Tag Archives: Review

inthemix.com.au, Review, Writing

Brand New Heavies @ Trak Nightclub

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Judging by the crowd at Brand New Heavies at Toorak’s Trak nightclub, Melbourne’s baby sitters must have been raking in the dough on Friday night. I’ve never seen a crowd like that at a funk event in Melbourne. The average age of the crowd was 40 plus, and although I’m no spring chicken myself, it was the oldest crowd I’ve been part of since Devo. Not that this is a bad thing; contrary, it’s great to see Melbourne’s mums and dads can get out amongst it and still know how to party!

The Trak is an awesome venue. The converted cinema is very large and open, very classy fittings and a crowd to go with it, and I was treated very nicely by the bar, door, coat room and security staff. I mention it because I’m the first to admit I’m a bit “street” (read daggy) I love my hoodies and trainers and couldn’t tie a tie to save myself. I did make an effort though to dress up a little, as I heard the Trak was a little exclusive, and although I still felt very under dressed, I wasn’t treated any differently by the staff or patrons; the same cannot be said of some clubs down the road on Chapel Street.

I arrived, checked my coat and got my first very reasonably priced beer. For a classy joint, drinks are really well priced! They even have waitresses who wander about and serve you where you stand, which is awesome. Electric Empire had done maybe one song by this time, and although I had never even heard of the Electric Empire before, their soulful rhythms and great sound has made me very interested in tracking down their album. They’ve got that smooth, sexy sound, similar to Curtis Mayfield or Al Green. The single Always was a highlight, as was the Latin influenced percussion solo.

DJ Eddie Mac played some great funk and soul classics, including the Bamboos, Gangstarr, James Brown and Jamiroquai. Much of the crowd were singing along happily, and running into people they obviously hadn’t seen in ages. It was a little like a really cool and classy school reunion.

Next up was Paris Wells. I thought this was an interesting choice of support act. Paris Wells is best described as a soul blues rocker. She has a fantastic voice on her, and her stage antics were quite amusing, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of a rooster as she strutted about on stage with her coiffed hair and feathered outfit. Some of her tunes were great. Let’s Get It Started (not a cover) is almost ska with its bouncy lyrics. Fuck Your Soul is intense. However, she just seemed a little out of place for the vibe of the night.

The Brand New Heavies came on after a brief interlude with Eddie Mac, and it was apparent right from the start the awesome sound we had for Electric Empire and Paris Wells was simply not happening for them. There was a problem with Simon Bartholomew’s wahwah pedal right from the beginning, and it simply didn’t sound right for the entire night. N’Dea Davenport also had difficulty with feedback from her microphone. This meant the band didn’t sound as tight as a funk band should, and to me it was a little disappointing.

This didn’t dampen the spirits of the band nor the crowd too much though. After all, this was the Heavies’ first ever tour of Australia, and considering they started in 1985 and first became popular in 1990 we’ve waited almost 20 years for this, and everyone was singing and dancing along and having a fantastic time. They did plenty of their hits, including Midnight at the Oasis, Mind Trips and of course Dream On. Jan Kincaid knows how to play the skins, and I always love it when a drummer takes lead vocals, whilst Andrew Levy looking funky in his sparkly top and dark sunnies shows why slap bass is the best way to play the 4 stringed guitar. N’Dea hasn’t lost any of her spunk either.

I was lucky enough to go to the Saturday night performance too, and although the crowd was a little younger, but not by much, the sound was perfect for the Brand New Heavies the second time around. They truly shone on Saturday night, and any disappointment was washed away. Highlights of the second show included the band’s solos, which were perfect the second time around, and the encore with the crowd chanting the refrain “whoa year” of their last song until they came back and did an unrehearsed version of Forever.

