The Very Good Agency

The RZA Afro Samurai Resurrection

Finally!!!! The RZA is back with his follow up soundtrack for the second installment of manga cartoon ‘Afro Samurai 2’. After releasing a huge variety of beats and rhymes in other awesome soundtracks like ‘Ghost Dog’, ‘Kill Bill’ volumes 1 and 2, and of course all of his work in Wu tang chronicles, the first ‘Afro Samurai’ soundtrack wasn’t the best piece of RZA‘s work for me, given the quality of his work though, you can’t skip over anything the the RZA puts his hand on, so it’s definitely worth a listen.

Afro Samurai Resurrection – Movie Trailer

Check out his Okayplayer.com interview for a crazy insight into the politics that goes on behind the scenes for an artist on both sides of the business who has given a new sense of possibility to entrepreneurs that follow him. This interview is one of the better, and more real accounts I have seen in recent times, and paints a picture you don’t get to see all to often in the media.

and you can check out more of RZA at:

www.myspace.com/rza

…bs

Tags: Collaborations, hip hop, movies

DJ Shadow Speaks Up

DJ Shadow speaks up!
Legendary DJ and producer, DJ Shadow, has emerged from hiding to release a personal message to his fans in the hip hop community. Leader of the instrumental hip hop revolution, Shadow has been largely absent since touring with Cut Chemist on The Hard Sell tour last year. The release of his debut album “Endtroducing…..” back in ’96 saw the beginnings of a movement in instrumental hip hop. Ahead of its time maybe, “Entroducing….” still sounds just as good 13 years later (isn’t that amazing, 13 years!). When it was released it entered The Guiness Book of World Records as the “First Completely Sampled Album”. Relying primarily on a combination of sampled funk, hip hop and film score, Shadow‘s innovative sample arrangements influenced countless producers and musicians. In recent years, artists such as RJD2, Madlib, and Blockhead have garnered critical acclaim with a number quality of instrumental hip hop albums.
Anyway, enough from me, here’s what Shadow has to say (released on his site www.djshadow.com):

Hello, everyone, and Happy 2009. It has been quite a long time since anyone has heard from me, so I thought I would bring you all up to date.

To cut to the chase, this is going to be an interesting year in DJ Shadow-land. As some of my longer-term followers have probably observed, long bouts of silence usually signal changes on the horizon. That’s because I am ‘head down,’ focusing on the tasks at hand and laying a strong foundation to build on over time. There are some things brewing that I’m not at liberty to reveal yet, but that are exciting and very different for me. More about that soon; keep watching this space. But in the meantime…

….Yes, I am working on new music. It is way too early in the day to discuss what it will sound like or when it will come out, but I feel I owe everyone at least that much information; work has begun. Probably the only thing I can promise is that as always, it will sound different from the last one…oh, and that everyone will undoubtedly hate it until two years after the fact. (Let the backlash to the backlash of the backlash BEGIN!!! haha, err…ha)

DJ Shadow – Organ Donor

My touring cycle is generally over, so it will be awhile before most of you will see me live. This is all part of the normal process of exchanging studio life for road life, and vice versa. Both are important, but 2 and 1/2 years touring was enough to buy me some quality time in the lab. That’s not to say that there won’t be ANY shows this year, just that they will be few and generally unique to my “live” stage show. In other words, if it sounds different and fun, I might not be able to resist.

Ok, also, this site is about to undergo MAJOR reconstruction. We’re still a couple of months away from relaunch, but when it happens…get ready for some shit. Forget everything you’ve ever thought about what a DJ Shadow site could or should consist of…if we pull it off, I promise you, you’re going to be pleased. I’ll leave it at that for now, in case something happens and it all falls to pieces. Just know that I’m genuinely excited about the future.

I think that’s a good thought to end on…as always, thank you for your support, your honesty, your patronage, your ears; and your time, for reading this.

Humbly,
DJ Shadow

Hmmmm sounds intriguing!

Check out some Shadow at:
www.myspace.com/djshadow
www.djshadow.com

Cracked…

Tags: breakbeats, Funk, 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

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