When you’re on a good thing, you stick to it, and local talent is a great thing that will be showcased, yet again, at the second installation of the Local Lineup party. So really why do another Local Lineup night? The overriding ideal still holds true, according to organizer Eden Krumins aka Cubist, “Basically to give the opportunity to local producers to play their tunes to an audience. It’s much harder to play one of your own tunes out when DJ’ing because you’re taking a risk.” The benefit of hearing tunes produced ‘at home’ over a more substantial sound system is another bonus for the selected local producers on the bill.
Second time around the lineup is not restricted to drum and bass. Sticking with three of the first artists (Livewire, Valuetime, Spherix and himself) Cubist has also incorporated some local breaks producers, with Little Evil, Lucas Chan and Nick Thayer. “There are some great breaks producers in Melbourne writing some really funky, tough breaks and getting recognition from overseas as well as locally.” Instead of being an all out drum and bass assault, the plan this time is “to start off at bit slower tempo with some of Melbourne’s best breaks producers/DJ’s then speed up a bit with the DnB producers/DJ’s.” This time the will also see the inclusion of MC’s; Sponk, Wasp and JC.
To get a little bit more of an idea of what we might hear on the night, ITM caught up with the producers performing on the night. Little Evil has been focused on the production side of music for roughly a year. Most breaks fans would have heard him mixing round the place, and probably would have been to his “Gimme a Break” parties. So where did it all start? “I listen to lots of different styles of breaks, and I guess my production is a hybrid of everything I love. [I] always wanted to make break beat, as well as perform it. Been performing it for four years now, so I guess it’s time to bust out with my own stuff.”
Evil describes his sound as “Hard and aggressive, but aimed at the dance-floor. I like seeing people rocking out to hard breaks. It’s my thing.” So maybe that warm up ‘slower tempo’ idea is already out the window! Epitomizing the ideal behind the night, Evil is apprehensive about playing his own tunes out, “It will be the first time I’ve really played my own stuff in front of a crowd, so it’s a bit nerve wracking for me. Have no idea how it will be accepted, but will give it my best shot.” Evil’s philosophy behind his tunes? “Music, no matter what style, has to have soul, and I try to bring that out in my tunes.”
Another local that avid breaks heads should be familiar with is Nick Thayer. Nick hosts “Beats Electric” on Melbourne’s own Triple R and runs Honkytonks weekly night “Pick up the Pieces.” While he is unspecific on how long he has been producing, he cites the Plump Djs tune “the push” as a catalyst for the production of his own tunes.
Often it can be hard to describe your sound, or you may not want to limit your sound to a couple of words, but Nick has all the answers when asked what characterizes his sound, “If you listen closely you can hear the sound of me drinking Canadian Club in every tune.” So can you hear that sound in his (and Bass Kleph’s) reworking of the Drummatic Twins track, “Feelin kinda strange,” or his own tunes ” Theme One”?!
Obviously getting paid to make music is a major career achievement, and Nick cites being signed to Breaking Point as a career highlight. However, like most musicians you can’t beat people vibing off your own creation, “It’s always great just to see people into my music though. My music has taken me to some amazing places.” And it seems that it will continue with gigs lined up at none other than London’s Fabric and some work in Budapest.
When you’re talking about all things Melbourne broken beat, you can’t go past melbournebeats.com, and Lucas Chan is the man behind it. Lucas also happens to be another of Melbourne’s talented breaks producers.
Lucas offers some rather left field influences for his production (Lamb and Sebadoh amongst others). “My production is always very melody based. I’m just a sucker for it, I don’t know why. The not-so-obvious (and somewhat-clichéd) characteristic of my sound is that I draw a lot upon my environment, experience, emotions, etc. Every track tells a story. I suppose this is true for every music producer but I really feel that my surroundings and circumstance influence me most.” Having a track on Keltec’s Future Breaks mix was a major boost for his production career, but Lucas again finds then best thing is his audience enjoying his work, “my fondest memories are of being asked what track I’m playing when it’s been one of my own. That’s always a nice thing.”As for the other locals on the lineup, they get a second chance to show off their skills. ITM also caught up with them to see how what they’ve been up to and what to expect this time around.
Cubist has been doing some interstate gigs to promote a new mix cd, “a night to remember,” in between washing dishes! He hopes to showcase new material from MC JC in this set as well as some new tunes that are taking him closer to that elusive deal.
Spherix has joined a four part production team called CATACOMB that spans the globe to include other artists: bantom, andyslim and kace, who are all from Toronto. These guys have certainly been busy with a couple of releases (on Dutch labels Fokuz and Citrus) coming through soon, as well as release on OHM Resistance. Furthermore, they are also doing a track to be released as a B-side for a Noisia tune, plus some mp3 gear on kinematic and shadybrain. Despite his production prowess Spherix wants us to “keep in mind also that im trying to do a DJ set where this is my first time DJing!!”
Livewire continues to push the Melbourne Jungle sound, and has been busy remixing a tune from none other than Big Bud. The remix of the track “Blu for You” which is likely to appear on the new Big Bud mix CD set for release on Sountrax in 2006. Alongside him on the remix project is swag of top artists including Zero Tolerance, The Green Man, Motive, Amaning, Basic Ops, Greg Packer, Cujo and Paradox. At the same time as that, he’s working on tunes for Big Cat Japan,(on the dancehall and jungle side of thing), wants to do some more things for Soundtrax, and also hopes to fit in some work on his hip hop tunes. Amongst a wealth of his own tunes, we can expect to hear some “new 12’s, some new locally produced dubs and of course some jungle dubs for good measure!”
With the last event being such a great avenue for producers to play their own tunes and for punters to hear them, Cubist also points out that “none of us will be playing a set of totally our own material. We still represent our individual flavours of what’s going on around the globe.” The combination again alludes to the delivery of a night of quality tunes and brilliant talent from our own city.
Local Lineup 2 is on this Saturday 21st January at the Bunker Lounge. Check ITM whatson for more details.
