K-Oscillate is the kind of live band that’s hard to classify. Guaranteed loop and sequencer-free, this 100% live act from Melbourne is going to energise the floor at Fractured with their fusion of drum ‘n’ breaks, breakbeat, dub and beyond, all suffused with soul.

Dance music’s been begging for organic sounds for years, and it doesn’t get much more organic than these guys on stage sweating on the drums and spitting into the microphones.

“We have drums, bass, keyboards, MC and soundscapes,” says drummer Matt Bray. “We use a lot of synths like the Virus synthesizer. It’s drum ‘n’ bass-esque, but it’s more about get up and body-moving music. There’s that soul aspect in there as well. We have quite diverse backgrounds, the musicians involved. It’s not really drum ‘n’ bass, but at the same time that’s probably the closest expression. We can easily drop into hip hop, metal, beautiful soul, just keeping people active. We like to add a bit of bounce, make it just good vibe music. Some dub, raga, dubstep – which is your halftime stuff. We’ve even explored getting a bit of acid in there.

“We tend live to blend songs into each other to a degree. We’re always open to improvisation. We always want at least 10% of a show to be improvised. The technology we’re using via the MIDI live means we still have access to the latest crazy sounds with soft synths and plugins. But at the end of the day it’s still live, improvised on stage. It’s a good freedom to have, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next, really.”
Matt says that while the sound they play live may sound looped sometimes, it’s by design, not laziness. “That’s the main thing about the band. All five musicians are working it out live. The sound coming out through the speakers might sound like loops or samples, but it’s all played live. We’ve seen many a DJ set, all the drum ‘n’ breaks dons of the day, and been blown away. But when you have five individuals reacting in real time with the crowd, 6-800 people, when that shit hits the zone, no DJ, no recorded music can touch it. It becomes larger than the room. That’s what it’s all about.”

By playing a mixture of a live drum kit with synth drums, Matt is able to get a traditional rocky sound and fuse it with a limitless array of sounds at the push of a button. “The thing is, when most electronic bands go live, they only have that one live drum kit sound, which makes the music kind of lose its edge live. We’ve played over 150 gigs with this set up, and we’ve nailed the sound. We’re not using click tracks or anything, it’s just live drums and the v-drums.”

With a self-titled album already out, the boys recently recorded four new tracks at Woodstock Studios in Melbourne. “The tracks are available at the moment on the Myspace site. And we’re looking to release an EP soon. After we recorded the tracks we went over to the UK to work out some contacts and meet the crew from Fabric. It was interesting checking out the scene there. There are still no bands there doing what we’re doing. So we have a better perspective on what we’re doing now.”

The guys have played over a dozen gigs at Fractured over the years, so they’re no strangers to the vibe of the place, and it’s no wonder they keep getting invited back. “We played our third show there about three years ago. We had a single launch, a film clip launch and the album launch there. Brown Alley is a good room. Chris has a really good open mind and knows what he’s doing.

K-Oscillate is out now independently. Check out www.myspace.com/koscillate to hear the new tracks and you can catch them on Friday December 8th, Fractured @ Brown Alley.