Category Archives: Faster Louder

Event, Faster Louder, Music, Review, Writing

J-Rocc & Breakestra

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J-Rocc & Breakestra

Due to Melbourne’s fantastic transit system, and the wonderful work of the Roads Authority of doing road works on a Friday night, I missed the first act at the Corner and a big swath of J-Rocc’s set, which needless to say I was not happy about. However, my frown was turned upside down as J-Rocc, who alongside DJ Babu forms the musical backbone of the Beat Junkies, was spinning some wicked beats in true hiphop style.

Quickly cutting beats and juggling records, J-Rocc played an epic set, playing up to the crowd by dropping classics like Can I kick It, White Lines, James Brown, Ordinary People, and 3 is the Magic Number. J-Rocc was a close friend of J-Dilla, and played many of his tracks in tribute to the deceased DJ. But it wasn’t all hiphop – he dropped some Buju Banton and even played Safety Dance at one stage!

Although the crowd were loving it, throwing their hands in the air and cheering when J-Rocc did the robot on stage, the roar as Breakestra come to the stage showed why everyone was there. Letting people know they had a new album out From Dusk Til Dawn, the Kid Named Miles led the band through an epic two hours of non-stop funk. If you’ve never experienced Breakestra before, they’re a 10 piece funk group, inspired by classic funk and soul of the 60s and 70s, but address it with a hiphop attitude. Whilst they don’t use any pre-recorded samples, they’ll drop live samples into their sets. For example, they’ll drop the iconic horns from Marva Whitney’s Unwind Yourself, better known as the horns from DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat, and then bust out one of their own tunes.

Dropping some funky stuff from the Meters, they introduced Afrodyete, a guest singer on the new album whose poise and powerful voice in reminiscent of the great Tina Turner. Unfortunately Mixmaster Wolf couldn’t join this tour, but Miles and Afrodyete performed the songs he generally sings on admirably. As the band continues to morph its way through beats and breaks, combining their own records such as Get It right and Getcho Soul Together, they play stuff from the Jacksons, James Brown, Stax, and more. I especially loved it when they played Jimmy Castor’s Just Begun into the incredible Bongo Band version of Apache, a mix of tunes I like to play whenever I get the funk out. Another stand out is Miles’ rearrangement of Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire which is simply groovy!

Although Breakestra is essentially just Miles and Wolf, with a rotating group of musicians on both albums and tours, their professionalism and cohesion as a band is evidence throughout the show. Myles is proficient on bass, guitar, and cello, as evidenced by the track Me & Michelle. Drummer Jason Pitkin deserves a special mention as well. Stopping only twice, he did a phenomenal job at keeping the beat going for the entire show.

Whilst I’m sure the crowd would have wanted the band to play from dusk to dawn, they concluded it after what felt like a very short two hours. The energy and professionalism they have on stage is just phenomenal, and once it had ended it felt as though everyone went to the merchandising stand to get a souvenir of the incredible show they had just been a part of.

Event, Faster Louder, Review, Writing

Red Bennies Saturday Launch @ Red Bennies

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I really didn’t know what to expect with Red Bennies. I knew the venue was the old Viper Room, a notorious nightclub associated with drugs, guns and violence, and the new owners were very keen to banish not only the clubs’ past, but rather improve the whole overall image of the South Side. From the effort put into the opening Saturday night, I dare say Red Bennies will quickly establish itself as one of the coolest places to be in Melbourne.

Walking up the stairs, it quickly became apparent Red Bennies is aiming for a classy crowd. There is brass and silver everywhere, a large glass smoking area upon which is a balcony fitted with a small bar. There are two well stocked bars either side of the small dancefloor, and a small centre stage catches the eye with its luscious red velvet curtains. There were beautiful women draped in delicious finery, and gorgeous men looking like they were born in their suits. I was dressed in a hoody and jeans and as you can imagine, I felt a little underdressed, but there was no snobbery from these new gentiles.

The wait for the bar for my complimentary champagne was rather long, but this was because the cocktail staff lovingly creates drinks to order. There are no premixes or frozen slushy drinks here! Although I didn’t order a cocktail, the drinks appear to be reasonably priced. I got change from ordering an Asahi which is a rare thing these days.

Emma Peel was on the ones and twos, looking as amazing as ever and spinning some fine funk and rare groove. There were a few people dancing, but the hubbub of people talking wasn’t eclipsed by the music so it was perfect for catching up with people. Projected on the stage curtains was some old b&w films, adding to the decadent 1920s feel of the venue.

The MC announced himself and came onto stage. I didn’t catch his name, but he had the crowd in his palm by doing the old dividing the crowd into two and getting them to cheer trick. He told a fair few jokes, many of which were cringe worthy, but not nearly as cringe worthy as hammering two forks up his nose!

