Articles tagged with ‘instrumental hip-hop’

• Circus Maximus (Review)

  A review of Unkle Ho’s second LP Circus Maximus published in Music Forum.

  Tags: authenticity, multilingualism, globalisation, Tony Mitchell, Music Forum reviews, multiculturalism, hip-hop and folk music, world music, sampling, Elefant Traks, instrumental hip-hop, production, Press & Media

• Crytearia

  Crytearia is a producer and sample-based, instrumental hip-hop and electronic music artist who lives in Hobart, Tasmania. He has made two albums, Create (2003), and LandScrape (due to be released in late 2007). LandScrape features rhymes from Tasmanian MCs Tempest, Crixus and Thorts. In this interview, conducted by Tony Mitchell at Crytearia’s house in Hobart, Crytearia talks about getting into hip-hop via breakdancing at high school, the Hobart scene, crate-digging and beatmaking, his time in Italy and Italian hip-hop, and his love of the French language and French hip-hop.

  Tags: independent record labels, Hobart, multilingualism, breakdancing, sampling, instrumental hip-hop, Interviews

• Hermitude

  Hermitude are a two-piece instrumental hip-hop crew from the Blue Mountains, with Luke Dubs on keys and Elgusto on beats. They have performed with MCs such as Ozi Batla and Urthboy from The Herd, and Joelistics from TZU. Their style of production – passing old sounds through new technology – is richly layered and complex. This interview, conducted by Tony Mitchell, Nick Keys and Astrid Lorange at the Great Escape Festival in 2006, is a general catch-up before Hermitude headed off to play in Japan, Norway, the UK and the US for the first time.

  Tags: Elefant Traks, instrumental hip-hop, Sydney, Blue Mountains, sampling, Interviews

• Marcus Guitarkus

  We visited Marcus’ house for a quick interview on the way to interview Music vs Physics at the Evelyn Hotel. Marcus gave us a run down of the genesis of the Symbiotic collective, which emerged from a New Year’s Eve party in 1999 at the house of Pasobionic’s [producer and DJ for TZU and Curse ov Dialect] girlfriend. Marcus spoke of the nature of the way the collective functioned, pooling their diverse talents into shows and performances, often improvised. Marcus also spoke about other collective projects he has been involved in, which managed to incorporate people from the more mainstream hip-hop world. The discussion also covered the issues surrounding the term ‘hip-hop’, its contestation and the problems of limitation, especially in relation to a notions of authenticity and ownership. At the same time as resisting the puritan perspective, Marcus spoke about the ways in which he’s come to understand why the term ‘hip-hop’ is so crucial identity of people who believe they embody hip-hop as a lived reality. This developed into a discussion about the form itself, as a contemporary folk music, and the possibilities for the expression of street-level reality.

  Tags: production, battling, freestyling, instrumental hip-hop, Melbourne, sampling, Interviews

• Music vs Physics

  Music vs Physics are a Melbourne-based avant-garde hip-hop trio. Their live performance is a three-way conversation between the turntable, sampler and a drum kit, plus vocals. As a crew, they also experiment with animation, web-design, film, design and multimedia constructions. This interview, conducted by Tony Mitchell and Nick Keys in Melbourne, is with 3rd Dek (turntables and vocals) and Beatrix (samples and vocals). The discussion is mainly focused on the textures and architectures of sample-based production.

  Tags: Music vs Physics, 3rd Dek, Beatrix, Symbiotic Sound System, instrumental hip-hop, Melbourne, sampling, Interviews

• Pasobionic

  Local Noise spoke to Pasobionic at the Sydney launch of his solo album Empty Beats For Lonely Rappers at the Hopetoun in Surry Hills. In a relatively short interview, the softly-spoken producer talked to us about the origins of the name Pasobionic from his graffiti tag Paso, and getting into hip-hop via graffiti in primary school in the 80s. He also mentioned the marked separation in his life between hip-hop and Islam. He spoke about the diverse sampling practices of Curse ov Dialect, the intricacies of sampling in general and the differences of producing with TZU and Curse. Other points touched upon included his CD duplication business, working with Elefant Traks and instrumental and live hip-hop in Australia.

  Tags: TZU, instrumental hip-hop, DJing, production, Ant Farm Aphids, Elefant Traks, sampling, Melbourne, graffiti, Curse ov Dialect, Pasobionic, Interviews

• Sounds From Our Town: Tasmanian Hip-Hop

  “Music emanating from Tasmania has generally been pretty much off the radar in terms of mainstream or even underground success or acknowledgment in Australia.” On a trip to Tasmania in April 2007, Tony Mitchell went forraging through fragments of the Tasmanian music scene in search of the underground traces of Hobart hip-hop. This piece - published as a feature in Music Forum - is a result of a forraging which included an interview with Hobart-based porducer Crytearia (this interview can be viewed at the website also).

  Tags: globalisation, Tony Mitchell, Hobart, independent record labels, production, instrumental hip-hop, Somalia, Press & Media

• Unkle Ho

  This 2005 interview with Elefant Traks co-administrator and The Herd producer Unkle Ho took place just after the release of his debut solo album Roads to Roma. Unkle Ho talks about his family history, his travels and its influence on his sampling, his method of music production and running of Elefant Traks in general.

  Tags: production, Unkle Ho, The Herd, instrumental hip-hop, Elefant Traks, sampling, Sydney, Interviews