The Brisbane turntablists and hip hop community are organizing a fundraiser for The Masta (The Master / Da Masta / Jason Belzer) (twitter tag #Funds4DaMasta) who is also suffering from cancer. Initially they are asking for people to donate items for the eBay auctions - details below.
the auction has started! all the profits will be sent to The Masta to help ease his battle with cancer - already an amazing response - from such high quality & often rare donations, to people spreading the word, and bidding on items. still a few items to put up, but the majority are there. thanks so much to everyone involved - it feels like the whole Australian hip hop community has come together to help with this. (I will add more to the tumblr site over next few days) auctions run for another 9-10days - there's a range of items (& some aren't hip hop, if that's not your thing). I think there's something for everyone. single items & packs - if you can't afford one item, maybe consider doing a 'joint bid' with another/few people. &/or help spread the word. all help is greatly appreciated!! http://search.ebay.com.au/?sass=aliak77&ht=-1 is the direct ebay link
I remember seeing The Master DJ at gigs and in competitions (eg DMC & ITF) in Brisbane in the 1990s and early 2000s. He always had the flair to entertain the audience with crowd pleasing moves. At the time there was a fair bit of rivalry between some of the turntablists - there were battles between DJ Angus / Bribe and The Master. Angus was a friend of mine so I always went for him of course, but I thought The Master was a good turntablist too - his skills often had the crowds cheering. I remember seeing them battle it out on the decks at Rics in the Valley and at the bar in Paddington (which I've just forgotten the name of, will update when I remember).
:::
I have a copy of his "From Dole Cheques to Rolex" album also, which I'd discovered a couple of years after its release (as I'd left Brisbane officially in mid 2001, though traveled back there often throughout 2001 on weekend trips) - it's a great cd, once again, very entertaining. He's also one of the fastest Australian rappers that I've heard. His raps on this album are very funny, but in the same way a little sad in that there always seems to have been something going wrong in his life or a quirky situation in his lyrics. It's good he handled it with humour though. He used to have really long hair back then - a Samson-like character. Or an Australian version of a Philip K Dick book character, the Aussie battler.
Hunter used to speak about him very fondly on twitter - we had a few chats about his CD and DJing and Hunter would sing his praises. I found some of his tweets from 6th & 7th April 2011 - this was one occasion - I'd sent Jason a message on facebook to see if he'd like to do a video for turntabletag and had mentioned it to Hunter - he told some stories and talked about some music they were working on together. I know he wanted to help the Masta also, and mentioned that he spoke to him on the phone often. The Master lives in Melbourne now - MC Reason has posted on twitter too that he's gone over to Jason's place to help support him, and I've heard Bigfoot has been a great support also. It's just a heartbreaking situation, and we've already lost too many good people with Hunter's passing.
Hunter & Mortar - Fear and Loathing—a few words with Hunter SBX about his new album with Mortar—this was originally an article for ozhiphop.com : article in forum & on http://officialozhiphop.tumblr.com. by AliaK 31/05/2011. Thanks very much to Hunter for taking the time to answer my rambling questions
I was really excited to hear that Brisbane band Step It Up had a new EP, "Push", out in 2011 on Zyl Records, as I'd loved their earlier work on their self titled album released in 1996 and I'd seen them perform in Brisbane when I lived there in 2000/2001 or so. The new EP has different versions of the song "Push"—which includes a sample from their popular song "Flex" with mixes by Obese Bass Beast and Unison Sound System. There's also a new song called "Nudge" by Blunted Stylus (aka Geoff "Jigzaw" Blunted/ex Resin Dogs/Hydrofunk). The musical lineup has changed slightly over the years, but there's still a range of music styles and techniques explored on this release—from house, to jazz, to drum'n'bass, to bass-music and beats'n'squelch styles. All in all, it's a pleasure to listen to and I'm looking forward to hearing their future sounds, as well as the cache of songs yet to be released. Des Reid was kind enough to answer a few questions about the band and its future directions. Keep an ear to the ground for their live gigs in Brisbane and elsewhere—you'll be in for a treat from these talented musicians!
>> for the "borrowed moog and juno mix", song #1 on Push—what's the story here? who'd you borrow the moog and juno from and can you keep them for a while?
