Monthly Archives: September 2007

dB Magazine, Event, Review

Parklife @ Botanic Gardens Adelaide on Sun 23 Oct 2007

Leave a comment

“All the people, So many people” pretty much sums up Parklife in Adelaide on Sun 23 Oct. And it has to be said, Adelaide really came to the party. The sun, the park set up, the crowd, and the music were absolutely perfect. The inaugural Adelaide show proved that Adelaide has the population and the will to go out to a large event that isn’t rock orientated.

I got there and did my usual scoping out of the joint. There was a lot of eye candy of both the male and female variety, and it’s the best looking crowd I’ve been a part of in Adelaide, by far. There were three stages spread across the park, a good number of bars and toilets, and enough variety in food stalls to fill up the fussiest eaters.

I really wanted to see Greg Packer, and was very surprised to see MPK behind the decks, which were promptly moved to the side of the stage so Shapeshifter could do their thing. MPK looked bemused, but coped well with the disruption, and still danced and clapped although almost invisible behind the roadies and equipment.

Shapeshifter began with their mellower dnb, but brought in the rolling basslines quickly and amped up the crowd as their set progressed, concluding with an almost hard rock feel leaving the crowd screaming for more. I was so entranced by Shapeshifter that I only saw two of the Greenskeepers tracks, but they had a decent crowd who were really enjoying the performance which was high energy and full of fun.

As I drifted back between Shapeshifter and Stereo MCs, who were playing nice beats to a small and enthusiastic bunch of nutters, I thought I’d at least try and understand why Ajax is inthemix’s number one DJ. Unfortunately I still don’t see the appeal. Kid Kenobi and MC Sureshock didn’t inspire me much either though.

DJ Craze was up after Stereo MCs, and although I’ve enjoyed Craze in the past, there was something not quite right about it this time. It was a little more varied musically, but was a bit messier. A friend mentioned that it was a bit like Z-Trip, and I have to agree, but where Z-Trip excels is his flow. Craze lacked that, and was poorer for it. Still enjoyable though. The Herd were their usual self – great and lots of fun, although they seemed to be lacking a bit of volume. Adam Freeland was pretty predictable, although the crowd loved it.

The Scratch Perverts were the highlight of the night, their ability on the decks unsurpassed. Although it was a mash like Craze’s set, the flow was a lot more conducive to jumping around and having fun. Following them was Lyrics Born, who is always a fine performer and didn’t disappoint this time either.

Digitalism were great musically, although all I could see was smoke and flashing lights and two silhouetted figures behind keyboards and boxes. Busy P joined Justice behind the decks for a massive mashup, starting with the Jackass theme song, and playing all sorts of funky shit. MIA ended the night with her own brand of crazy hiphop and amusing stage antics.

One of my favourite things about Parklife, and the reason I’ve journeyed to Sydney in the past to be a part of it is the variety of music. And although I felt there was a lack of variety here in Adelaide compared to previous years, I wasn’t left wanting at all. I just think there could have been different styles of breaks beyond the electro stuff, and a little more dnb thrown into the mix. But all in all it was an excellent day full of great music and wonderful people.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Kid Confucius

Leave a comment

Having eight people in a band, you’d tend to expect a lot of conflict between members. Especially when not in the studio recording, those members are out on the road touring constantly. But Bart Denaro of Kid Confucius enjoys the time he spends with his band mates. “It’s almost like a school camp with us,” he laughs, “because there’re at least 10 people in the entourage and it’s just a lot of fun. Even if you do have a problem or a problem comes up you can distance yourself from it because there’s so many people [to interact with].”

Kid Confucius are promoting their sophomore album ‘Stripes’, a soulful exploration of funk and hiphop, inspired by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, with a little bit of rock thrown in. “Personally as a drummer,” says Denaro, “I would say my biggest influence would have to be John Bonham (of Led Zeppelin fame), but then it moves to the old soul session players like Bernard Perdie and Al Jackson, and those kinds of bands. Our influences have changed though and me and a lot of the band have a strong rock influence”.

