After a bit of confusion to where it was (they moved it downstairs because funkstrung were upstairs) we proceeded to get comfy in the basement of Minke, as once again Altitude showcased the finest dnb talent Adelaide has to offer. This month we were witness to the highest quality dnb made in Adelaide, that by Hooligan Soul, who are the well known MC’s Pab and G-Swift (aka Grif). While I’m still unconvinced that the world “live” is really applicable to these guys, as I still have trouble seeing a guy behind a computer pressing the spacebar as “live”, their performance is fantastic and their tracks are simply going to blow up big time!
When I arrived we were greeted by the cool sounds of Jayar. This guy is finally bringing some change to the way Adelaide listens to dnb, and I strongly suggest you give his CD a listen. Then Hooligan Soul commenced their mellow set. There was a rather small crowd about, and once the guys started playing people ventured out onto the floor. Their first set was comprised of a variety of smooth tunes, and Grif MC’d over the top of the tunes while Pab played with the effects and levels. It was refreshing to hear a dnb set that doesn’t contain the same old tunes as everyone else for once.
After them stepped up Tommy Jnr, who is one of my favourite dnb DJ’s, who doesn’t get nearly enough gigs for his talent, and he dropped a very sweet selection in his smooth as ever style. Miss Ribbon and I had the opportunity to go upstairs and see Funkstrom, and I didn’t let the opportunity pass, but wasn’t too impressed, and got back in time for Hooligan Souls last set.
Well, this time there were a lot more people around and the boys decided to go harder. They have got some AMAZINGLY phat basslines over the chunkiest beats you’ll hear, and had everyone in the place bouncing to their sound. Being the MC’s they are, Pab and Grif couldn’t resist going back-to-back being one of the highlights of the night. The other highlight was definitely the Fat Boy Slim Bootleg, which I hear is getting released, which is excellent news not only for the boys, but for Adelaide as well.
For me the night finished up with John Doe, again playing a fine selection of tunes in his uncompromising style. With Hooligan Soul, along with 5158 Records and Bigdog, Adelaide is finally getting its act together and it’s about bloody time. For years I’ve heard great tunes made by these guys, and it’s looking like they’re finally going to get the recognition they deserve.
Category Archives: Writing
Inbound
Inbound has been an Adelaide institution for the last 5 years. Coming out of a total love for the music, Fiction and Filter provided the first pure drum and bass party organised and run by pure drum and bass heads for all “the bad boys and bad girls”.
“To start with our idea was to get our mates who we thought had talent to play out”, says Filter. “We wanted to do pure drum and bass party,” adds Fiction. “Other crews did do drum and bass nights, but they weren’t solely drum and bass promoters”.
When asked who are the Inbound crew, the answer is a core of Fiction and Filter, Luke B, Evn, Tommy Jnr, and MC’s Pab, Xpress and Grif, but caries on to encompass most of the drum and bass djs in Adelaide. “It’s an everyone thing” exclaims Fiction, “but we’ve got that core crew – they not necessarily the biggest names in Adelaide, but the combination of the DJ’s and the music they play that’s what makes Inbound unique to anything else”. “It’s what makes us tick,” adds Filter, “they work well together and the crowd feels it”.
With these guys the phrase “all about the music” keeps coming up time and again, and if you’ve been to an inbound show you know that it really is. The DJ’s and crowd are “educated about the music. It’s not about taking this or getting drunk or picking up. Everyone’s there to hear fresh tunes, feel a great vibe and know that they’re going to get a good quality night”. This attitude carries across to their choice of interstate and international acts such as Bailey (UK) and Mosus (NZ). “You know that these guys are really into the music and want to educate people whereas other DJ’s just come over and play the big anthems and it’s all about the money and being famous”.
The latest party is also the launch of www.inbound-sound.com, the official website. “These days you need a website to be taken seriously” says Fiction. “It’s going to be a site for people to find out about up and coming parties, and for people to find out what all the hype is about”. It will feature exclusive mixes, tunes, and a DJ Management page, so up and coming and established DJ’s can network to get gigs.
Supporting new and different DJ’s has always been inbounds goal, and the next inbound on Saturday November 16th will feature the first in the “Future Forces” series, with Run Tough and Rueben. “Expect these guys to tear up the floor with the regulars!” exclaims Filter enthusiastically. So, if you’re into drum and bass and are looking for something that’s different from the norm, head down to the Crown and Sceptre this Saturday night from 9pm. I can promise you won’t be disappointed!
The Dub Pistols
The Dub Pistols’ Barry Ashworth is a mainstay of English Dance Music. He has been around since the first summer of love in 1988, when he started two seminal nightclubs “Naked Lunch” and “Eat the Worm”, as well as forming the indie band “Déjà vu”. They were a “dance music band signed to Cowboy records, similar to Happy Mondays and the like,” he says in a typical South London accent. When asked if he’d ever do it again he says that he doubts it, but “you can never say never – two years down the road you end up making music you said you wouldn’t”.