> The Moog Prodigy belonged to Manny, our old keys player. I should have bought it when he sold it. The Juno 60 was DJ Damage's. They're both killer synths. I've since acquired a Juno 60 and JX-3p.
>> are there any favourite gigs, or memories of them that you'd like to share?
> The "Vibes on A Summer Day" festivals were always great. They were before festivals became commercial and unaffordable. Bondi Pavilion was a great venue. It's always nice to see a thousand people jumping up and down to your music in the sun from the stage.
>> for your live set: "Their new show has wide variety from instrumental hip-hop through Asian and Arabic influences to banging house". can you talk about some of these influences? particularly, the Asian and Arabic ones
> I have been learning some Arabic music and playing with some great oud players. We have an unreleased track called "Ïntefada" and a new one called "Free Gaza". I've always been interested in Indian music since seeing the Mahavishnu Orchestra, although I haven't studied it thoroughly and authentically. One of our best new tunes is an Indian groove tune called "Only One I know". That's partly because it's the only raga I know properly! Rohan plays in proper Indian ensembles in recitals at the Hindu temple in Virginia up here in Brisbane.
>> who are the band members of Step It Up?
> We've had some fantastic players in the past who have left town like Craig Hanicek, Darren MacPherson and Gavin Manikus on sax, Godoy and Steve Falk on percussion and DJ Frenzie. Terepai recorded the drums on "Flex" for us too.
The current line up is :
Steve Francis—drums
Steve is a great drummer and is in great demand in Brisbane. He tours with James Morrison too.
Neil Wickham is our great new sax player. He has a brilliant fusion type sound. The sax can't be too mellow in this type of music or it loses the edge and blands it out a bit.
Rohan Somasekaran is on keys. He is an awesome piano player and leads his own straight-ahead jazz outfit too. We're adding more synth to the live sound too.
I [Des Reid] play bass mostly live, but also a bit of guitar and guitar synth. I want to start contributing to the percussion too, but only in a support role—I'm only a simple player.
DJ Damage does the cuts on the EP. He's also in Terntable Jediz and The Optimen. He's one of the best turntablists I've ever seen.
Roger Gonzalez is our percussionist. He is a conga and cahon specialist, and a fantastic groove player. Marcelo, who played on the "Push" EP moved to Canberra unfortunately. We have loads of percussion recorded by him in the vaults though. Also heaps by his brother, Luis Schiavi—a killer timbales player.
Overall we have a giant backlog of tracks which we will be finishing and releasing soon. Although we haven't been playing out as often over the last few years, we never stopped writing and recording. We're sitting on a few albums really. The new label—Zyl Records will be our outlet now that we're organized.
>> do you improvise during the live sets too?
> There is a lot of improvising live. We follow the jazz tradition of arranged head—improvisation—head. We try to keep some tightly arranged sections too. One big feature of our sets is the breakdowns. We don't just have horn or keys solos—we have big sections where the drums, percussion and DJ are improvising together, feeding off each other. According to Cuban tradition, when two or more percussive players are resonating, that's when the spirits come. We're a bit tribal really.
reflections on Hunter’s first three albums
“Done DL” Hunter and Dazastah (2002)
“Going Back to Yokine” Hunter (solo album) (2006)
“Monster House” Hunter and DJ Vame (2010)
When Walter Benjamin said in 1936 that “the art of storytelling is coming to an end”—due to the rise of the printed novel and the lowering value of experience—it is clear to see he didn't anticipate the later rise of the hip hop emcee to partly revive this craft in our modern world. In all of his albums, Hunter shows his skills as a wonderful storyteller—in the traditional meaning of the term—sharing with the listener the stories from his life. Of course, not all the stories are happy, but all have an undercurrent of hope to them. There are tales of growing up, getting into trouble and later returning to his hometown of Yokine, Perth in the songs “Adolescence”, “Going Back To Yokine” and “Yokine (Drugs + Crime)”. These are stories of self-discovery, and of changing his life—giving up old ways that were not working for him and focusing on music, rapping and a hip hop infused life instead. “What I Do Best” has the feeling of “coming home” to a community of supporting people and finding your place in the world. There are stories of mateship and the value of community with his Syllabolix (SBX) family and crew. There are stories of having children and the specialness that can bring to one’s life in “Ultrasound” and “Kids of the Future”. Also, there are stories born from remembered advice from his father littering his rhymes—as it seems his Dad is always close to his thoughts and words—“Kids of the Future”, “The Big Issue”, “Me Old Man”.