Sure, waiting 20 years to experience to see a band live can dampen even the highest expectations, and I’m not going to say Friday night was a dud by any means, as the band performed brilliantly despite the sound issues. But I was worried if I wasn’t impressed at the second show, they’d be another band who lost it as they aged. But that worry vanished the moment they came out for the second show, and I can honestly say the Brand New Heavies are one of those bands who are truly amazing live, and they’re up there amongst the greatest funk orientated bands I’ve seen.

Event, inthemix.com.au, Review, Writing

Andy C @ Hifi Bar

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When I first moved to Melbourne one of the first shows I went to was the traditional Andy C show on Australia Day eve. I had a fantastic time, as the HiFi bar was ram packed and Andy C lived up to his name of “the Executioner” as he simply killed it.

This year, I was more than a little surprised to turn up and find the HiFi bar almost deserted. There were maybe 40 people there, grooving away to Keir’s dark and rolling beats. I really like Keir, but I felt the overall vibe of the majority of his set was just a little too moody for 11pm. It didn’t make people want to wander to the dance floor, with most standing like wallflowers, and although it was filling at a steadier pace, this made the room seem sparser than it was. But like any good DJ Keir recognised this, and shifted things up a bit towards the end, playing much more dancefloor orientated stuff which finally got people out onto the floor.

Beatski stepped up next, dropping one of my favourite tunes ever – the Nu:Tone remix of Lenny Fontana’s Spread Love. This got more people up and dancing, and he continued the vibe for a while as the HiFi got more and more packed. I’ve not seen Beatski before, and enjoyed what he played. Safire stepped up after him, and played some wicked tunes, although like Beatski, didn’t play much that I knew. I generally appreciate hearing stuff I don’t know, but this time I felt so out of touch that I’ve decided I need to get out more!

MC Lowqui jumped on the mic for Safire, and really helped hype the crowd. I must admit I’ve not been too keen on Lowqui in the past, but the times I’ve seen him recently, he’s really impressed me. I know there’s a conception that Melbourne people don’t like MCs, but Lowqui knows when to hype and when to chill which is perfect for this city. By the time Safire finished the HiFi was full, but not uncomfortably so.

Then Andy C stepped up, with GQ on the mic. Oh my gosh! Many DJs lay a claim to being the best, but it is my professional opinion that Andy C is better. First of all, he plays dancefloor tracks that get everybody moving. Second of all he plays on 3 decks, superbly mixing 3 records in time, with his now infamous double drops which amplify the intensity of the already frenzied dnb tempo. Thirdly, he plays all vinyl. None of this time coded, played off PC which has been keyed and bpm matched beforehand stuff – just straight up practice, skill, and knowledge of his music.

Andy dropped some amazing tracks, mixing Konflict’s Messiah with Trace’s Babylon, teasing Racing Green under Jenna G’s In Love, and even dropping fresh stuff like the new Pendulum track. GQ would call out for rewinds, and Andy would spin back both records; drop one, then the other, and the crowd would cut sick every time. Andy had just as much fun as the crowd, waving records about, clapping, waving hands and dancing along with everyone.

There is one thing that annoyed me about this night – the fact that more people don’t head out to see someone like Andy C. Everyone is so caught up in their own scene, they rarely go out of their way to see good DJs out of their preferred genre. I’m positive if more people saw Andy C play like he did at HiFi over the last two years the “Top 100 DJ polls” so many websites and magazines run every year, Andy C would be rated much higher. He certainly deserves to be.

Film, inthemix.com.au, Review, Writing

Bananaz

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When you really think about it Gorillaz, the brainchild of Damon Albarn (Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl), is a pretty fucked up concept. You’ve got an animated band, made up from real world band members (the lead who is quite famous and identifiable in his own right) who think they’re famous, who go on tour in a real world setting. Bananaz is the documentary which follows the six year process of the Gorillaz from just past conception to the live tour of the animated Gorillaz rock band across America.

