Auckland reggae producer Iron Will teams up with singer Israel Starr for the Mentally Militant EP, just released. Starr is the son of legendary reggae singer Mighty Asterix - his pops makes a guest appearance on the last song. Up now for free DL. Not so keen on the autotune on a couple of tracks but the other songs are pretty tasty.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Che Fu - 2 B Spacific revisited
Che Fu revisits his 1998 debut album 2 B S.Pacific (produced by Andy Morton aka Submariner), later this month at Tyler St Garage, playing it in full on May 30. The album was his first major statement after getting fired from Supergroove - Che: "I didn't leave the band, I was thrown out."
Che talked about the events surrounding the creation of his debut album in an extensive interview in Back2Basics magazine with the mag's editor DJ Sir-Vere, back in 2005. The following comes from that interview.
Che had a meeting with his label about his solo album and was asked to bring along examples of what he wanted it to sound like. He took along Mad Lion's tune Take It Easy, a heavy ragga hiphop track produced by KRS One. Che is in the BMG boardroom, he's smiling and saying "Do you like it?'" and they freaked out. "They didn't know how to pigeonhole me and didn't like the reggaeness of my [demo] tracks. They thought they'd send me to New York to take the reggae out of me! That's the worst place to send someone if you don't went them to get into Jamaican styles. Brooklyn dancehall, boh! ... I was also sent there to look for some producers but it didn't really work out."
Che came back and started recording his debut album with DLT, following on from their collaboration on the hit single Chains (more on that song's creation in a minute), but Che decided against pursing this.
"I wasn't really happy with the way things were going [with DLT]. It was like people didn't trust me to do my shit, my way. I could understand because I hadn't done it before but I felt in my own head I knew what I wanted to do. I called Andy Morton and finished it off with him."
Che also revealed how he wrote the lyrics and the distinctive chorus for Chains. "DLT was doing his own album and asked me to do a track. So I turn up at the studio to do this track. As far as I knew I was just going to bust a rhyme on one of his songs. I go in the booth and he says 'You got your chorus ready?' I was like 'Chorus?' I didn't want to look like I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, so I said 'I just have to go to the toilet.'
"I go in to the toilet and am like 'oh my god, oh my god! He thinks I'm doing a whole track.'So I stand there, in the toilet, and came up with 'Come break my chains come help me out...' I went straight back to the booth and sung it even though I had made it up 30 seconds before!"
Che had never told anyone that story (apart from his manager and his lady) before that 2005 interview with Sir-Vere.
Like Sir-Vere says, "consider the genius of this man. Chains would go on to hold the number one spot in NZ for six weeks ... off DLT's hot track and a hook written by Che Fu, in 30 seconds, in a toilet."
Perhaps one of the most surprising admissions in the interview is about Che's singing voice. I'd always thought he'd had a natural singing talent. Turns out it took some work...
Che: "I'd played guitar for four years [in Low Down Dirty Blues Band/Supergroove] and didn't do any singing ... after one gig [where I did some singing] parents came up and started hassling, saying 'you should get Che to sing more.' This is when I was 16. That's when I thought if I'm gonna sing, man, I've gotta come out phat ... so I started practising, training. Asterix, he's my favourite in the 12 Tribes Band. When he first came to the house he couldn't sing for s**t. Then one year he was bad [good], so I asked him 'how did you lift up the level?' And he said 'I just listened to a lot of Earth Wind and Fire.'
"So I tried to copy that. People always say 'You could always sing', but I was like no, I learnt it." Che says he spent a year singing along to Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway and others.
Much respect to Sir-Vere for pulling such a great interview out of Che.
The album 2 B S.Pacific features contributions from Chip Matthews on bass, Ned Ngatae on guitar, and production from Andy 'Submariner' Morton, all of whom worked alongside Che in the hiphop collective Token Village. Chong Nee played keys and produced two tracks; Juse produced one also.