Hunter has great comedic sense too—with the songs about relationships bouncing along at a steady pace. The stories of lust, the virility of youth and some of his experiences with women are some of his more popular songs. In these songs, which he describes as “nothing nice”, he tells of the women’s role in the tales. Often these stories are the most explicit, in language and description, yet there’s an undercurrent of humour to them, often hinted by the light and playful melodies that waft over the beat, which leads me to think perhaps they shouldn’t be taken too seriously at their word. The stories of relationship breakdowns and coping mechanisms in “Never Trust a Woman” are as tense as the subjects, and show that we often end up hurting those we love the most. “Coming Home” is a song about making mistakes and some of the consequences, and suggests (to me) that it’s related to “Zed”.
“Zed” is the most powerful and emotive song on his albums so far. He describes the depths of despair—taking yet another fall, thoughts of suicide, and saying good-bye. Hunter’s rapping style changes during this song—to a softer tone, almost spoken word—the enthusiasm has left his voice, to match the sombre words he is sharing with us. Upon first listen I wasn’t sure if it was him rhyming—I had to check the album liner notes to confirm—he sounds very dislocated from his normal voice and self.
I’m not even sure if I was meant for this place
so after I’m gone, please let them know
that I didn’t want to feel pain
I didn’t want to cause it
so I had to go
couldn’t swim against the flow
kept getting sucked down to the depths below
where the sun don’t even show
not even a distant glow
and we all need some sunlight to grow
it’s like a chain hanging round my neck, dragging me down
after a week you probably won’t even notice I’m not around
I used to love the sound
of waves crashing down
I want to get so lost that I can never be found
under the ground
or maybe high in the sky
nobody knows where we go when we die
so I guess this is good-bye
Hunter ponders “The Big Issue”—a mixture of his own thoughts with some long-remembered advice from his father on how to live your life, and how to cope with what life brings. There are words on pain and what it means, and of course, his ideas on the meaning of “The Big Issue”. The lyrics in this song show a higher level of consciousness, connecting the soul and mind to the heart,
I want to hear the sound of people supporting
The soul is the emotional organ
your brain has got the thought in
your heart feels the distortion
where your mouth keeps talking
and your legs keep walking
pain is just a warning, a caution
and everybody gets served a portion
The powerful and moving “Say a Prayer” says thanks to the “best friends a man could have“. It also sounds like a message for his son and those close to him—it’s at once an apology, confession and explanation of his life. For me, this is one of his best songs—Hunter has summarised his life and beliefs in these few stanzas—he has distilled his life into this one song—and shows the spiritual side of his self in a subtle and beautiful way. Be prepared to shed a few tears over this song.
please, understand what I tried to do
is be strong enough to walk alongside with you
. . .
you know I made mistakes, too many to mention
now I need to be forgiven without condition or question
my confession, yes, I made a fucken mess
but I wanna get it back to become one of the best
and I’ve been blessed
with the best of friends a man could have
and I damn should have
thanked them before this time
so I’ve gotta take the time
in the middle of this rhyme
to say Thanks
. . .
