I’ve been checking out Laid Back radio for quite a while and got asked to write a few little articles for their blog, this is the first of a series of posts about beat culture in NZ and some of the underground beat makers and producers makin a few waves here at the moment. I’m trying to get in to a little more writing so really appreciate the support from the whole Laid Back crew.

For the first one I had to do a little interview with my man St Liquor-ish as we just finished the  mix on his new tracks and, well, I think his tracks are steppin outside of the norm in NZ. I’ve already got a few interviews setup for this series of posts but if you think your tracks are kickin and you’d like some international exposure then just drop me a message and we’ll hook it up. Go check out the Laid Back site, they have a real vibe about the music and art they love and are always trying to support upcoming artists who sit a little left of centre.

St Liquor-ish’s New Zealand boogie

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Been looking round for some new music lately and decided to spend a little more time with some of the beat makers and producers I’ve found, checkin their tracks and not bein so “twitter” about the whole thing. Between twitter and RSS feeds and Facebook and the high rate of info. flying round it’s just to easy to not really engage with what’s comin out the speakers. I’m making a conscious decision to change that so here goes, a few of my fav little local joints bouncing round at the moment. I hate to use the word “scene” but Wellingtons really got some serious new beat makers at the moment who are pushing the edge and making some next level tracks.

Wellington based Benny Tones is one of NZ’s deepest producers and artists and is currently on tour with the formidable EWH on their European tour. Benny produced the EWH album and has been working on his own album which is due for release, well, when it’s finished. Here’s his Souncloud page which contains a few tasters from the album and really shows a new level to the sounds coming out of Wellington and NZ.

Another beat maker coming out of Wellington and pushing the sound is Lord Jackson, this track features my good friend LP on the vocal, tasty work and another one to keep an eye on.

Pull Back Ft: LP by LordJackson

The final track comes from Skylab, another beat maker coming out of Wellington, heard a couple of demo’s from him last week and they’re real nice, deep beat styles.

Tangerine by Skylab_

If you want to check out a great clothing label who have supported “beat culture” in NZ for time then you should go check out Kowtow Clothing. Kowtow music Vol 5 is the latest compilation from the crew and features some of NZ’s freshest artists focusing on the indie and up and coming. Check em out on Soundcloud and go buy a T, the comp comes free with their clothing so get it while you can.
Kowtow Music Volume V by kowtow music

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So if your gonna be in Auckland on Nov 21st and your any kind of electronic music fan then you should be coming along to the synth/drum machine fest that is Music Machines. I’ve just added a new post to the Music Machines website with some info. on some new kit for the event from one of NZ’s top drum machine collectors, head over there and check it out.

We also dug out some hardware during the week to get ready for the Analog Allstars techno jam at the MM event and it was actually quite inspiring to get the TR808, CR8000 and SH101 all plugged in and sync’d up to see if we could start getting creative with them on the day. At the moment it looks like there’s gonna be 5 of us on the hardware, i’ll let you know who’s involved in the next week or so and i’ll also fill you in on the gear we’ll be using and a little about the creative process involved. I’m not exactly sure what we’re gonna do yet but we’ve got our first practice for the jam next week so i’d better get my step sequence hat on.

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• DJ Shame – Worchester, MA

October 7, 2009 – Damn I think this is my fav Dust and Groove post yet, anything with great vinyl photography and synths is a win win for me.

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October 7, 2009 – Great article over at dubdotdash interviewing P Money about his love of vinyl and his diggin habits worldwide. This is gonna be a series on Peter’s blog so make sure you check it out.

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September 28, 2009 – The best vinyl emporium in NZ goes on sale on October 3rd, go check it out and support em, cos I would do if I didn’t spend all my cash on nappies and webhosting!!!

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So I’ve just got started on the mix for the new St Liquor-ish EP which looks like it’s gonna be out on a 12″ as soon as it’s all finished. It’s really exciting for Jerry to get this on to vinyl, it was our goal for the first EP but it just didn’t happen in the end and I think the tracks for this one deserve to be on vinyl and blasted out.