It’s a fly-on-the-wall, home movie kind of documentary, and director Ceri Levy shows you both the highlights and lowlights of the band’s career, and a hell of a lot of bickering and farting in between. The highlights are the massive Gorillaz Festival, with Dennis Hopper, De la Soul, Shaun Ryder, Nina Cherry and more joining Albarn on stage in the USA. One of the lowlights was the departure of the band’s bass player before their first tour of the USA, leaving Albarn vomiting with nervousness before going on stage. There’s no explanation given for his departure, and this annoyed me.

The other people in the film are generally playing second fiddle to the Albarn and Hewlett show. There’s an excellent scene with Buena Vista Social Club singer Ibrahim Ferrer, but then he’s nowhere else to be seen in the film. They chat a little to Haruka Kuroda who provides the voice of Noodle, but pretty much gloss over everyone else, including Dan The Automater and Dangermouse.

You do get a good feel for the personalities of both Albarn and Hewlett though. Despite their fame, they seem like typical British lads. There are unexplained scars and scratches on Albarn’s face, again never explained but I like to think it’s from some kind of bar brawl. Another classy act is where Albarn tries to scab a cigarette off Hewlett, and he’s told “fuck off, you’re a millionaire”. Hewlett has an awesome scene talking about how much he hates NME writers, his immaturity shows as he draws a massive dick as a portrait of one.

It’s a funny, charming movie, and seeing the behind the scenes of not only the performances but also the animation is interesting. The debate on how to do interviews as the Gorillaz is eye opening, as is Albarn’s handling of certain interview questions.

However, I felt a little lost at times, as words are mumbled and certain incidents glossed over, never properly explained or examined. I would have liked to see a more traditional documentary style applied in many cases, to get further insight and different points of view. It’s a good film for Gorillaz lovers, but those who aren’t fans may find things hard to follow and not explained quite well enough.

inthemix.com.au, Music, Review, Writing

Belleruche – The Express

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My first experience with Belleruche was earlier this year in Melbourne when I managed to catch them live. My initial thought was they were a poor man’s Portishead, but it’s an injustice to dismiss them simply as a copycat. Yes, Kathrin DeBoer’s soulful voice has the same smoky sexiness as Beth Gibbons, and the tracks combine turntables, samples and bass guitar, but Belleruche are a lot more positive in both the lyrics and general sound of the music itself, with the music being a little less complex and informed as Portishead.

Their first album was called Turntable Soul Music, and this album continues in the same vein, but is perhaps a little bluesier than before. Anything You Want (Not That) is a jazzy little upbeat number. Backyard is swinging backyards blues, with steel guitar over the simple beat of a drum machine. Idea Three gets a lot more funkier, but the blues returns in Goose Blues.

The record continues in the same vein with Like 4 The Hard Way, then gets a little more pace with Rumble Strip. My favourite track is How Many Times, a short and sweet rocking blues track. Scratch My Soul is the most downbeat on the album, a headnodding blend of echo-y guitar and scratched beats.

Late Train has that awesome blues train feel, accentuated by the horn stabs, and you can imagine an old steam train racing down the tracks as the song plays. The music being simply bass guitar, sampler/turntables and voice mean the music is pretty sparse and simple, unlike the aforementioned Portishead, and the space between sound and silence works especially well on You’re Listening To The World’s, the last track on the album.

I was really impressed with Belleruche’s second album. It’s distinctive and has a sense of cool about it. It’s similar to other music, without being copycat, filling a unique space in the catalogue of modern music.

inthemix.com.au, Music, Review, Writing

Baobinga and ID – Big Monster Dubstep EP

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Baobinga & I.D’s album is one of the best releases of this year – of any genre. If you haven’t got it, go out and get it. Anyway, this ep features dubstep remixes of some of the tunes by ID, Hektagon and DFRNT. All up, it’s not bad, But when the originals are as good as they are, it’s pretty hard to stuff them up.

