The Very Good Agency

It’s about time for some ‘Melodics’

doyouknowhat? A breath of fresh air can be hard to find in the world of music since the internet has opened up the floor to every man and his dog with a basic computer. This being said, that breath is all the more sweet when you happen to get it, and this time it came to me in the form of Melbourne based hip hop, electronic, jazzy blues crossover group Melodics.

I came to hear the Melodics by chance at an event where Very Good artist Pataphysics and Very Good friends Batucada Sound Machine were playing last month, so with 2 awesome groups already performing, the entrance of a third made for a gig which was basically a mini niche festival to me.

Exactly what style of music you would call this I am unsure of, and I think that’s often a defining character of music that I enjoy. If you can’t tell what genre something is and your still feeling the groove then there’s no question it’s hot, and they are.  Opening the set with an accapella poem that had the audience in silence, frontman Jeremedy answered the question I have been asking to Australia and New Zealand for sometime… where the poets at? well they’re in Melbourne it seems… or otherwise they’re on youtube.

Late notice but they are playing tonight at ‘Bar Open’ in Fitzroy in Melbourne if your free to check out some fresh new sounds

or you can check out more of Melodics at:

www.myspace.com/melodics

and If your a poet – we’re looking for you so get in touch

…bs

Tags: Australian Artists, gigs, hip hop

The Next Level

Get ready to party! No strangers to Australia, regular party-starters and mixtape masters, The Nextmen, are returning to our shores for a series of gigs across Australia and New Zealand in April and May. With their reputation of stomping live shows, pristine track selection and turntable tricks to boot, you can be sure they’ll have you waving your hands in the air like you just don’t care.

The Nextmen are UK song writing/producing hip hop DJ’s Dom Search (aka Dominic Betmead) and Brad Baloo (aka Brad Ellis). They’ve become known for their dope remixes and awesome two-man four-turntable live shows where the tunes range from hip hop to drum and bass, funk to breaks, reggae to soul and everything in between. As usual, they will be accompanied by an MC, and one of the UK’s finest at that in MC Wrec.

If you’ve ever listened to any of The Nextmen’s mix albums such as ‘Moving Amongst the Madness’, ‘Listen and Lose’ and ‘Not the Nextmen’, then you’ll be well aware of the kind of party atmosphere they’re going to bring. If you haven’t heard them before, do yourself a favour and get over to their myspace now and listen to their “Annie Mac Mini Mix”, a frenetic head-nodding mix of everything from Fat Freddys Drop to Jurassic 5 to Dizzee Rascal, including a couple of classic Nextmen remixes, that’ll give you a small taste of what to expect. Better yet, cop any of the albums above for a real good insight in to the Nextmen madness; all of their albums are sure to have you nodding your head in no time.

The Nextmen ft Zarif – Something Got You

Tickets to the Melbourne gig are a bargain at $20 presale, so pick one up today before they’re all gone, this will be a night filled of dancefloor killing bangers and tight rhymes from some of the best in the business, not to be missed!

The Nextmen on tour in April and May:
17th April – Coherent & Ink Bar Auckland
18th April – Summerset @ Basin Reserve Wellington
19th April – Groove is in the park Adelaide
23rd April – Transit Bar Canberra
24th April – Roxanne Parlour Melbourne,
25th April – Halo Hobart, Tasmania
26th April – Villa Perth, Western Australia
1st May – Oxford Art Factory Sydney
2nd May – Groovin’ The Moo Townsville
2nd May – Shifty Beats @ Empire Hotel Brisbane

You can check out more of The Nextmen at:

www.myspace.com/thenextmen

Cracked…

Tags: breakbeats, Funk, gigs, hip hop, Soul

Fat Freddy’s long awaited return to Australia!

New Zealand’s most talked about group, Fat Freddy’s Drop, are back in Australia this month kicking off their week long tour of sweet sweet dub reggae, roots, breakbeats & soul.

The tour starts in Melbourne tomorrow night at the ‘Palace Metro’ in St Kilda, our apologies for not posting this earlier for those who are in Melbourne and haven’t already heard, just take it easy tonight and then whooshtaaa! get up in there.