Grant Goldie was introduced, and he proceeded to dazzle the audience with his Yo-Yo skills. I felt he was very Chaplin-esc in the way he moved and interacted with the crowd – no talking, just a silly grin and a glance here and there. Once he was done, a trapeze lowered and Tank was introduced to the crowd. She wowed everyone with her burlesque style swing set, showing amazing strength and agility and no doubt putting a few hearts into a flutter.

Emma Peel kicked off the music again with some fine funk, and got people up and salsa dancing to her cool funk. After too short a while, for I could watch Emma spin for hours, Cookin’ on 3 Burners took to the stage. Inspired by the Hammond Organ funk groups of Jimmy Smith, Reuben Wilson and Jimmy McGriff, Lance Ferguson (also of the Bamboos), Jake Mason and Ivan Khatchoyan entertained the crowd with their high energy funk. Amongst their original compositions they dropped their cover of Cars by Garry Numan, which was a crowd favourite judging by the reactive shout that came from everyone.

Kylie Auldist stepped out, resplendent in a nice gold trimmed dress, matching the class of the place brilliantly. She did a few of her own tracks, and a few Cookin’ On 3 Burners tracks, concluding with a brilliant rendition of Push It Up which simply blew my mind. The only issue I have with their set was it was too short. I would have loved to hear an encore or three.

Next up was a 70s pornstar styled DJ playing some very funky disco and soul from the likes of Aretha Franklin. I didn’t hear his name announced unfortunately, but would love to hear him play again.

Although I loved the venue, the music, and the crowd present on Saturday night, I do have one reservation about Red Bennies. I fear the special zaniness of the launch night will be eclipsed by the mediocrity of having to run a commercial enterprise. I loved seeing acrobats and burlesque and beautiful women dressed up to the nines whilst listening to some great music, but I have to admit I’m a rare breed. Hopefully though Red Bennies can appeal to more people like me, and be one of those special places which help define Melbourne as a cultural Mecca.

Event, Faster Louder, Music, Review, Writing

Hilltop Hoods @ Festival Hall, Melbourne

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I’ve never really got the sense Festival Hall was all that big until I saw Vents One and DJ Adfu on stage. With the pair on the sparse stage in front of the massive crowd, they looked miniscule. Plus they had a hard task, opening up for Australia’s most popular hiphop act, the Hilltop Hoods, and it was clear the crowd weren’t going to suffer fools lightly.

However, Vents One is one of my favourite Aussie rappers; intelligent, witty, with the right amount of aggressiveness in his rhyme delivery but with an exciting party vibe, and every time I see him he has rocked the crowd. Melbourne was no exception, as he and DJ Adfu bounded across the stage they got the crowd jumping with their rawkus rhyming, busting out tracks such as Hard To Kill, Five Minutes to Midnight, NBC, a new track called Rollin’ Balls, and even getting the crowd singing along with Love Song (aka the NaNaNa song).

As soon as they stopped however, the chanting for Hilltops started, and was loudest coming from the underage area. It was phenomenal and I haven’t heard that kind of noise since seeing the Hilltops perform with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. When DJ Debris stepped up on stage, and the video screen behind him lit up with decks and a mixer animated in the style of their record sleeves, the crowd went nuts.

Suffa and Pressure bounded out on stage, dropping Super Official to open. With the screen lit up, and the guys jumping around and busting out their hits from State of the Art, they filled the stage with their presence, seemingly growing in stature, no longer eclipsed by a giant, almost empty stage. They busted out Still Standing, speeding their rhymes and beats at the conclusion of the song to a blistering pace, welcomed from the roar of the crowd.

Feel The Vibe had everyone with their hands in the air, and had one of the longest pauses between versus that made the crowd scream with delight when Pressure dropped it. In between songs Debris dropped Dance of the Sugar Plumb Fairies and they shot out t-shirts to the crowd. They busted State of the Art over Led Zeppelin’s I Wanna Give You My Love.

But this was only the beginning. Pressure and Suffa both dropped rhymes acapella during Last Confession, showing they’ve still got the skills to pay the bills. Nose Bleed Section was a crowd favourite, as always, followed by a new tune For the Ladies. And for the Light You Burned, easily my favourite on the album, they brought both Vents and Briggs (who played earlier but whom I unfortunately missed out on) out for a verse each. And I’m still astounded at how well the boys sing on this track!

After a short intermission, the words “Hill” “A” “Toppa” appeared on stage, and the lights rose to show these were LCD Screens the back of their hoodies, before dropping the hillatoppa track. She’s So Ugly followed, with Suffa lambasting the press for being so negative about hiphop culture. They called out the dude with the Hilltops tattoo and told him it was his round, and finished up with Clown Prince.

