Last time I ventured to the Oxford Art Factory it was to see Kentaro, a Japanese turntablist, and it turned out to be probably the best night I had in ‘07. So when I found out that Krush, another turntablist hailing form the land of the rising sun, was playing at what had become my favourite new venue, I had high expectations of the night. And I was not disappointed.
For those that have not been there, the Oxford Art Factory (OAF) is located in what was once the iconic Sydney record store Central Station Records. The venue utilizes the basement level, spilt into two rooms with a bar and glass window separating the two, featuring great sound in both rooms, a stage in the main room, a crisp, clean and loud sound system and to top it all off, they sell longnecks at the bar. Brown paper bag optional. I can’t stress how great this venue is, and I’m really looking forward to seeing some great acts here in the near future.
Anyway, I arrived at about 10:30, and was greeted to the sounds of Mark Walton’s Fretless. Having a live act always adds a certain energy to the room, and this was no different. Blending hip hop with funk switching to soul and dropping back with dub influenced beats, the music defied classification – other than good music to bust a move and have a boogie too. As catchy and funky as the music was, it did seem to drag on for a while, but maybe that was just because I was so excited about hearing Krush.
12:15 rolled around, and the curtains closed for a good 5 minutes – perfect time to go to the bathroom and grab a drink. By the time I got back the curtains were just opening, and instead of seeing Krush up on stage, we were treated to a performance by B-boy group Nu Skool. Having lived with a dancer in the past, I could appreciate what was going on, but really, they were a bit of a laugh. They were good dancers, showing a diverse range of popping, locking liquid and robotics. But really, they were hard to take seriously, trying very hard to look serious and tough, though with their bright red t-shirts with ‘Nu skool’ in giant Supre-esqe writing, it was hard to hold back the laughs.
After the dancers left the stage with a round of applause, Krush took his place behind the decks and got on with proceedings. Starting with some slow, ambient sound scapes and light scratches, he slowly added in hats and snares, till he had built up the pace, into some down tempo, Portishead-style trip hop. Krush was not only mixing, but also chopping up and producing on the fly, frantically tapping keys or buttons, and then leaning over to his laptop to play around with that. Unfortunately the stage was very high up and he was at the very back of the stage, which meant that seeing what he was doing was made difficult, and discovering what gear he was using was made near impossible. However, after some research later I discovered he has recently started to use Ableton Live, so I assume that’s what he was using.
His set teased it way through trip hop beats, sometimes picking up slightly into a more mainstream hip hop tempo and structure, just teasing us with what he could do on that sequencer of his up there, but never giving it all away. Time seemed to fly and by the time I checked my watch again it was almost 2am, and Krush was playing *DJ Shadow’*s infamous Organ Donor, but his use of Ableton meant that he could mash, change and rearrange, making the old classic sound fresh and new. The vibe had picked up, he was really giving it his all in what I would say is easily the best hip hop set I have seen in the last six months hands down.
After Krush finished up, Ro-Sham-Bo took the stage, and to quote my partner for the night, they looked like “a 40 year-old bogan, with his 14 year-old son who was playing his first gig”. They were an interesting pair, starting off with Benga Crunked Up, I thought this was going to be a dubstep set and was excited. Unfortunately, about four of five tracks in it had become bouncy wobbly house, I’m not exactly sure what the kids these days call it, but when there was a track with some cheesy vocals in the tune of Frere Jacques, we agreed it was time to leave. But overall a great night, great beats, at a great venue with a great artist – there’s not much else you could ask for.
pottsie says...
you must have missed the worst mc in history. poor kid. i've never seen someone die with a microphone as badly. worst warm up acts ever.