I try to do the right thing
and time and again
I keep fucking it up
and I really don’t know when
I’m going to get it back
on the right track
and I’m sorry to you all
but I want you to know that
I forgive myself
‘cause I found the connection
that forgiveness and atonement leads to redemption
every second, every step and every breath
brings us one step closer to death
and what’s next
do you love the life you live
and do you live the life of love
and is that going to be enough
to get you going, through the times ahead
because it’s going to get rougher like the Good Book says
I had a revelation, that God will move Heaven and Earth
and we’ll all get exactly what we deserve
in the end,
will Kharma be a foe or friend
please Say A Prayer
as the dark descends
Hunter writes from the soul—he shares his soul with those who listen—especially with those who listen to more than just the upbeat, party songs. There have been ups and downs in his life-story, just as there have been in each of his listener’s lives. The difference is, that Hunter’s life is laid out for all to hear in his rhymes as he contemplates life, and the experiences of his life. This reminds me of the lines highlighted by David Toop, in Seamus Heaney’s poem “Personal Helicon” which are uttered as the subject looks at himself in the reflection of water at the bottom of a well: “I rhyme / To see myself, to set the darkness echoing”. (2010: 134)
At the MF Doom gig on Friday 1st April, DJ Sheep led a turntablist battle revival in Brisbane. Prior to this gig, there’d been words – DJ Butcher had posted “dude.. u know i’ll beat you on the decks.. ur an idiot..” on OzHipHop.com (24/03/2011). DJ Sheep, following the hip hop code he lives by, raised a challenge to battle on the decks. Unfortunately the challenge was turned down, so spectators only saw one side of the battle, but they left charged. I wasn’t there to see it in person, but I saw the video and on Sunday morning, DJ Sheep said on Ozhiphop.com, “I’ve never felt better in years after a gig, i got so many daps, and props from people, it felt like the old days again for once…”, so it sounded like it was a night to remember. The only way I could imagine it being better (in my head), is if there *had* been a battle, or if there had been two sounds (sound systems) on opposite sides of a fenced off outdoor basketball court or a Jamaican dance hall like back in the early days of hip hop DJ battles.
Kodwo Eshun, in his book “More Brilliant Than The Sun”, coined the term “Sonic Fiction” when writing about one of the pioneers of hip hop DJing, Grandmaster Flash, and his album “The Amazing Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel”. I suggest that the turntablist battles could also be thought of as Sonic Fiction on multiple levels – in the sounds produced and performances of the actual turntablist set, and also in the stories behind the battles – in some case they’re personal, in other cases they’re for competition and showcase. In all cases, they are related to the DJs career and reputation. DJ Battles are the opposite of “Fight Club” – everybody (in the DJ community) talks about the battle, and the rules are set. DJ Sheep commented, “the hip-hop code is that when you call someone out or get called out, you either step up or admit defeat. if you say you’re better and back out, you’re reputation goes down the drain, that’s hip-hop. It’s been like that since the inception”.
Now back to the set – in traditional style, Sheep gave props to the fallen, shouting out RIP to Angus, Jeeps (750) and Sabre (BWP) before he started. Then he got down to business with his message explaining to the crowd that DJs used real records. “In the history of beef, it’s usually the Butcher that slaughters the Sheep, but today we’re going to see the Sheep slaughter the mutherfuckin’ Butcher”. Sheep then launched into his set – beat juggling, chirps, transform moves such as flares and orbits, and the crab. From the video, you can see a brick and sandbag on the table – DJ Sheep and Brisbane beat-maker Tigermoth highlighted the large springs in place of the table legs which caused the table to move around, and some skipping of the needles during Sheep’s set. I think the crowd probably wouldn’t have noticed this had it not be pointed out. In any case, Sheep took advantage of the moments and paused, giving space to his set and acknowledging the crowd. They gave him plenty of love in return.
In Australia’s mainstream music business, the name MC Shureshock is a familiar one. Within the country’s thriving dance music scene, Shureshock’s reputation is legendary.
The performer (real name Cameron James Brown) is a heavyweight of the dance culture, a triple-threat comprising talent, versatility and durability. Shureshock has crashed the national sales charts and entertained hundreds and thousands of fans at home and abroad.
Sarah McLeod has landed. Finally. It has taken this raven haired, bright eyed girl from Adelaide one solo studio album, one live album, an EP, two dance releases and an international tour de force to get here but there is no doubt that she is here with a sparkle in her eye and a tale to tell. This is an artist who – fresh from the clubs of New York City – is the embodiment of what happens when you mix a little dance, a little pop, a strong serving of driving electro beats, a personal journey of gigantic proportions.
Hailing from the creative hub of Cape Town, South Africa, Jax Panik has risen from obscurity to being one of the country's most promising new acts. What started out as an online-only release less than a year ago now enjoys high rotation play listing on some of the country's best known radio stations.
greg jenkins composes directly with the inherent musicality of sounds, making harmony, melody and rhythm subservient to sonic texture and spatiality. He will often extrapolate sonic minutiae into whole compositions for example by "zooming in" on a tiny fragment of recorded voice then using this as the basis of a droning musical weft.
greg also likes to hit things; things such as suspended arrays of inverted flower pots; things such as beer kegs; and things such as midi percussion controllers which allow him to subversively remap non-percussive sound objects to percussive performance gestures. He frequently makes use of "micro-gestures" - subtle physical manipulations of computer hardware which control software synthesis engines allowing him to perform directly on the software in real time. greg is also known as "cactusman" due to his penchant for using a cactus as an amplified acoustic instrument.