ID’s remix of South Manchester Weather sounds more breakbeat than dubstep to me. It’s kind of like Freq Nasty’s earlier stuff, just not as full on crazy. The bass is big, but the traditional dubstep vibe isn’t quite there.
Hektagon’s remix of The Water Park is nothing special. It strips back the original, but doesn’t do anything great with it to make it a standout track.

Many dubstep tunes feel as though they’re trying too hard to be different. However, DFRNT’s remix of In the Air is nice and mellow without being too wanky and experimental, and is one of the best remixes on the EP.

Similarly DFRNT’s remix of The Machine is good. It’s almost like old school trance at the start, but gets more dubsteppy in the main meat of the tune. I like this tune the best, but the original is a fucking awesome tune anyway, so it’s not hard to like it so much.

inthemix.com.au, Music, Review, Writing

Balance Presents Electric 04 mixed by Agent 86

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I’m not going to mince words – Agent 86 is one of the finest DJs in the country. The fact he can mix a variety of genres, in tune, as well as scratch up a storm simply blows me away every time I see him, and it is beyond my comprehension why he hasn’t been voted the number 1 DJ in inthemix’s DJ poll as of yet. I guess it’s because he’s a quiet achiever, all about the music rather than the scene.

Overall on the latest Balance Presents Electric, we find a very relaxed, breezy summery kind of vibe, funky, discoy and lots of fun, with tunes that sound like they could be from any era from the 70s to today, which essentially makes them timeless.

Some of the highlights are Aeroplane’s Pacific Air Race, the funky 80s disco vibe of Tease Me by Bermuda, the utterly groovy Fog by LSB, the Jackson’s sounding Shake That Booty by Soundtroopers and the 303 acid flashback of Bermuda’s Galaxy Race.

All throughout Agent 86 drops scratches from 70s disco classics (Dynamite! Outta Sight!) and the first landing of man onto the moon, creating an amazing soundscape that celebrates life and man’s great achievements, including making some funky ass music!

I’m not normally all that much of a fan of the housey disco sound, preferring breaks and hiphop, but it’s really growing on me, and combined with Agent 86s transcendently smooth mixing, this is a CD which will get play on many occasions, from getting ready to go clubbing to relaxing on a sunny Sunday afternoon with good friends and good brews.

inthemix.com.au, Music, Review, Writing

Boabinga & ID – Big Monster

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I must admit, I wasn’t expecting much when I picked up Boabinga & ID’s full length CD. It’s not that I don’t think much of them – on the contrary, I have great respect for them as producers and DJs. It’s just that a lot of breaks releases lately have been lacking something, and I expected Big Monster to be more of the same. Oh how much more wrong could I be?!

It is my opinion now Big Monster is one of the best breaks, no; make that best electronic releases of this year, if not this decade. Big call, I know, but from the moment I put this album on, I was entranced. The epic strings of Carve Your Name introduce you to another side of Boabinga & ID, one that invokes the old school sound of electronica and techno, but without any cheesy feeling of nostalgia nor the cashing in on electro. Names like Orbital, Underworld, 808State, and Koma and Bones first album all sprang to mind, as well as genres like Chicago beats, techno and acid house.

And it continues from there, with tunes like their reworking of The Machine and Rite of Passage, giving their singles a deeper musicality that is absent from so much other music of late. NY3.5 is melodic and reflective, and then there’s Jump Up which is a straight up booty shaking grime number. Jersey Street s a throw back to the Acid House party days without the annoying sirens, and the interlude of Blue Green show just how deep music like this can be.