Recently the English music press recently heralded that the past (English) summer was the next “summer of love”. Ashworth says, “If it’s your first time out, then yeah, it probably is the same, but back then things were different from anything else and now electronic culture is a world wide thing. Back then people did it for the buzz, now there’s a whole business / industry surrounding it.”
Ten years down the road, after the disbanding of Déjà Vu, Ashworth formed The Dub Pistols in 1997. The name is a response to the scene at the time, with people being quite purist about electronic music. Combining punk ethics with dub mentality he and Lee “Einstein” Spencer caught the ear of Jon Carter, who asked them to remix the Monkey Mafia track “Blow the Whole Joint Up”. They did, and the result led to them being signed to deconstruction imprint Concrete, home of Lionrock and Death In Vegas.
With these and other seminal breakbeat acts such as Ceasefire, The Dub Pistols helped reshape the breakbeat sound from the formulaic bigbeat into what would become nu-school breaks. “Every sound changes, mutates and moves on” Ashworth says. “Triphop, Bigbeat, Amyl House, Nu-school breaks, Future breaks… but it’s primarily the same thing”. He’s also done a fair bit of work with other people, including working with Busta Rhymes on the Blade II soundtrack, Terry Hall of The Specials, and Horace Andy of Massive Attack of which he says “were big moments for us”. When asked with whom he’d like to work with, he says “Ian Brown (Stone Roses) is someone we’d like to work with… Chuck D (Public Enemy) and also Mike James from the Clash”.
His eclectic taste has seen him push the breaks sound to it limits again, The Dub Pistols’ Y4K release, surprisingly Ashworth’s first mix CD, continues the great tradition of this wonderful series. The album is quite funky, with the emphasis on FUN. This CD is not “me djing in club, people are going to listen to it in their cars and at home, so it needs to be a little more accessible” Ashworth says of it. Not only does it feature the leaders of the breaks scenes such as Layo and Bushwacka, Adam Freeland and Australia’s own Infusion, but also features exclusive Dub Pistols acapella’s by Planet Asia, all mixed seamlessly in a groovy, energetic, head-bop inducing manner.
Energy is what Ashworth is all about. He was kicked out of a club for being too “energetic” once, and his DJ sets reflect this energy and passion. He’s coming to Australia at the end of November (but unfortunately not to Adelaide) and says that while he’s never been here before “He’s heard nothing but good things about us”. For a taste of what he can do check out the latest Y4K breaks mix (out on Distinctive breaks), and if you’re lucky enough to live in the eastern states go catch one of his shows.
Written 10/11/2002
Drumattic Twins – Drumattical
Some breakbeat records tend to be too arty-farty now days. They try too hard to move away from the “big beat” sound and the negative connotations attached to it that they lose focus, tending to be a mish-mash of sound that leaves you wondering what the hell you’re listening to. Thankfully the Drumattic Twins haven’t done this with their first release “Drumattical”, but instead provide a very listenable and danceable album of wicked beats that ride the spectrum of breakbeat, without becoming cheesy or clichéd.
The album begins with the sound of searching through radio stations, with snippets of talk and music. The latter I suspect are some of their previous releases as “Shades of Rhythm”. This drops into “Smokin It”, which is just a small taste of what you’re about to hear. It’s a pretty simple breakbeat tune that gets your head nodding. This mixes seamlessly into “Start of Something”, a groovy electro influenced tune that builds up nicely to “Feelin’ Kinda Strange”. With it’s sped up vocal and funky guitar loops it is perfect pop, and this has seen it get a lot of air play on JJJ. It will stick in your head, but luckily you’ll want it to stay. After this the album tends to get even funkier, if that’s possible.
“Thinking About You” starts with a soulful sample and then counts down with an old school electro voice (that I just LOVE) to one of the funkiest breaks you’ll hear. “Wormhole” is another nod to electro, being retro without sounding dated. “Mutate the Beat” is one of my favourites, with a groovy bassline underlying an awesome funky wah guitar. “Mind the Gap” is another stomper, with a phat 70’s disco break that will rock many a dancefloor.
Then, showing their abilities to the full come tracks like “Drummatical” and “One Thousand Speakers”, with techno squeals and squeaks; and possibly my favourite, the incredibly dark “Hunt for the Twisted Desire”. This track has an evil bassline over a freaky sample about hunting vampires, then a phat beat that just pounds relentlessly is dropped over the top. The dark, techish mood is continued with “Invincible Bass” and the rolling “Dominate”.
By signing the Drumattic Twins, Finger Lickin’ once again show us they are the leader in breaks, and this album is yet another beautiful feather to put in their cap. Let there be no more doubt that breakbeat has come of age and is maturing beautifully.
