The Very Good Agency

Pataphysics – Cloaked Guerilla

Pataphysics released another sweet track this week to add to the collection… we caught up with him in brief to see where he’s at, and where he’s going next…

You’ve just dropped your new track ‘Cloaked Guerilla’ this month. So what’s a Cloaked Guerilla dude?
Guess you could say people who are marginalised or a part of a minority, who aren’t treated fairly, and who stand up and resist being subjected to the will of oppressing forces.

Yeah, Australia’s history is funny, one of our favorite icons is a cop killer (Ned Kelly), but we find it hard to

remember warriors who resisted invasion and protected their families, warriors like Pemulwuy and Jandamarra, comparable to figures like Geronimo and Sitting Bull.

Got a film clip coming out soon for Cloaked Guerilla, as well as playing a show on the 4th of June with the Free West Papua campaign. These guys are fighting for basic human rights in West Papua . Check it out at www.freewestpapua.com.au/

And you can check out Cloaked Guerilla in

Pataphysics Artist Profile

Tags: Australian Artists, gigs, hip hop, Jazz, Political, Reggae

N.A.S.A

N.A.S.A – Spirit of Apollo. ‘Houston, we don’t have a problem here’
I’ll be honest; there hasn’t been a lot in the world of hip hop that has grabbed my attention lately. I’ve listened to plenty of albums, some good, some not so good, but none that have really made me want to listen again and again. Then came ‘The Spirit of Apollo’, the innovative and funky debut effort from two creative producers who call themselves N.A.S.A. Comprised of Sam Spiegel (aka Squeak E. Clean, brother of Spike Jonze) and Ze Gonzalez (aka DJ Zegon), N.A.S.A first attracted my attention with their almost bizarre collection of collaborations; the prospect of Talking Heads frontman David Byrne trading verses with the likes of Chuck D, Chali 2na and Gift of Gab, The RZA sharing a track with John Frusciante, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard rhyming with the taunting Karen O of trendy Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fame, was obviously intriguing, and certainly refreshing  in what has become a slightly stale game.

A common love of Brazilian funk (N.A.S.A. is an acronym for North America/South America) led to Spiegel and Gonzalez forming the joint venture and starting work on what is one of the trendiest and most innovative releases for some time.  Think Handsome Boy Modelling School, but with a bit of South American flair, complete with its own solid collection of impressive names from across the hip hop playground, and a few from outside it even! And the Duo has their fingers on the pulse, the pairing of production to MC’s is spot on; from the poppy electro-tinged “Gifted”, featuring Kanye West and Santogold, to the dark drums and gritty electric guitar loop on RZA’s track (not to mention the eerie wailing of Barbie Hatch), N.A.S.A appear to have set out to create the perfect beats for the artists on each track. Even the odd combinations are enjoyable; this is none more evident than in “Spacious Thoughts”, which sees abstract verbal warfare from Kool Keith paired off against the bizarre growl of Tom Waits on the chorus.

N.A.S.A – Way Down feat. The RZA, Barbie Hatch and John Frusciante

Before N.A.S.A came along, Santogold and Spankrock were among the last two discoveries that had sparked my interest with any significance. Pleasingly, both appear on this album! Diverse artists as far as hip hop goes, their combination on the upbeat electro-hip hop banger “Whatchadoin?” will have you dancing for sure.  Spank Rock bounces through his verses with M.I.A and Santogold chanting the catchy sing-a-long chorus together; easily one of my favourite tracks. Santogold also appears on “Gifted” with Kanye, one of the other standouts on the album, although soon to be a radio nuisance I’m sure. Love him or hate him though, this is a very catchy track, perfect for Mr West’s style. Ol’ Dirty Bastard shouts out to N.A.S.A from the grave in one of my other favourites, “Strange Enough”.  Apparently the last track he recorded (uh… heard that before…), Spiegel and Gonzalez have done Dirt Dog proud with a huge head-nodder to go with his trademark  killer rhyme style, with strong support from Fatlip and Karen O on the hook. Chali 2na pops up twice, and although he’s possibly getting a bit stale (and I’m a big fan of his!), produces a great party track with the legendary George Clinton, who was apparently in an ‘altered state of mind’ (are we surprised?….).

N.A.S.A – Gifted feat. Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li

I could go on all night here; track with Method Man worth mentioning, Ghostface kicks it with The Cool Kids, Del is back in funky style joined by DJ Q-Bert, and the two tracks with David Byrne from Talking Heads are again really strong tracks. This production combination has definitely got it down right here, tight tracks with the perfect rappers, singers and musicians on them; this album, having taking 5 years to complete, was obviously a labour of love that has paid dividends for the Duo. In addition to the album, the group intends to release a full-length documentary film of the making of the album including interviews with the guest who featured on the album, and  behind-the-scenes footage from the studio sessions, check a sneak-peek here for a bit more of an insight into this amazing project:

N.A.S.A. – Spirit of Apollo trailer

This is a very clever album from N.A.S.A., just when hip hop was losing its grip a little bit (well, for me anyway) comes an album that will appeal to hip hop fans from across the entire genre, and no doubt a few on the edge as well (we’ve all got friends who ‘don’t listen to hip hop’…);  infamous well proven hip hop artists like Del, KRS-One, some Wu-Tang royalty and Pharcyde fam mix it up with modern musical heavyweights Kanye West, Santogold and Karen O, not to forget legends outside the hip hop realm such as George Clinton, David Byrne and Tom Waits. Without straying too far from their love of Brazilian funk, N.A.S.A combine indie, hip hop, funk an d rock with ease, and overwhelmingly succeed in their debut mission of bringing artists from across the musical spectrum together to create something fresh and different.

