $100 Limited Gate Sales available upon entry.  Tickets can also be purchased online from www.cosmiccorner.co.nz/tickets – Children under 15 free with ID if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

When/where it’s at:

…Yossarian

Tags: Dub, Festival, Funk, New Zealand Artists, Reggae, Roots, Soul

Batucada Sound Machine Interview

We talked size with Batucada Sound Machine…

(Interview with James Hughes, percussionist and band founder)

A 12 piece band doesn’t happen by accident, how was BSM born?
Dude, we are now 12 piece, but were at 15 during the early days!
It all started when I returned from a stint in Cuba and Brazil studying percussion and I got a group of players together at a local club in town. We jammed once a fortnight and mixed brazilian and Cuban rhythms with drum & bass, hiphop grooves etc. The night started getting a reputation and soon a few horn players turned up, and MCs started coming along. Soon followed a bass player, guitarist and pretty soon we had a full band…playing improvised jams. We got booked for a couple of big local festivals and since then its been a mad ride…playing festivals around NZ, Aus and the UK, and resulting in the studio album with Neil Sparkes last year.

Does size matter? Is it important that there are so many of you?

We have developed our sound so that each person has their own role. From the rhythm section to the percussionists, to the traxedos (horn section) to the vocalists etc. Each person is key. Obviously there are logistical issues, but that’s all part of the fun.

Your music has been described as an ADHD Melting Pot of sound – is this deliberate?
Well, not sure who that person was, but we’ll take it as a complement! There are intentionally chaotic moments within some of the tracks, but by and large – its all carefully orchestrated…unless the band leader is having one of his ‘moments’.

How would you describe your music?
I would call it super-samba-afro-funk, with elements of hiphop and pacific soul added for taste….hmmm yeah I like it.

Your live set is said to be ‘explosive’. Was it difficult to translate this kind of energy into your album ‘Rhythm and Rhyme’?
The recording process was a great experience. We enlisted Neil Sparkes to produce (UK, Transglobal Underground) and he came out to NZ to record with us for 3 weeks. We had demo’d all the tunes for him which was great as we really worked on making the tunes album friendly and not the extended mixes we play live. In terms of energy, we captured the vibe really well during final recording, and then tried to enhance that as much as possible in the mixing stage (we were fortunate enough to mix at Avatar Studios in NY).  The engineer at Avatar was a genius and were stoked with the final result. We are discussing releases at the moment in Aus and the UK – so stay tuned!

Was it hard to create ‘one’ sound with such a wide range of talents and backgrounds? How do you avoid ‘too many cooks’?
It’s a process for us, and often song ideas are created by one person and then developed by the rest of the band. There is a core group of 3-4 of us who do most of the song creation – which makes for a consistent approach. Often a song may start as a rhythmical or bass driven groove, and then we’ll add horn and vocal melodies, breaks etc until things materialize into something we agree on. Often it will take a few times playing live for the final arrangement to stick.

As well as there being so many of you, you also enjoy collaborating with other artists – recently Che-Fu – what do outside artists bring to the band?
It was great working with Che on the song ‘Smoke’. He was super professional in the studio and had researched the subject matter of the song (which was loosely about Cuban Santeria etc). He had all the lyrics down and new exactly what BVs he wanted to do…all in all he was in for a couple of hours and done.

Batucada Sound Machine feat. Che-Fu
Smoke

We have also worked with Kevin Field (jazz pianist on Hechicera) and Lewis McCallum (saxophone guru on Vai Chegar) – both of whom really added great touches to the respective tracks.

You not only perform in English but other languages such as Portuguese. Would you describe yourselves as a ‘Kiwi’ band?
To be honest, were probably not a ‘Kiwi’ band…what is a ‘Kiwi’ band anyway? Define NZ music!? Can I ask questions?
We certainly are from NZ and love being NZers, but take our influences from other parts of the world as most bands do to differing degrees as well.