Stardust
Stardust had a HUGE line up of the best DJ’s in the world, and we weren’t disappointed one little bit! After enduring a 20 minute queue, (which I found out later I could have bi-passed) I headed straight for the Fabric stage (breaks room) to see Phil K, one of Australia’s finest breaks DJs. I’ve seen Phil tear it up in Melbourne, and was interested to see how he’d fair here. I was rather disappointed at first, as he was playing a very mellow kind of breaks – slow with girly vocals. It would have been great at about 6 in the morning, but not at midnight when you want the party to get started! His style changed thankfully, and he pulled out some awesome new breaks tunes that tore up the floor and got everybody dancing.
Then stepped in Adam Freeland. Perhaps the greatest DJ in the world at the moment. He started out playing some rather tech-house kind of stuff, but with that unmistakable breakbeat sound. It got to about 2am, and everyone bailed to see Andy C, but they should have stayed to see Adam Freeland really shine. He dropped some of the funkier breakbeat ala Finger Lickin’, and really got the crowd moving. I’m still amazed at his seamless mixing on 3 decks and 2 CD players, his incredibly timed but understated scratching, and his wonderful crowd reading abilities. Just as you were thinking “he’s getting kind of mellow” he’d crank it up and get you up and jumping, waving your hands in the air.
After Adam Freeland I headed straight to the dnb area to see Andy C. I had heard a lot of hype about this guy, and wanted to see if he was really “all that”. After seeing him I must say he’s one of the best dnb acts I’ve seen this year. His mixing is very smooth, and he didn’t allow technical hitches like jumping needles faze him. He had the crowd going wild, and is one of those DJ’s who actually looks like he’s enjoying himself. His set was a blend of old and new tunes, which had me liking it, as I was afraid I wouldn’t know any of the tunes and wouldn’t get into it as much. MC GQ sounded as though he was rather horse, but he still ripped up the microphone.
At about quarter to 5 I thought I had about an hour of Andy C left, so went for a wander. I headed back to the Fabric stage to see Chris Fortier. He was Ok, but the music was rather slow after Andy C, so I did something I haven’t done before… I checked out the Hard House room. I was kind of hoping to see Lab 4, but I obviously missed them, but DJ Odyssey was on the stage, and I actually found myself dancing to his set!!! Alarming, I know, but it was just the right kind of tempo I was looking for. I can’t say I’d do it again, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as cheesy as I thought it would be.
I headed back upstairs to find a rather empty dnb room, and then realised that Andy C was no longer playing. I was very disappointed that I missed the last of his set, but glad I had made the most of my evening. It’s been a very long time I’ve wanted to stay at a party until daybreak, but the evening seemed to rush by and I was rather surprised to see dawn quickly approaching as I started to leave. It was an amazing night, one of the best I’ve had in quite a long time, and I look forward to the next one.
Altitude
I have a reputation for disliking dnb. I don’t HATE it, but I think most of the new stuff is too hard and repetitive and well, boring. I think that too many DJ’s play the same stuff and it all sounds the same. Maybe I’m just showing my age! However, I’m pretty open minded, and when the opportunity to review Altitude at it’s new home of Minke’s Skylab came up, I jumped at the chance. I missed previous shows, but heard rumours of “intelligent drum’n’bass” being played there, and some of my favourite DJ’s were on the bill, so I thought “what the heck!”
The crowd wasn’t huge but there was a nice and intimate vibe and they certainly were up for it. I arrived after the ITM party (which seemed slow to start), but I was astonished to see a fair amount of people boogieing down to Mark 7 at around midnight. He played a set that was much harder than what I was expecting for an “intelligent” drum’n’bass show, but there were no complaints from the crowd. DJ Fiction followed him up extremely well, steadily bringing the pace back a few notches, but holding the dance floor well. I was very pleasantly surprised not to hear the same tunes repeated, again proving to me that Adelaide dnb DJ’s are not to be underestimated.
Then Motive came on. WOW! The stuff he played was the stuff this jaded raver realises he loves – nice, boppy feel, kinda funky and jazzy, but not so much to make you fall asleep. Stuff you can get you up and shake your ass to on the floor or just sit back and nod ya head to. His mixing was very smooth, and it was good to hear tunes that don’t get much play here in a “prime-time” spot. Through all this the one and only MC Grif accompanied the DJ’s. This guy is, in Miss Ribbon’s words, “a machine”. He was up there busting rhymes the whole time, hyping the crowd, a true performer!
The sound was pretty good… although it sounded like they forgot to switch something on, and half way through fictions’ set it got decidedly better. Not louder – crisper and fuller – and my ears weren’t ringing for days afterwards. The live visuals were a nice touch, but they were obscured in the most part, which I thought was a real pity because there were some very interesting things going on, on that screen.