“When we got together the first song we jammed on was Suck My Kiss by the Chilli Peppers,” Denaro explains the rock link further. “And that kind of party funk thing we were doing in the beginning, that is appealing to anyone on the level that you go out to a club and don’t really know the song, but still dance to it. And for a young band that’s really appealing. You don’t need people to know you, you don’t need to be on the radio to be able to do a good gig, the people just get into it because it’s got that groove to it,” he smiles. “Then we started looking a bit deeper into the music we were listening to. We started looking at those who inspired the funk, like Stevie and that, and started focusing on those elements for this album.”

Not only have the influences evolved, but also the whole song writing process. “In the beginning Andrew (Guirguis aka Pre Fab, the band’s MC) penned pretty much most of the songs on the first album. Since the first album I’ve had a lot more to do with the production side of things because I spent a lot of time working with our producer Buckman (Tony Buchen). Also Rob (Hezkial, the bands main singer) became more involved with the writing process. The songs start from one person’s idea, say a verse idea or chorus, and grow from there. We did about 4 months of pre-production in which we brought those ideas to the table and worked through them as a band. So ‘Stripes’ was a much more collaborative thing than we’ve ever done before.”

Their tour,called ‘The Street Corner Soul Tour’, celebrates Soul music in a similar way to Aretha Franklin’s Fillmore West concerts of 1969 by playing at traditional rock venues around the country. “The Fillmore West was traditionally a rock Mecca in San Francisco and the very gesture of Aretha Franklin playing there was a real statement for soul music. She sold out two nights there which was a real landmark for soul at that time. This idea really struck true for us because we live in such a rock centric country, and we wanted to do something in the same vein – play rock venues and pubs and brazenly play soul music.”

“We kicked the tour off with two nights at the Annadale in Sydney, it’s THE pub-rock venue in Sydney,” Denaro explains, “and we’ve had a couple of gigs there before and haven’t had the greatest time because of therock status. But going in there with this premise, with the word Soul in the tour name, we had two of the best shows we’ve ever played there!” he grins.

They also hit the street corners in the literal sense. “We get as much of the band out there on the street and do an impromptu performance, and the response has been awesome! So far we’ve done a performance in Sydney in Newtown, Brisbane in the Valley, and on Brunswick St in Melbourne. We’ve bought a little battery powered speaker we can plug a couple of guitars and the vox mic into, and we drive around the city, look for a nice spot and then do it as quickly as we can before we get any police attention!” he laughs.

He’s pretty confident it will happen in Adelaide, so don’t be surprised if you see a Tarago pull up to somewhere around the city, and eight musicians pile out and start playing sweet soul music. But if you don’t manage to catch them this way, they’re playing Fri 12 Oct at the Governor Hindmarsh.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

The Scratch Perverts – Tony Vegas

Leave a comment

Commencing life as an eight person monster hiphop crew, set up to challenge the dominance of the Americans in the DMCs, then whittled down to just three amazing performers, The Scratch Perverts now epitomise all that is good about dance music. They’ve grown and matured from the hiphop scene, playing a diverse and clever range of music that encourages people to listen to stuff they wouldn’t normally listen to, and which prohibits the group from being pigeonholed into any other category than “simply superb”.

Tony Vegas, the man who originally kicked off the Scratch Perverts isn’t afraid to speak his mind. When I mention the fact that some people choose to criticise them for playing stuff other than hiphop in the begining, he shoots off into a massive, well though out rant that has us both chuckling throughout. “People always want you to be the person they want you to be,” he begins philosophically. “It’s a fact of being a performer to a certain extent. If the Red Hot Chilli Peppers played in Australia tomorrow night and just performed stuff off their yet to be released new album, people would be like “what the fuck! I wanted you to do Under the Bridge” and so on. People want you to be who they want you to be, and personally I have no interest in that. You’re there to show them who you are and who you know yourself to be.”

