It was an exciting line up at the Annandale Hotel, a venue that is generally home more to rock acts but tonigght, Australian hip hop was the flavour and there was a full house to get the heat rising.

But first up: Radical Son. This indigenous artist lay down some pretty mean rap beats on his first EP but seemingly has gone through something of a metamorphosis in the meantime, re-branding himself as a singer of smooth, folky soul. With a deep, booming voice and some laid back songs he should have got things going nicely. But unfortunately people just couldn’t seem to cope with his bassy vocals and they got lost entirely in the heaving, booming bass for the entire set. A real shame as this is a very talented guy with deep and interesting lyrics. He deserved better than to be so undersold although I guess it’s always a questionable decision to rock up in front of a hip-hop crowd dressed like Che Guevara, tell the masses that you’re giving up rapping and then break in to a Beyonce-style accapella number. Still, I predict big things from this guy so keep your eyes open.

Next up was The Spit Syndicate, whose most ringing endorsement was there inclusion on The Tongue’s new album. I’ll say this for them, their voices weren’t in any danger of getting lost in the base. Some of their raps seemed to be played against a background of house and mostly the background music was decent enough but with lyrics like “Say hell yeah, say hell yeah” and scarf accessorising, I have some serious doubts about their potential. That said the entire set seems to have filled me with a conciliatory amnesia and all the notes I made look like a chicken walked over my pad with muddy feet so best to just move on to the reason we were all there in the first place, the launch of The Signal, by Urthboy.

Now you’ve probably heard some of the better tracks, such as the title track, on the wireless radiophone, and perhaps you liked it. Certainly he has a lot of swagger and I am reliably informed that Brag rate him as one of Australia’s most ‘off the wall’ rappers. Like Michael Jackson? I don’t know. He was wearing a hat (read: Attitood) and had a host of friends jumping on stage with him to varying degrees of success. Mia Dyson has a nice voice and made me feel a little warm inside but for the life of me Ozi Batla’s inclusion was a mystery. I don’t think he was allowed to rap unless Urthboy was rapping too. In fact the only thing he added to the night was a little entertainment on the front door when he made the mistake of standing within three feet of the bouncer who responded by going chopper-mental and threatening to elbow him in the face. There was no rhyme nor reason for the bouncer’s response but latterly I realized he was simply, in his own small way, critiquing Ozi Batla.

Ultimately I think Urthboy is a very good example of a pretty poor genre. He’s polished, likeable and has some production skills but the truth is that rapping in the heavy accent with meaningless verses about love and happiness and fake rude-bwoy stylings doesn’t cut the mustard much. There’s a litany of Kiwi rappers that would put this guy to shame in terms of production, lyrics, rapping ability and attitude and the fact is that the one big thing he has going for him is actually being Australian. Frankly I think he needs the Herd around him to give him musicality and a polished finish. Without them he’s too samey, too bland and, I’ll be honest, a little dull.

And yet, despite all that, he put on a decent show. Sort of. Unlike the Spit Syndicate I can at least remember it! That’s got to be good right? Right?