This night made me realise that Adelaide is a little spoilt for dnb. We’ve got the finest local DJ’s and MC’s, and promoters who bring over the best acts from interstate and overseas and who are willing to do something a little different every now and then. I guess I’ve been taking it for granted, and needed a quality night to show me just how good dnb can be, and Altitude was it!
Aquasky vs Masterblaster
Aquasky vs Masterblaster – Beat the System (Botchit & Scarper)
WOW! What an awesome album! Aquasky is best know for their Drum and Bass work on Moving Shadow, but they’ve donned the Masterblaster suit to bring one of the best new school breaks album of this year. Starting with the sublime “Satellite Channel”, which builds up nice and slowly, and then whacks you with an awesome bassline, this album shows that breaks are no longer seen as slowed down dnb, but a style in it’s own right. All of the tunes sound fresh and original, bleeding across genres, as good breakbeat should. “Disco Biscuit” is sure to be a massive dance floor hit in the breaks scene, where as “All in Check” feat. The Ragga Twins would fit well in a Garage set. “Thru the Fire” feat. Billie Godfrey is a real stomper, but the best track in this humble reviewers opinion is the last “777 (Lucky Strike mix)”. An awesome tune with an old school rave feel infused with the phattest breaks. All in all this is an album that no breaks lover can be without. The CD comes with a Mix CD, but I reviewed the vinyl so can’t tell you what it’s like, but knowing Aquasky it would be awesome.
Americas Army – SPR
America’s Army: Operations (PC) – published by US Army
Sniper, Paratrooper and Ranger packs
The Sniper, Paratrooper and Ranger Packs add new weapons and maps to the game, and fix the interface and some of the more annoying bugs, but it’s still more of the same. This game will keep you interested for a while, after all, it is more real-to-life than a lot of the other FPS games available, and it is rather kitschy and fun pretending to be a soldier in the US Armed Forces, but you’ll be back to playing Counterstrike in next to no time.
I was hoping the sniper pack would add a few more maps, but all it does it allow you to use the sniper rifle in some of the existing maps, and there’s only one sniper per team per map allowed. Depending on how good you are at using the rifle ultimately helps your team, but I really don’t think it adds any other playability to the game. It’s easy enough to get killed in this game, so it really doesn’t matter if it’s a sniper bullet to the head or friendly fire, once you’re dead you have to wait around for the end of the match.
The paratrooper patch allows you to parachute into a couple of new maps, and it is fun trying to drop as close to the objective as possible without getting shot or landing face first, but once you’ve landed it’s much of a sameness. The ranger pack just adds a few more maps as well, and while they’re incredibly detailed, again they don’t really add that much more to the gameplay – you still run til you see an OpFor and shoot them before they shoot you.
While welcome and necessary additions particularly in terms of fixing bugs, these patches don’t add all that much extra to the game, and this can be seen through the dramatic drop from an average of over 2000 players to 400 in 4 weeks on gamespy. It’s not a bad game; it looks good, plays better, and is free, but its uniqueness is starting to wear off.
America’s Army
America’s Army Operations (PC) published by US Army (!)
This is a very interesting concept. The American Army has developed a game to essentially recruit young men into the army. Available free to download, this FPS uses the quake war engine to simulate combat roles of the US Army.
Phil K & Nubreed
Minke is one of the most forward thinking clubs in Adelaide, musically speaking. Some of the best DJ’s in the world have played there lately, and the place keeps getting more and more people through the door, hearing the best breakbeat music the scene has to offer. Phil K and Nubreed were no exception to this. If you missed this because you think breaks are slow and undanceable, then you need to seriously re-assess the situation!
When I arrived, the sweet sounds of John Doe were wafting out the speakers. Here is the guy that has almost single-handedly brought breaks to the people of Adelaide. His set was a nice blend of new and old nu school breaks tunes. He was followed rather well by K2, who played a harder set of favourites to a growing number of people, some who even ventured out onto the dance floor!
Then the people we were all there to see came on. Phil K stepped up to the decks, playing some rather obscure breaks, sounding like Art of Noise meets Herbie Handcock. Then the boys from Nubreed stepped up to their banks of boxes (how I would LOVE to have a play with all of that equipment!!!), joined by Phil on a turntable and couple of those funky new CD mixers, and the proceedings just went “Boom”! The guys obviously love what they do, with the way the groove about, switch places and equipment, sing and rap. Playing all kinds of samples from Prince, Music Youth, and even Adelaide’s own Groove Terminator over the fattest beats and nastiest basslines, they cranked it out solidly and smoothly for the rest of my evening!
If it wasn’t for the flu, I think I’d still be there, dancing away! They crowd were slow to get into the evening, but by the time I left there wasn’t a soul that wasn’t moving to the great sounds these guys make. All the hype surrounding these guys doesn’t even get close to their performance, and hopefully we will see them back again REAL soon!