“People can interpret how you perform however they choose to, but if any of those who’ve criticised us for playing stuff other than hiphop can tell us that the hiphop scene is so good that we shouldn’t play stuff other than hiphop, I’ll gladly listen to them. But as far as I’m concerned the whole hiphop scene is on its arse, and has been for ages; it’s shit!” he chuckles. “Yeah ok Kanye West’s new album is going to come out and it’s going to be good, yeah definitely no doubt,” he concedes “but where is everything else? There’s just not good stuff coming out anymore and it’s not 1989 anymore.”

“We play music that affects us emotionally and we like as a crew,” he states. “Hiphop was never about one particular ‘thing’, it was always about interpretation of music, and that’s what I still consider it to be. I’ve been into hiphop since the early 80s and I’m old in that game and I’m pretty sure in my opinion of what hiphop is meant to be. It’s not about a guy with a microphone rapping over a fucking Scott Storch beat; it was never meant to be that and was meant to be more than that. If people’s interpretation of it is simply that then they’re welcome to it, but I don’t think it’s really fair for people to, in a bitchy way, challenge other people’s interpretation of music. I think it’s just a bit weak to be honest.”

With that out of the way, we discuss the fortunes of the group. “The DJing thing for us seems to get bigger all the time. It’s really good to be busy, especially at home as we’re doing two to three shows a week, though we try to not do more than that,” Vegas says. “We’ve been in the studio a little, and are working out a clothing range with Maharishi to represent the brand we see our name being. But we’re mostly focused in the studio. We hibernate and look at our monitors for 12 hours a day and gradually go mad,” he chuckles.

The Scratch Perverts are known for combining hiphop and drum and bass, so I asked Vegas if they had anything special planned for Australia in the way of tricks. “If people think us playing drum and bass is a headfuck then they should wait to see us play in Australia,” he says mysteriously. After a bit of prodding, he explains a little of what we can expect. “We’re going to work out a few trick things to include,” he mentions casually. “We play a little dubstep now, so we start with that and move into hiphop. We’re influenced by the French scene at the moment, Diplo, Justice, Switch and those kinds of guys, and we think the stuff in the middle will really surprise a lot of people. I don’t think anyone making music at the moment can ignore Justice and the quality of their production. You can’t but help to be influenced by that and if people want to ignore it they’re being childish,” he rants again. But to all those who love dnb, don’t fret. “We end up with drum and bass and so you’ll hear 180bpms a minute, and end up bleeding,” he laughs.

Scratch Perverts play Parklife alongside Adam Freeland, Justice, Digitalism, Stereo MCs and more, held at the Botanic Gardens on Sun 23 Sept.

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

Tenchu Z

Leave a comment

Ninjas are the ultimate in cool. Their history and purpose is surrounded in myth and mystique. Secret assassins of the Shogunate and Japanese nobility, they have enraptured the minds of the Western world in film, books, comics and video games. So it’s always a big let down when a game starring ninjas turns out poor. And poor is the perfect adjective for Tenchu Z.

The story of Tenchu Z begins in feudal Japan, and involves you, a ninja obviously, being hired to take out various marks for your Ninja master. There is some kind bad blood between various villages, and you have to kill people because they’ve done bad things to other people. It’s one of those annoying Japanese stories, kinda like Dynasty Warriors, where you’re not sure if everything in the story is connected or not, and if it is, it’s lost in translation anyway. For example, you get to create a fellow ninja who appears occasionally in the story, but doesn’t seem to do much except spout some weird Confucian crap now and then in cut scenes.

Many Japanese games have odd, hard to follow stories, but make up for that with cool action or great graphics. Unfortunately Tenchu Z has neither. You are given a mark to kill, and you’ll find them within a complex, usually a Japanese temple. They’re not always temples, sometimes it’s a restaurant, sometimes it’s a dock, and other times it’s a whole village. But the design from level to level is so similar that it doesn’t matter what it actually is, it looks like a Japanese temple. You’re never told exactly where that mark is located though. You see a cut scene that gives a basic idea of what the character looks like and the surrounding location in which they’re to be found, but that’s it. They’re not marked on a map nor are any other clues given. I suppose that, despite to all the evidence to the contrary, ninja organisations had really poor intelligence back in the 1600s.