Being an Adelaide boy, I swell with pride when I think of how successful the Hilltop Hoods have become. From rhyming in the back yards of mates in the Adelaide Hills and weird festivals with less than 200 people, to headlining festivals and selling out their own shows, it’s hard not to be proud of their achievements. Many other Australian acts cast aside their roots when they reach a certain level of fame, choosing to go the easy route option to get cash, and ignoring those who supported them. The fact the Hilltop Hoods support lesser known local acts like Vents and Briggs who had beginnings similar to them, bringing them in front of the huge audiences they can now command, show that they’re as committed to the Australian hiphop scene as they ever were.

Event, Faster Louder, Review, Writing

Australasian World Music Expo @ Hifi Bar

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Rocking up to the Hifi Bar on a very warm Thursday night, we were greeted by a packed house, digging the sounds of an invisible DJ. Not entirely sure where they were playing from, maybe the top bar section, but it was a nice blend of afro and dub beats. Fairly appropriate, given this was the opening night of the Australasian World Music Expo.

AWME is the Australia-Pacific region’s premier music industry conference and showcase of Indigenous, roots and world music. It features films, talks and shows concentrating on music from our neighbours and the more far flung areas of Australia. And it also has a hell of a lot of talented musicians who come to showcase their skills at gigs like this.

Not long after grabbing a beer, the first of many drinks I had to consume to combat the heat of the underground venue, Dubmarine stepped up to play. Hailing from Queensland, this young group of musicians funked it up with their own take on dub reggae, jumping around and generally having a grand ol’ time. I recognised some of their tunes, including Point The Bone, probably from PBS radio. Cat Walker, the female vocalist, has an amazing voice for such a petite girl. D-Kaz the lead singer has a very interesting stage presence, reminding me a lot of the front man of Adelaide band Bliss. Don’t worry if you don’t know them – I’m old and they disbanded in the late 90s – let’s just say he has an over-abundance of energy.

We wandered outside for a smoke, and got to talking with some of the sizable crowd outside. Now, I don’t smoke myself, but my friends do, and I really don’t like this smoking outside business. It really kills the vibe inside the club. Sure, it prevents you from getting lung cancer or at least smelly clothes, but at what cost? After all, this is a reggae gig, there needs to be a haze of funky smelling smoke above the crowd!

It also invites trouble as drunken wankers walk past and hurl abuse at you for no good reason. Good thing the bouncers moved him along quite quickly, but if people are wondering why there’s an increase of violence, this is why! If we were all inside, there wouldn’t be any drunken wankers hassling us for having a good time; not at this gig anyway.

Heading back down we were greeted by the sight of 17 people gracing the stage, showing up how tiny it really is. The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra belted out some great African rhythms, with the girls shaking their thang and the guys jumping around. About half way through they were joined on stage by Tumi, a South African MC who was quite good, with what I heard any way. I’m not sure if it was because of where we were standing, or the size of the band, or just poor sound engineering, but they sounded quiet and muddy severely disappointing given the venue’s reputation, and worrying given the Red Eye’s need for good bass sound.

However, when the Red Eyes did take the stage, the sound was back to its superb self. I saw the Red Eyes open for Easy Street All Stars, and was very impressed with the authenticity in their sound. Here was no different, as they played their more popular tracks like Rude World and Arms Over Jordan amongst others, plus a new track called Curious. The band is tight as the proverbial, and lead vocalist El Witeri has an amazing stage presence, a real old school feel like Mick Jagger, as he prances and struts around stage. Although I have to wonder if he is sponsored by bonds, as every gig he rips his singlet.

The Mad Professor joined them on stage half way through. I thought he was just going to DJ, but was pleasantly surprised when he started tweaking their sound live on stage. The sound this man can get out of a live band is incredible. Running everything through about half a million filters, the bass became phenomenal, and the effects on El’s voice and the horns section simply astounding. They did covers of tracks such as A Little Way Different by Errol Dunkley – which was sampled by drum and bass pioneers DRS and Kenny Ken and the reason I know the tune – plus Waterhouse Rock, originally done by Big Youth, amongst others I knew, but couldn’t tell you the names of. I thoroughly enjoyed this portion of the gig, but was exhausted after jumping around all night. I left when the Mad Professor and the Red Eyes took their bows and exited the stage, but the crowd was screaming for more, so am unsure if there was an encore.

Given this was the opening night of the Australasian World Music Expo, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to Womad. Sure, Womad is held over 4 days outside in Adelaide’s beautiful parklands, but the vibe of the crowd was exactly the same. It was hot, people were drinking, but they were happy, excited, gracious and fun. ‘United by Music’ is a phrase hippies like to throw about so often, but this was honestly true of this gig. It’s just a shame it could have been ruined by an idiot outside the venue, but hats off to the bouncers for making that scenario not come to fruition.