Scratches on the album were covered by Manuel Bundy, with DJ Sub Zero also making an appearance, and Che scratches on a few tracks too. Guest vocals for King Kapisi, Ras Daan, Phatmosphere, all Token Village MCs (TVMCs). Album art by Otis and Dick Frizzell, photos by Greg Semu and Glenn Jowitt.
The performance happens May 30th, as part of a series of shows at Tyler St Garage for NZ Music Month (incl @Peace, Julien Dyne and more). Limited free entry, GeorgeFM has vip tickets to giveaway. Doors open 730pm.
Che also revealed how he wrote the lyrics and the distinctive chorus for Chains. "DLT was doing his own album and asked me to do a track. So I turn up at the studio to do this track. As far as I knew I was just going to bust a rhyme on one of his songs. I go in the booth and he says 'You got your chorus ready?' I was like 'Chorus?' I didn't want to look like I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, so I said 'I just have to go to the toilet.'
"I go in to the toilet and am like 'oh my god, oh my god! He thinks I'm doing a whole track.'So I stand there, in the toilet, and came up with 'Come break my chains come help me out...' I went straight back to the booth and sung it even though I had made it up 30 seconds before!"
Che had never told anyone that story (apart from his manager and his lady) before that 2005 interview with Sir-Vere.
Like Sir-Vere says, "consider the genius of this man. Chains would go on to hold the number one spot in NZ for six weeks ... off DLT's hot track and a hook written by Che Fu, in 30 seconds, in a toilet."
Perhaps one of the most surprising admissions in the interview is about Che's singing voice. I'd always thought he'd had a natural singing talent. Turns out it took some work...
Che: "I'd played guitar for four years [in Low Down Dirty Blues Band/Supergroove] and didn't do any singing ... after one gig [where I did some singing] parents came up and started hassling, saying 'you should get Che to sing more.' This is when I was 16. That's when I thought if I'm gonna sing, man, I've gotta come out phat ... so I started practising, training. Asterix, he's my favourite in the 12 Tribes Band. When he first came to the house he couldn't sing for s**t. Then one year he was bad [good], so I asked him 'how did you lift up the level?' And he said 'I just listened to a lot of Earth Wind and Fire.'
"So I tried to copy that. People always say 'You could always sing', but I was like no, I learnt it." Che says he spent a year singing along to Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway and others.
Much respect to Sir-Vere for pulling such a great interview out of Che.
The album 2 B S.Pacific features contributions from Chip Matthews on bass, Ned Ngatae on guitar, and production from Andy 'Submariner' Morton, all of whom worked alongside Che in the hiphop collective Token Village. Chong Nee played keys and produced two tracks; Juse produced one also.
Scratches on the album were covered by Manuel Bundy, with DJ Sub Zero also making an appearance, and Che scratches on a few tracks too. Guest vocals for King Kapisi, Ras Daan, Phatmosphere, all Token Village MCs (TVMCs). Album art by Otis and Dick Frizzell, photos by Greg Semu and Glenn Jowitt.
The performance happens May 30th, as part of a series of shows at Tyler St Garage for NZ Music Month (incl @Peace, Julien Dyne and more). Limited free entry, GeorgeFM has vip tickets to giveaway. Doors open 730pm.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Audioculture is coming...
I've been doing a bunch of writing for Audioculture, an exciting web project launching at the end of this month, aiming to collect stories about NZ music and musicians as an ongoing project. When it launches it will have a range of content, as a starting point, with more content planned. I got to write a lengthy piece on the mighty Manuel Bundy for it, that was a thrill.
Chris Bourke has written more about Audioculture, read on...
"There is already a buzz about Audioculture, the “noisy library” of New Zealand music, which will launch on May 31. It’s like an online encyclopaedia of local music – spanning almost a century, ie the genre didn’t just start with Opshop, or Straitjacket Fits or Auckland Walk for those with long memories.