When listening to this album, it took me a while to figure out what was different about this album, and it’s the production. There’s no guitar, no singing (except with the rap on Jump Up); no attempt to sound like a band at all, unlike so many other breakbeat acts who feel inclined to show they can rock just so they can sell a few more records. This is all 303, 808 and virus sounds; electronica at its truest and its finest. Enough talk, just get it and witness a record of great music.

inthemix.com.au, Review, Video Games, Writing

B-boy

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Sony PSP
When I was young, I remember grabbing a slab of cardboard and going up to the local shops to do a bit of breakdancing. Someone had one of those massive old school ghettoblasters, and we rolled in, set up, and started toprocking, then breaking into drops, freezes, flares, windmills and headspins. I wasn’t very good, being totally unco as I am, but I was pretty fly with my footwork. You’ll find I still am, if you get me really, really drunk. But unfortunately my mum was right, it was “just a fad”, and I never continued with it. Since the resurgence of the b-boy culture, I wish I had kept it up.

The Sony developed PSP game B-Boy attempts to help me live out my breakdance fantasies, but unfortunately, like a lot of things Sony has done lately to be seen as ‘hip’, it fails dismally. The game is presented well enough – the models and motion capture are superb, with fluid movements of the players. And they’ve nailed the b-boy culture well, featuring many brands of clothes and shoes loved by the b-boy community to be unlocked. Yet even with the authenticity granted by having Crazy Legs and some bona fide breakers and locations, the game fails to maintain interest.

It fails mainly because this rhythm game has no rhythm. This game forces you to use all the PSP’s buttons, making the game overly complicated. Tapping the shoulder buttons in time with the music, then tapping the X or Square to perform a move may not sound very involved, but when performing the moves it just doesn’t feel right. The rhythm of the button pressing isn’t in time with the music. I’m a DJ, not a great one admittedly, so I know how to tap in time with a beat, and in B-Boy the tapping isn’t synchronous. There’s a delay, caused in part by the move animations and this makes the whole thing seem slow, out of time, and unresponsive.

More bothersome is the stop start feel of the game. You battle, you wait whilst the computer does its routine, and then win and go into the next round (suffering an agonising load time) or re-do the battle. There isn’t a great flow to the game, and it feels like a mini-game that’s been stretched into a full game. It may suit the ‘portable’ nature of the game, but you need to be drawn back to it, and there’s nothing here keeping you wanting to play.

Another annoying problem is the music. I love my oldschool hiphop and funk, but, because the PSP has less storage space and memory than consoles, the music tracks are cut shorter. Thus, when doing routine after routine, even though you continually unlock new tracks, you tend to hear the same music over, and over, and over. I’m not sure that custom soundtracks are available for PSP games, but given the multi-media functionality which is thoroughly unutilised on the PSP, this could have been a massive selling point.

B-Boy is a game that looks and sounds pretty good and is kind of fun to begin with. It’s authentic to the B-Boy culture – the developers understand it and pay a nice homage to it without being too condescending. However, it quickly loses its initial appeal because of the poor controls, stop-start nature and terrible loading times, and the far too repetitive nature of the gameplay.

inthemix.com.au, Review, Video Games, Writing

Age of Wonders: Shadows of Magic

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PC

Shadow Magic is my first introduction to the “Age of Wonders” series, but if this title is anything to go buy I might have to seek the previous games out. I’m a huge fan of the “Civilisation” series of games, and AoWSM is quite similar in some ways, yet adds a role-playing element that makes it similar to Warcraft 3. Either way, it’s a damn addictive game. The game won’t appeal to those who like their games to be quick, but for those of us who are lucky enough to have a lot of time on our hands, this game will let you while away the hours gathering resources, building cities, and create armies to wipe out the opposition.

The Campaign explains that Merlin, head of the Wizards, is trapped on an alternative plane of existence, and you have to battle what are known as the Shadow Demons to save him and your planet. But not only is there the Demons to contend with, there’s Phobias, the Human Emperor who blames the Wizards, elves, dwarves, and other races for bringing the Shadow Demons into the world. The Single player campaign starts off with a simple 3 part tutorial that introduces you to the game mechanics, and teaches you how to move, construct cities and units, how to capture other cites and so forth. It will all be quite familiar to those who have played other Real Time Strategy games. The main aspect of the game is typical resource gathering – in this case it’s gold for your cities and armies, and mana for your magic.