I thought I’d go through a little run down of the mix process for the 2 key tracks for the EP and let you guys see whats involved. I’ve uploaded both tracks “pre mix” which come straight out of Jerry’s MV8000 sampler, gutter mixes as he likes to call em. Jerry bounces out each individual track from the sampler and I drop em in to Cubase for the mix, pretty standard process for most people. Here’s the tracks for ya…

100 Snakes

Sexxy

100 Snakes: I really like both these mixes but there are a few thing’s which i’ll be working on to just step the track’s up.

• the first thing is the stereo field on the track is mostly all mono because Jerry uses samples straight down the middle on most of his tracks, I’m not gonna go super wide but just moving things around will give me more room for the beat and vocal to hit harder.
• low mid definition needs some work as it’s a little messy down there
• the general EQ curve of the track also needs a little work

Sexxy: I think this one’s gonna need a little more work, here’s my first thought on it

• the synths and samples are hittin on the right so moving a few thing’s around and gettin some balance needs lookin at. I like to double tracks in cubase and then use the time slider to move them around in the  stereo mix
• it’s all very dry at the moment, I’m not a reverb fan but gettin a few short delays in should work
• bass needs some work and a little more weight to it

I’m sure that once I get in to it i’ll get more of a feel with where I’m going with the mix. Jerry likes to have the general levels the same as his gutter mix and as in the first EP, gettin the beats to really “krak” and just giving the  mixes some width is what I’ d like to achieve.

My question to you is what do you think needs doing to the tracks, what would you do, how might you approach it? I’m always trying new thing’s and learning more about mixing so it would be great to know what ya think. I’m also going to be sitting in with Chris Chetland up at Kog studio and goin through the mix with him, it’ll be great to learn from one of the best and get this runnin through some of the Manley and API gear up in the studio.

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I’ve been kind of on a run at the moment of going ahead with idea’s I’ve been playing with for a while, the first was the Music Machines event coming up in November and now the first NZ Soul music Alldayer which is gonna be held next year in Feb.

You can check out the Soul Alldayer website and register to get more information as soon as I’ve got it. I should have the venue sorted next week, once that’s booked then i’ll get everything else put in place. I’ve already got some of NZ’s finest DJ’s lined up and will be announcing all the details over the next few weeks.

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September 17, 2009 – Orsii pointin your way to some very tasty little mixes from Black Classical, check the track list people, slick.

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September 15, 2009 – Sweet little beat tape from Canadian producer Koushik over at Stones Throw, free ya mind people.

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September 11, 2009 – Laid Back radio is a web radio station out of Belgium playing, well, just damn fine music. They have a wicked crew of selecta’s putting show’s together and Orssi now has a new show, so go check it out and download their desktop player too, always fresh.

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• Bandcamp Sneaks In Three New Features

September 9, 2009 – Just wanted to slip this one in for all you artists who don’t use Bandcamp to sell / distribute your music online, WHY THE FUCK NOT!!
I used Bandcamp to give away the St Liquor-ish EP and it is by far the easiest and most effective online tool I’ve used to date. Head over and check it out, well worth a look at all the features, I’m particularly impressed with the new feature of being able to add any digital files to a full album download, want to give away extra artwork or midi files for tracks, there ya go. The collection of email addresses and stats on where your visitors come from has been the most useful part of the experience for me.

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September 9, 2009 – Just wanna shout to magic man magOwl who put together wicked little remix of Moneysack from the St Liquor-ish EP, should be available real soon. Make sure you head over to mag’s blog and sample some of his wicked tracks, this man’s got skills.

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September 8, 2009 – One of the big NZ releases of the year, make sure you check this one out.

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September 8, 2009 – When it comes to “all time fav album” Shuggie Otis classic album Inspiration Information is probably, maybe top of the list, and here he is with Mos Def, live.

• (lossless) KU-16 Johnny Hammond – Higher Ground (1974 Kudu)

September 8, 2009 – Amazing album by Johnny Hammond over at CTI, well worth checking out, then go and buy the vinyl!

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September 5, 2009 – magOwl is one of those uber talented fuckers who express through music, art, whatever and I’ve had the pleasure of working on a few projects with him, the latest is a remix of one of the St Liquor-ish tracks from the new EP, it’s a killer remix and will be bouncing round real soon. If you wanna know more about the enigmatic mag just head over to his site and check it, this boys got some history and is always fresh on the beat.

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