"A wide variety of writers is contributing, and it’s being run by music media veterans Simon Grigg and Murray Cammick. Besides biographies, it will have feature stories on scenes, record labels, and many links to music and video.
"Plus, from the sample shown to the contributors and other interested parties, the graphics are fantastic: photographs, album covers, posters, many of them from the Grigg and Cammick archives. Funded by NZ On Air, it is being given the space to really offer something substantial and informative, while also being lively and fun just as the best music magazines should be.
"The sample has an article written by Andrew Dubber called “Lorne Street, High Street and the jazz explosion in the inner city”. It details the live jazz scene in Auckland during the 1990s, much of it centred around the club Cause Celebre, which Grigg ran with Tom Sampson. There’s a link to a wonderful web resource: the audio archives of the mid-1990s radio programme produced by Dubber, Off the Record.
"This show was hosted by veteran drummer Tony Hopkins and featured him interviewing the top players in Auckland jazz, who then performed several items. The many episodes of Off the Record can be heard here, and among the guests are Nathan, Joel and Kevin Haines, Murray Tanner, Brian Smith, Beaver, Tim Hopkins, Billy Kristian, Rodger Fox, Murray McNabb (pictured top left), Bart Stokes (pictured at left, with Bernie Allen in Gisborne, 1957) and many others. Dive in..."
Chris Bourke has written more about Audioculture, read on...
"There is already a buzz about Audioculture, the “noisy library” of New Zealand music, which will launch on May 31. It’s like an online encyclopaedia of local music – spanning almost a century, ie the genre didn’t just start with Opshop, or Straitjacket Fits or Auckland Walk for those with long memories.
"A wide variety of writers is contributing, and it’s being run by music media veterans Simon Grigg and Murray Cammick. Besides biographies, it will have feature stories on scenes, record labels, and many links to music and video.
"Plus, from the sample shown to the contributors and other interested parties, the graphics are fantastic: photographs, album covers, posters, many of them from the Grigg and Cammick archives. Funded by NZ On Air, it is being given the space to really offer something substantial and informative, while also being lively and fun just as the best music magazines should be.
"The sample has an article written by Andrew Dubber called “Lorne Street, High Street and the jazz explosion in the inner city”. It details the live jazz scene in Auckland during the 1990s, much of it centred around the club Cause Celebre, which Grigg ran with Tom Sampson. There’s a link to a wonderful web resource: the audio archives of the mid-1990s radio programme produced by Dubber, Off the Record.
"This show was hosted by veteran drummer Tony Hopkins and featured him interviewing the top players in Auckland jazz, who then performed several items. The many episodes of Off the Record can be heard here, and among the guests are Nathan, Joel and Kevin Haines, Murray Tanner, Brian Smith, Beaver, Tim Hopkins, Billy Kristian, Rodger Fox, Murray McNabb (pictured top left), Bart Stokes (pictured at left, with Bernie Allen in Gisborne, 1957) and many others. Dive in..."
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Flashback #4: DLT
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| Real Groove, Sept 96. DLT holds the cards. |
Real Groove's editor at the time was Russell Baillie (now at NZ Herald), he tells me the cover shoot for this issue took place the day Chains went number one. He also paid for the cigar used out of his own wages. Whatta guy.
Monday, May 20, 2013
New Fat Freddys single, video
If you preorder the new Fat Freddys Album Blackbird (out June) off iTunes now, you get their new single straight away...
My book, out today!
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| Cover photo of Pitch Black - Tony Nyberg. Design - Peter McLennan |
I BELIEVE YOU ARE A STAR
(202 pages, official publication date May 20, RRP $19.95 from Slowboat Records, RPM Music (Wgtn), Conch Records, Real Groovy (Akl), and amazon.com. More outlets soon. Also available on Kindle.