Where will you be performing over summer?
We have 4 gigs in Aus lined up:
Thurs Feb 12 in Melb @ The East Brunswick Club – w/ The Melodics
Fri Feb 13 in Sydney @ The Factory Theatre w/ Son Veneno
Sat Feb 14 in Canberra @ Carnival in the City
Sun Feb 15 in Perth @ The Becks Music Box, Perth Int Arts Festival

Then back to NZ for summer gigs etc and hopefully hitting the UK mid-year.

What does the future hold? Will you get bigger in 2009?
We wont be growing band numbers that’s for sure!
This year, we are looking to release the album in Aus and also tour the UK and Europe…things are coming together well, and we have interest from a number of festivals over there…
So yeah…gonna be huge!

You can check out more from Batucada Sound Machine at:
www.myspace.com/batucadasoundmachine
www.batucadasoundmachine.com

…BabyRuth

Tags: Collaborations, Funk, hip hop, Interviews, New Zealand Artists, Reggae

Batucada Sound Machine hit Australia

New Zealand’s 13 piece hip hop, funk, samba mash-up group Batucada Sound Machine are bringing their crazy Brazilian percussion based performance to Australia for a week long tour this February. As they explain, “Loosely translated, ‘batucada’ means percussive samba jam, which aptly summarises BSM’s musical roots. BSM began in 2003 when five passionate drummers met once a month in the dimly lit lounge bar of Galatos nightclub in Auckland to experiment fusing ‘batucada’ with more local beats and influences. Before long, a talented group of diverse musicians had joined in and the band had grown to 13 members”.

Batucada Sound Machine – Rivers of Rhyme

With the individual members of the band involved in various solo and group projects outside of BSM, you might recognise some of them from earlier works, most recognisably in upcoming MC Hazadus showing his own style of soul infused vocals after years of fame in Che-Fu and The Krates.

If your able to make one of these performances then your in for a sweet night, and from what i’ve heard and seen in their performances locally and in Europe, you might need to get your boogie shoes on for this one.

Batucada Sound Machine will play:

Feb 12 @ East Brunswick Club, Melbourne

Feb 13 @ The Factory Theatre, Sydney

Feb 14 @ Canival In The City, Canberra

Feb 15 @ Becks Music Box, Perth

Feb 28 @ Music Mountain Matakana, NZ

You can check out more of Batucada Sound Machine at:

www.batucadasoundmachine.com

www.myspace.com/batucadasoundmachine

and you can check out the interview we are doing with them over the next week

…bs

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

Fat Freddy’s Drop a few Singles

The crowd pleasing dubbed-out funksters Fat Freddy’s Drop (FFD) are back in New Zealand, somewhere near a Wellington studio, putting the finishing touches on their upcoming full length album after completing their hectic European tour. They will hopefully be confirming in January the release date for this; in the meantime the new single “Pull The Catch” is available now on limited edition heavy weight 7″ vinyl. They have also just put out a free download of the recent single “The Camel”. Which you can down load from:

‘The Camel’ MP3 Download link.

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You can also check out the video in the youtube link below, it includes vocals from soul singer Alice Russell, who has toured with Fat Freddy’s in the UK and Australia. At 4 minutes and 16 seconds in length, the song is only slightly longer than your average single, but still well short by Fat Freddy standards. There is no rushing through songs at a Fat Freddy’s Drop gig, where a set of a few hours may only consist of a handful of songs. Although, this may sound more like one continuous mix of melodic niceness, with jam-outs that last as long as they have to. But you can always be assured of a blend of dub, jazz and all things nicely funkified! So if you’re feeling adventurous check out their website, where much merch can be procured for a price.

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The Camel

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FYI Gigwise: You’ll be able to see FFD if you’re in the big WA at Freemantle New Years Day 2009, with special guests DJ Vadim and Yara Bravo.  Freddy’s then wing their way to Sydney to play at Days Like This (January 4th) where you can catch the likes of Public Enemy and many more. Then on Saturday 24^th January 2009 Christchurch, NZ. Where they will play at Sounday, an all day music event happening at North Hagley Park, which also features Dj Vadim and Nathan Haines!

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Fat Freddy’s Official Site

Fat Freddy on Myspace

Camel Single Download

It’s time I changed my view…Yossarian

Tags: Funk, Jazz, New Zealand Artists