Fat Freddy’s Drop – The Nod (Live)

Fat Freddy’s Drop will play:

Thursday 19th – Palace Metro – Melbourne

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com.au

Friday 20th – HQ – Adelaide

Tickets: www.venuetix.com.au venuetix outlets & B Sharp Records

Saturday 21st – Enmore Theatre – Sydney

Tickets: www.enmoretheartre.com.au, www.ticketek.com, 132 849 & ticketek outlets

Friday 27th – The Tivoli – Brisbane

Tickets: www.ticketek.com, 132 849, & Rockinghorse Records

Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th – The Great Northern – Byron Bay

Tickets: Hotel Great Northern, 02 6685 6454 & www.oztix.com.au.oztix.com.au ph 1300 762 545

If you haven’t seen any of their recent material you can See earlier article here.

You can check out more of Fat Freddy’s Drop at:

www.fatfreddysdrop.com

and for full tour info check out the dude’s who are bringing them at:

www.nicheproductions.com.au

…bs

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

Kiwis in Australia – Katchafire and Opensouls

Two of New Zealand’s best talents are hitting Australian shores in April again to show Australia the roots, reggae, funk, soul style that is bursting out of Aotearoa’s seams these days. New Zealand’s most successful reggae group Katchafire, and up and coming funk, soul, hip hop crossover group Opensouls will hit

Brisbane @ ‘The Arena April 2nd

Melbourne @ Queensbridge Hotel April 3rd

Sydney @ The Forum April 4th

With Katchafire regularly crossing the ditch over the past few years they are well known for putting on a great show which is usually largely filled by the millions of kiwi’s who have made the wee trip to live in Australia. Opensouls having been here less however will be sure to catch Australia’s attention with their smooth blend and energetic group performance to pave the way for many more shows to come.

Opensouls – Rise Up

With both of their first two albums placing in the US Billboard top ten, Katchafire have made world success which is very restricted to reggae normally. Starting out as a covers band (mainly of Bob Marley songs) around New Zealand pubs and clubs, they have come a long way to tour the world on a regular basis selling out shows and receiving rave reviews alike. Definitely one of the more ‘fun’ bands to see out of New Zealand, their light hearted show and mellow reggae beats make for a sweet boogie, and usually a room filled with good vibes and a smoke of some assortment. If you haven’t see them, it’ll be a great night out especially for reggae fans who don’t often get treated with international tours.

Katchafire – Colour me Life

You can check out more of these guys at:

www.katchafire.co.nz

www.opensouls.co.nz

…bs

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

De La Soul – 20 Years Plugged in

Introducing De La Soul or explaining where they have been over the last 20 years seems a little unnecessary, in fact if you’ve not yet heard of them I think that you should go and sit in the corner and do your own research… or you can see them on their 20 year anniversary tour that stops through Australia and New Zealand in May

.

De La Soul Press Kit for ‘3 Feet High and Rising’

Australian Shows

Fri April 26 – Metro City, Perth
Fri May 1 – The Esplanade Hotel, Melbourne
Sat May 2 – Groovin The Moo, Townsville
Sun May 3 – Big Top, Brisbane
Tue May 5 – Metro Theatre, Sydney
Fri May 8 – Shores Complex, Adelaide
Sat May 9 – Groovin The Moo, Newcastle
Satu May 16 – Groovin The Moo, Bendigo

New Zealand Shows

Tue May 12 – SFBH, Wellington with DJ Marek
Wed May 13 – Lake Wanaka Centre, Wanaka with Sunshine Soundsystem
Thu May 14 – The Bedford, Christchurch with Stinky Jim and Sticky Fingaz
Fri May 15 – The Powerstation, Auckland with The Misfits of Science and DJ Sir-Vere

De La Soul – arguably the greatest hip hop group in the world’s history… It’s hard for me to say if The Very Good Agency would exist without them, or if I would be the person that I am today…

too much… honestly

see you in the front/fifth row if you manage to get a ticket before they sell out

You can check out more of De La Soul at:

www.myspace.com/delasoul

…bs

Tags: gigs, hip hop, Old School