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

:::

Hunter and Mortar released their new album "Fear and Loathing" in May 2011—the guys seem a perfect match to release an album together. Written over a few years, there's a range of styles, and fans of either of the two will not be disappointed. My personal favourites are the more introspective songs, such as Mortar's "Expecting to Fly" and Hunter's "Love and Fear" but there are also plenty of hardcore rap songs for the fans to play at parties and bars around Australia. Hunter answered a few questions and replied to comments about the new release. You can find the album in all good stores supporting Australian Hip Hop, and I'd encourage you to buy all of Hunter's and Mortar's albums, including this one—the latest chapter in the Hunter SBX story.

>> AliaK
Hunter SBX

Hunter (SBX) — The Words

Reflections on Hunter's first three albums:
::: "Done DL" ::: Hunter and Dazastah (2002)
::: "Going Back to Yokine" ::: Hunter (2006)
::: "Monster House" ::: Hunter and DJ Vame (2010)

When Walter Benjamin stated 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, he hadn't anticipated the rise of the hip hop emcee to revive this craft in our modern world. In all his albums, Hunter shows his skills as a wonderful storyteller. 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, and of hope — giving up old ways that were not working for him to focus on music, rapping and living a hip hop-infused life instead. "What I Do Best" has the feeling of homecoming to a community of supportive people and finding his 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". Littering his rhymes in "Kids of the Future", "The Big Issue" and "Me Old Man" are stories based on his Dad’s advice, as he contemplates being a father himself.

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.

White Minus Red combine elements of triphop, dub and jazz, live instrumentation with Ableton powered technology and soulful vocals. Fronted by Sarah McDonald (ex Symbiosis, Bois et Charbon), with Liam O'Connell (Agency Dub Collective, 30B), Ben Ganley (Agency Dub Collective), Jon Hopkins (Agency Dub Collective, Malicine) and Leigh Hegg (OffBeat@Horse Bazaar, Plankton), White Minus Red have graced many a festival stage (Falls, Renaissance, Folk Rhythm + Life, Sustainable Living Festival) and are ones to watch.

Expat Novacastrian duo, Ionic have been getting many a party started since relocating to Melbourne with their unique and tasty blend of sample based, beat laden electronica, as well as gracing venues, galleries and festivals (Gertrude Projection Festival, Icicles and Raindrops). To follow up their latest release, Prototype 2.0, the Ionic lads, Stu and Div are in the process of recording a new album, so keep your ears open.

NEW COLLABORATIVE WORK

SOUND/ Jerome Noetinger (Rives, France)
VISUALS/ Liz Racz (Melbourne)

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.

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.

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 wish you a good mutation!

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

Listen and buy it here // //
//

Candy lips, gyrating hips - Two SUPER MASSIVE shows in Sydney in April

I gave a two-and-a-half year old boy a cardboard box and told him to DESTROY it! I then made electronica entirely derived from the incident.

Ever wondered what your house would look like if you could see its sounds? No, probably not. Neither have I. But I did walk around the house the other day tapping stuff. In the MP3 file below, you will hear music made from walls, doors, windows, picture frames, tourist trays, the bass futon.

go to http://theurbanmyths.blogspot.com/2006/09/bubble-house.html
to download mp3 file

Why you might ask? Because I was wondering if you could make music just by tapping stuff. It turns out you can. Actually, the rythms are surprisingly driving. This house rocks, all it needed was an opportunity to express its inner rythm.