There are 3 planes of fighting: the Land, Underground and the Shadow World. There are races better suited to fighting in each area, but what is really cool is there can be cities in all three of these planes. This makes the game much more tactical than other RTS games: Is it a matter of taking over one plane, and moving onto the next, or establish bases in each of the planes and attack from each?

The magic part is what makes this game really interesting. In each city, you have the option to make Wizard Towers, which amplify the wizards power and allow you to cast spells over the land. These can range from those that heal your armies, hide your cities, and hinder enemy movement. There are also Heroes, who rise in level and power as the game progresses, and as long as there is one city with a Wizard Tower under your control, you can cast spells whenever your hero goes into battle. When you go into battle, either against a city or against an army in the fields, the screen zooms in, and you get to control your units, directing them to attack and casting spells to devastating effect.

There are a few problems with this game. The graphics freak out where there are too many units moving on screen, particularly those with flapping wings. Whilst there is a zoom mode, the graphics do not scale well, unlike in Warcraft, and look bitty and fuzzy when you zoom in. Battles take far too long, and whilst there is the option of doing a “quick battle”, that often leaves the attacker at the mercy of the AI. Whilst the AI is not totally mindless, it is rather predictable and you can learn it’s patterns and defend yourself better against it.

Those faults do not make the game unplayable though. In fact, I had to drag myself away from the game to write this review. The gameplay is addictive and the story is quite enthralling. I’ve been playing nearly two weeks straight, and am only up to the third campaign, there’s meant to be five, plus there’s a whole host of single scenarios, plus a random map generator. Already there is enough to keep most gamers happy, but add to this the multiplayer aspect, then you have a lasting and fun game that’s well worth the money.

inthemix.com.au, Review, Writing

break in traffic

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Pushing the envelope once again, Traffic proves its willingness to present something above and beyond the normal clubbing experience managing to lure Adelaide out of its sleepy shell to witness of the best nights I’ve had clubbing in a long time! Again the people who claim hiphop and breaks do not have a strong following in Adelaide are proven beyond a doubt that they are wrong, which can only be good news for all lovers of fine music in this fine city.
When I arrived I found that there was a line up, which rather surprised me. After the lacklustre turnout for the opening of traffic, I thought that maybe Adelaide *was* too small to support hiphop and breaks. But, thankfully I am wrong. I entered and was greeted by the sounds of DJ Riddla, one of the most under rated DJ’s in Adelaide. This guy is GOOD, and it’s just a shame he doesn’t get heard more often. He was playing a blend of older, funkier breakbeat tunes, which was refreshing to hear and mixed expertly well. Next to step up were Stephen King and Reflux, warming up the crowd by showing a few tricks of their own. My only gripe about the whole evening was that during a good portion of their set I was outside trying to get to the teller machine, and then was stuck at the bar.
However, it was obvious who the crowd were waiting for, The Scratch Perverts. On the attack from the beginning, they simply didn’t let up with the amazing tricks they can pull. Starting with “Party” hiphop, they rocked the crowd, simply dazzling us with the speed of their cutting and scratching. And they didn’t just stick to playing well-known hiphop, they played a couple of DJ Shadow tracks (to which the crowd went mental) and a few classic Ninja Tune tracks including a great bit of mixing between Mr Scruff and Roots Manuva. Then they had to go and ruin it by playing drum and bass… only joking 🙂 The D&B they played was pumping and energetic, and fitted in with the mood of the crowd. They returned to playing hiphop, and as a wind down played “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, which almost turned the floor into a moshpit and was incredibly cheeky of the boys. From the vantage point of the second floor it was impossible to be anything but impressed with the way they mixed and scratched, and it’s no wonder they’ve won so many hiphop battles both individually and as a team.
Following them must have been a monumental task, but luckily Krafty Kuts was up to it, and he managed to hold the dance floor