Submitted by Sarah McDonald on Wed, 2008-07-16 01:08
Four of Melbourne's finest purveyors of lush sounds ranging from smooth liquid triphop, dub and sample based beat landscapes to squelchy, 8-bit glitch unite to deliver a night of synaesthetic delight for your auditory and visual pleasure. V.J. accompaniment by Shower Screens (Gertrude Projection Festival) and Siadatz (Uber Lingua) will be augmenting the multimedia experience of fresh local producers of organic electronic music, White Minus Red, Ionic, Editer and Paranym.
It's 3.14 a.m. In darkness, the audience armed with torches gather to experience the outcome of residency collaboration between visual artist Liz Racz and Jerome Noetinger, an internationally recognised improviser using electroacoustic devices.
The artists' work is connected across distance by the idea of erasure; sounds being erased from tape by magnets and images rendered by being erased from the blackened walls.
Noetinger was a guest of the Melbourne International Biennale of Exploratory Music and the Liquid Architecture Festival. The collaboration with Racz being conducted by email, letters and photographs of sketches will extend her practice of ‘memorable large dark works’ (Penny Webb, The Age, 17 August, 2007).
LUPA/ art: A new space in Northcote hosting collaborative residencies with happy cross-disciplinary outcomes.
I love music by bluetech and have been listening to it a lot whilst in Israel having bought a few of his cds from the music stores here and ripped them to my laptop. his music is available on aleph - zero label and he's remixed other great artists such as Shulman & Pitch Black.
his website says "my name is evan. i make sounds. rivers of music ancient & delicate flow through me.". he has 3 myspace pages for the different artist names he uses : bluetech, evan bartholomew, evan marc
Submitted by Malina Hamilton... on Sat, 2008-01-19 17:34
Super Massive were awarded the Best Alternative Artist Award at the 2007 MusicOz Awards in November, for their evocative and as-yet-unreleased synth/rock song “Fists”, which you can sneak preview on the band’s myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/supermassivesounds.
The band is the songwriting co-project of drummer/composer Glenn Abbott (formerly of ARIA winning band Machine Gun Fellatio & his own solo project The Bryan Ferrysexual Experience) and singer/writer Malina Hamilton-Smith.
Together with electric bass genius John D. Young (Chuck Berry, Marcia Hines, Vanda & Young) and talented young guitarist Marc Malouf, the four deliver a powerful and entertaining show that seamlessly blends loops, synths, electro sounds, deep funkiness and the lustiness of a full-blooded rock band, in creative and catchy, pop-structured songs.
Paral-lel's album Upgrade to mutant sheep is a new step in blending and mutating styles: electro, grime, drum’n’bass, electronica, techno, 8-bit music, hip hop… An album with a strong thematic, seeking to break the genres by proposing 12 tracks of fusion and mutations of electronic music.Paral-lel - Upgrade to mutant sheep
genre:
Electronic, techno, experimental, glitch, hip hop, house, IDM, disco
Australian artist / project?:
Yes
are you a currently active artist / project?:
yes
releases / projects:
Original Melbourne (Australia) electronic music label IF? Records was set up in this city in 1995, and relocated to Tokyo, Japan, in 2001 - see IF? Records @ Wikipedia
this is the full transcript for reference. so excuse the ums & ahhs & spelling / transcription errors and incoherency on my part.. I had a shorter, edited version on Pulse Radio site a few years back but I've lost the copy and the content's changed on their site now.
releases / projects:
Heart Strings - 2007
Dawn of a New Day - 2007
bio - full:
Biography - Donald Rath Jr. – Composer, Arranger & Guitarist
On January 14th 1956 in a small suburb of Cincinnati Ohio a healthy lad was born to this world. He would later become a Composer of instrumental music. The road to his success was long and contained many detours and rest stops.
