This year we’ve seen international sounds creeping more and more into the musical DNA of Western electronic music, whether the original influences are drawn from the bailes of Rio De Janeiro, the streets of Portugal or the multitude of other spots around the globe that have proved themselves ripe for creative inspiration. In amongst all this, it’s the duo of Dennis ‘Dow Jones’ Shaw and Alex G, otherwise known to the world as the South Rakkas Crew, who are leading the charge in taking the Jamaican sounds of dancehall and merging them with a futuristic electro aesthetic. Make way everybody for the futuristic dancehall warriors…
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“The fact that we can draw from so many musical sources allows us to be even more creative,” they told ITM. “We can say things like, that synth sound from that house track would sound wicked on this dancehall beat. I think we are a reflection of what is going on in the world today; becoming less segregated. People’s minds are opening up to new things on every level. There is such diverse variety of good music out there. Through the internet and cultural diversity, musical influences are coming from every direction. Music genres are over lapping, and we love this cross pollination.”

The South Rakkas Crew will be bringing their international vibes back to Australia this New Years for a tour that’ll see them take in an enviable schedule of excellent events including the Falls Festival in Victoria, Southbound in WA and the debut of sexy newcomer Days Like This in Sydney. ITM’s Angus Paterson finds out what we can expect later this month from the futuristic dancehall warriors…

You guys have received major props for bringing the sounds of dancehall together with electro, as well as a lot throwing a lot of other genres like reggae and hip hop into the mix. It’s an admirable mission statement, but I know this wasn’t what you’d necessarily set out to do when you began. How do you being marked as the posterboys for the dancehall/electro movement?

When we started South Rakkas Crew it was really about creating an identity to facilitate our ambitions to produce dancehall music. Our dancehall naturally sounded different than what was coming out of Jamaica because of our musical backgrounds. A few months after our first release some DJs in Europe started calling our style ‘Electro-Dancehall’. Before we started South Rakkas Crew, Alex G was producing ‘pop’ music for the likes of NSYNC, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera etc, and I was managing his company. That ‘pop’ sound was a relatively new thing at the time. I wanted to get back to our roots, doing music that both Alex G and I loved. At first we didn’t want South Rakkas Crew to be linked to our ‘pop’ resume because, we felt it would be distracting. We both grew up in Toronto, and Mississauga, Ontario Canada in a very multi-cultural, multi-music genre environment and our music definitely reflects this.

With dance music in general, combining the sound aesthetics of different genres has often proved to be a ripe source of creative possibilities, whether we’re talking about electro, house, breaks or whatever. Is that what’s driving you with South Rakkas Crew, all the possibilities of bringing different worlds together?

When we create music, we do what we think is cool. The fact that we can draw from so many musical sources allows us to be even more creative. We can say things like, “that synth sound from that house track would sound wicked on this dancehall beat.” I think we are a reflection of what is going on in the world today; becoming less segregated. People’s minds are opening up to new things on every level. There is such diverse variety of good music out there. Through the internet and cultural diversity, musical influences are coming from every direction. Traditional Hip Hop listeners can now appreciate dubstep, or house, and it’s cool. Music genres are over lapping, and we love this cross pollination. This allows us to make some of our crazy ideas more palatable larger audiences.

All signs suggest that you’ve won over the dancehall purists, which on one level is surprising as genre purists can often resent their music branching out in this way. What’s been the key to your success with this do you think?

I think people are ready for it. It’s funny, I feel like Obama, “People are ready for change,” haha. In Jamaica they love it when you come up with something different. Our sound was different. Dancehall music is more about the attitude, the language, and the flow. If you put a dancehall artist on any instrumental it becomes dancehall. I also think a part of it is the way we came into the game. I went to Jamaica amongst the artists. I went to where they live; hung out with them in the clubs and in the studio and dealt with them on that level. We have a genuine love and respect for the music.

Recently inthemix spoke to a house producer from France, where he shared his observation that the internet has completely broken down the way music is consumed across the world. As a result, the way that a crowd in Brazil responds to your music may be identical to how they respond in Australia. Have you found this to be true yourself, and if so, do you think these changes play into your hands as an act because of the international nature of your sound?

Definitely. It can be awkward when you are introduced to a new style of music and are unsure of how to move to it. Or when the MC says something and you don’t know what he is talking about. Simple things have come out of Jamaica that are now recognized around the world. Things like when the MC shouts, “somebody say pull up,” and I spin the record back to the beginning of the song. I would say 90 per cent of the people I have played in front of world-wide know what I am doing. There is a sense of unity and community when everyone in a party has the same reaction. The internet has played a big part in that.

Last time ITM spoke to you, it was off the back of an extremely impressive portfolio of work that’d seen you commissioned to remix artists as diverse as DJ Shadow and Beck through to even Britney and Justin Timberlake. Tell us a little bit about what you’ve been up to in the months since.

We have been doing a lot of touring, focusing on the US and Canada. We’ve done remixes for a few artists including Tricky, Fall Out Boy, even an Australian rap duo named Killer Queens. We mixed the Yo! Majesty album, along with some songs for Adam Freeland. We help A&R a Reggaeton album for Universal Records. We still do commercial work, a couple of things for HBO, sampler CDs etc. The big project right now is our next album. We want to get it out for the spring.

Last time you were here you played at two of Australia’s most beloved ‘boutique’ festivals, Playground Weekender in Sydney and Golden Plains in Victoria. They seemed like great matches for your sound, how’d you find the tour?

Absolutely loved the tour. Australia so far is my favorite place to play. What really impressed me about those festivals was the diversity of music, and how everyone enjoyed all the different styles. When we played at the clubs people came out to have a good time. They were introduced to new music, and they really appreciated it. Australia has some of the liveliest audiences I’ve seen.

Did you feel like you connected strongly with the Australian dancehall community on your last tour?

The crowds we played for in Australia were very mixed. The connection we felt was right across the board. People seemed pleasantly surprised that played everything. There were a few Dancehall fans that wanted to hear reggae and Dancehall music the entire night at some of our shows, but we have to cater to everyone at these kinds of parties. When you have a mixed crowd we don’t want to tire everyone out with one style of music for 90 minutes; so we mix it up with electro and hip hop during our set to keep it interesting.

We are planning to return to Australia in April to do more festivals and club dates. Outside of our regular shows we are talking to Australia’s biggest reggae/dancehall promoters to do parties where we play reggae/dancehall music all night.

You’ll also be returning this NY period to play a selection of similarly high-class events, including the Falls Festival in Victoria, Southbound Festival in WA and the debut of Days Like This in Sydney. It’s an impressive list of gigs, tell us a bit about what we can expect form the tour? Were the early ‘08 shows a good indication of where your live show is at currently?

We are really excited about this next tour. We plan to keep it hype, and mix it up. This time around I am bringing my other MC named Mr. Agony. Trixx came with my last year, but now its Mr. Agony’s turn. He comes from more of a Dancehall background, and will be performing some new songs throughout our set. We will also be debuting new South Rakkas songs from the record that will be released soon after our visit.

Catch South Rakkas Crew offering a resolution at the following shows…

Tues 30th Dec – The Falls Festival, Victoria
Wed 31st Dec – Revolver NYE, Melbourne
Thur 1st Jan – BBQ Beats, Brisbane
Sat 3rd Jan – Southbound Festival, Western Australia
Sun 4th Jan – Days Like This, Sydney

Going to the first ever Days Like This in Sydney? Registered member of ITM can buy their tickets for a tasty discounted price of $94.80+BF.

And for more info on all the party action happening over summer, check out ITM’s Festival Pages for more news, features, clips and DJ mixes that you could possibly ever hope for!