And the good news continues, with N.A.S.A having recently announced an Australian tour this June! Given the impressive array of names on their album, one will wait in anticipation until phrase ‘international guests to be announced’ is fulfilled. Complete with orange spacesuits, four turntables and an impressive visual display as well, N.A.S.A’s live show has a big reputation so it’s sure to be one to catch!

N.A.S.A tour dates:
Thursday 4th June: SYDNEY, Oxford Arts Factory
Friday 5th June: MELBOURNE, The Esplanade Hotel
Saturday 6th June: PERTH, Shape Nightclub
Sunday 7th June: CANBERRA, Winter Warehouse Festival

Catch more of N.A.S.A at:

www.myspace.com/nasa

…Crack

Tags: Collaborations, Funk, gigs, hip hop, World Music

Chartfest 09

Next month (May) is NZ music month all throughout the land of the long white cloud.  To celebrate the occasion and shine the spotlight on some local talent in the garden city, Christchurchmusic.co.nz are putting on a bit of a gig. There will be 4 stages of live music, a school band search, career workshops, backstage tours, prizes and lots more action to keep the crowds entertained. This will be Christchurch’s largest annual indoor music festival and industry expo. Everything you need to know about the Christchurch music scene is on show. It’s not only a concert but a chance for people who want to be involved in this industry to learn more and do some ‘networking’.

Solaa – ‘Seek’ feat. Hollie Smith

So here are the vital statistics:

What: ChartFest ’09
When: Friday 29th May 2009 4pm-10pm
Where: Christchurch Town Hall Complex | 86-95 Kilmore St, Christchurch
Who:

Solaa
Shocking Pinks
Aaron Tokona Buzz
The Eastern
Ragamuffin Children
Lindon Puffin
and many many more…

All ages welcome!

To find out more about the festivities, check out the organiser’s website!

Get into it, not out of it!
…Yossarian

Tags: Funk, gigs, New Zealand Artists

Little Bushman on tour

Impromptue meetings this morning meant that I got to take a pleasent tram ride over to South Melbourne, giving me a chance to soak up one of the local Melbourne street press mag’s Inpress. As usual the mag is full on advertisements for controversially dressed people of all different ages and genres trying to communicate their sound in an unusual promotional piece. The big advertisements are usually the same as the last week and generally reserved for those artists who have management and promotion handled for them, so I usually check out the smaller ads and write-ups to see what’s going on that’s not hot on the streets, ’cause there’s a far better chance that i’m going to be into it.

And a little ad in the corner of the page for New Zealand’s psychadelic soul group Little Bushman proved my theory right once again.

Yossarian covered them well in his earlier article if your not familiar with these dudes.

They will play starting next week in QLD, VIC, WA, NSW and both of New Zealand’s north and south island’s with a complete gig listing on their myspace page.

Little Bushman – Mary

For anyone who is trying to work out where they know that beautiful voice from, your not crazy, Warren Maxwell is one of three parts of one of the best groups to have ever come out of New Zealand – Trinity Roots. So i’m really excited to see how this event plays out having thrashed Trinity Roots albums ever since they split a few years ago just waiting for the chance to see any of them play live again. A complete shift away from the style of Trinity Roots, Warren brings a really new and innovative style to the party in Little Bushman, unless of course you grew up in the seventies. I’m not really sure if i’m gonna dance or grab a couch and chill for this set, but I am sure i’m going to have an awesome night, and for $12 in Melbourne, I hope the brothers have a tip jar out, because that’s just crazy for this quality of music.

Trinity Roots – Home, Land & Sea

You can check out more of Little Bushman at:

www.myspace.com/littlebushmanband

…bs

Tags: Funk, gigs, New Zealand Artists, Reggae, Soul

Che Fu’s in Melbourne

The man who needs no introduction in Australia and New Zealand, Che-Fu, is back on one of his semi-regular Easter trips to Melbourne to pay his respects to his the huge Aussie and Kiwi following down under. The Fresh RnB Club has been bringing a bunch of the underground hip hop, soul, Rnb, reggae acts that have been big players in New Zealand over the last decade in the likes of King Kapisi, Nesian Mystik, Savage, and now topping it off with one of the godfathers of Aotearoa for our generation, Che-Fu. You can check out the history and score card for this dude in his Artist Profile but if you’ve been in Australia or New Zealand in the last 15 years you probably already know how many dope tracks and kiwi anthems he has given us. To put it his influence in perspective, The Very Good Agency first existed in the market to run an East Coast tour of Che-Fu, DJ CXL, and PROJECT nRt a few years ago, so all you international readers out there can understand a lot about New Zealand music from checking out not only his solo work, but some of the funk rap mix he kicked in the old school in Supergroove.

Che-Fu – Misty Frequencies

The rastafarian influence in NZ hip hop, Che-Fu has always been related to by kiwi guys and girls ’cause he talks a real game with an every day vibe that exists in New Zealand. Always bringing the soft soul vocals, Che’s also one of the few artists in New Zealand who raps as tight and as consciously as he sings. (never overlook Olmecha Supreme and MC Hazaduz).

Che-Fu plays at The Colonial Hotel this Friday 10th April. hopefully after Supergroove re-united last year he may have been practising some of his rhymes to drop from back in the days…

like this

Supergroove – Can’t Get Enough

You can check out more of Che-Fu at:

www.myspace.com/chefunz

www.che-fu.com

…bs

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