Now, initially this doesn’t seem like it would pose a problem. You’re a ninja, right? You can sneak around and scout out the place yourself. And to aid you in that endeavour you have a meter that shows you how hidden you are, how aware the enemy is of your presence, and how far away to you are from each other. Whilst good in theory, in practice this fails due to the most frustrating game AI ever encountered in a game.

On the one hand the AI can spot you through walls and roofs. This makes sneaking about and avoiding being detected a little difficult. And if you open a door and there is an enemy in the room, you instantly alert them to you presence. The problem is compounded because the mark is nearly always in a room with a door that is closed. Open the door and the mark is alerted to your presence, and you’re rushed by guards. At first I thought this was just me, maybe I was doing something wrong, but time after time, door after door it happened.

Yet on the other hand the AI has the memory of a gold fish. Run behind another building, or jump over a wall, and the alarm is dropped. Worse still is that AI will automatically go back to its predictable patrol path, meaning you can attempt to sneak past or kill the enemy again and it will be rather blasé about the whole thing. What this does allow you to do is race through the whole level until you find your mark without much hassle. It doesn’t matter how many alarms and guards you alert, there is no punishment apart from the fact you get less gold at the end of the level.

Gold is used to buy new outfits, weapons and skills, including new stealth kills. Whilst these make playing the game slightly more interesting, this is no real incentive to play through the game stealthily. The AI is so poor that the pay off to do a stealth kill never seems worth it. And with all the stealth moves you’re meant to be doing, when it comes to the boss levels, such as the one on the docks that was in the demo, you’ll find that all gets chucked out the window and you’re forced into confrontation. Because you’re used to sneaking about, the direct confrontation is a jarring jump in terms of gameplay.

The control set up has to be one of the worse ever. You need to press a button to draw your sword, and another to strike it. When sneaking if you see a guard and pull out the sword, he hears and is alerted to your position. But if you don’t have your sword out, you can’t do half the stealth kill moves. Likewise, to throw a star or grapple you have to press a button to go into first person view, then press another button to throw the star / grapple. Again, this is frustrating as you will often get seen before you have a chance to position yourself well. On top of that, the camera is horrid. It’s free moving to allow you some sense of situation awareness, but it feels completely awkward as it never snaps back, so you can get thoroughly disorientated.

Graphically the game is the very ugly stepsister of Team Ninja’s Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. Although the locations are quite well realised, as mentioned they all pretty much look the same. Considering you’re on the rooftops most of the time, a bit of variety might have gone a long way. Although the character animation is smooth, the overall feel is of a PS2 game. The enemy characters all look the same, with textures and models reused over and over again, sometimes making it impossible to tell a mark from a guard from an “innocent”. In fact, I didn’t even realise there were “innocents” in the levels until I saw in my end of level screen that I had killed one. And even more incredibly, there is no facial animation for any character in any cut scene. They talk, but mouths and eyes don’t move. I was stunned by this – I thought we were in the next generation of console gaming!

Sound is probably the best aspect of the game. Drawing your sword has a satisfying ring as it emerges from the scabbard, and the footsteps of your enemy get louder as they approach, giving you a greater sense of your surroundings and situation. When you do battle the stereotypical ninja battle sounds can be heard – swords classing, yelling out “Kiiyyaa!” and so on. The music is also as you would expect from a ninja game set in the 1600s – lots of oriental flute and harp.

Conclusion:
Tenchu Z is pretty craptacular. Admittedly there is a bit of fun to be had here when you do stealth around maps, but as soon as the AI sees you through a wall, or you open a door and it alerts the guards, the fun is over. Moreover, the fact you can run through a level, alerting everyone to you presence, and still complete the level makes a mockery of the whole concept of a stealth game. Unfortunately for Tenchu Z there are games that do the stealth action genre a hell of a lot better, and with nothing else going for it other than ninjas, this one is best left alone.

Pros:
You play a ninja
Lots of customisable outfits
Nice sound

Cons:
Worst AI you’ll find in a game
Can complete levels without being stealthy
Really bad controls and confusing camera
Looks terrible

49/100