I BELIEVE YOU ARE A STAR is a collection of magazine interviews written between 1992 and 2003 by Peter McLennan. He talked to locals just starting their recording careers (P-Money, Stellar, SJD, Black Seeds), through to established artists (Salmonella Dub, Shayne Carter, Bailter Space). They are fascinating insights of where these artists were at, and provide a look into their creative process.
The book launch will be held at Conch Records, 115a Ponsonby Rd from 3pm, Saturday May 25th, with special all-NZ vinyl DJ set from Dylan C. Books on sale on the day - first 25 copies come with a free mix CD of recordings mentioned in the book. Read about the artists and listen to them at the same time!
Before starting his blog Dubdotdash in 2003, Peter was a freelance magazine journalist for a handful of magazines, including Real Groove, North and South, NZ Musician, Rip It Up, Pavement, Selector, Planet, Lava and Stamp. This collection of interviews draws together some of the articles he wrote and is focussed on local musicians, DJs and artists.
There's some interesting threads in these interviews, like Stellar discussing their sizeable album budget and comparing it to what Straitjacket Fits or JPSE got, then Fiona McDonald having a similar conversation round her album budget, citing JPSE and Stellar.
There's Tigilau Ness (Che Fu’s dad) talking about how he got sent to prison after the 1981 Springbok tour protests, which is a pretty heavy story. Tigilau got chucked out of school for refusing to cut his afro, how staunch is that?
Or Shayne Carter, explaining why he didn’t want to send out advance copies of his debut album as Dimmer (after making me sit with him in the Sony boardroom and listen to the album in its entirety), and me suggesting that if I’d had the album before the interview, I could've written some pertinent questions. To which Shayne replied with words to the effect of “Oh, I didn’t think of that.”
Peter says “I got to meet some fascinating people writing these pieces. I feel very lucky to have met them - that’s part of the reason why I got into magazine writing. I wanted to meet these creative people and find out their process, and they turned out to be people I’d want to meet anyway.”
Other interviews include... SJD, Pitch Black, Sola Rosa, HDU, Darcy Clay, Graffiti art in Aotearoa: DLT, Otis Frizzell & Dan Tippett, Roger Perry, Dawn Raid, Kog Transmissions, Subliminals, Solid Gold Hell, Weta, Hinewehi Mohi, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Phase 5, Jakob, DJ Sir-Vere and the ITF DJ champs PLUS: articles on the Aotearoa Hiphop Summit 2001 (and a NZ hiphop timeline), and the state of NZ music videos in 1992, and 1999.
The book is published independently by Dunbar Noon Publishing, thru the print on demand service, Createspace. Book and cover design by Peter McLennan.
There's some interesting threads in these interviews, like Stellar discussing their sizeable album budget and comparing it to what Straitjacket Fits or JPSE got, then Fiona McDonald having a similar conversation round her album budget, citing JPSE and Stellar.
There's Tigilau Ness (Che Fu’s dad) talking about how he got sent to prison after the 1981 Springbok tour protests, which is a pretty heavy story. Tigilau got chucked out of school for refusing to cut his afro, how staunch is that?
Or Shayne Carter, explaining why he didn’t want to send out advance copies of his debut album as Dimmer (after making me sit with him in the Sony boardroom and listen to the album in its entirety), and me suggesting that if I’d had the album before the interview, I could've written some pertinent questions. To which Shayne replied with words to the effect of “Oh, I didn’t think of that.”
Peter says “I got to meet some fascinating people writing these pieces. I feel very lucky to have met them - that’s part of the reason why I got into magazine writing. I wanted to meet these creative people and find out their process, and they turned out to be people I’d want to meet anyway.”
Other interviews include... SJD, Pitch Black, Sola Rosa, HDU, Darcy Clay, Graffiti art in Aotearoa: DLT, Otis Frizzell & Dan Tippett, Roger Perry, Dawn Raid, Kog Transmissions, Subliminals, Solid Gold Hell, Weta, Hinewehi Mohi, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Phase 5, Jakob, DJ Sir-Vere and the ITF DJ champs PLUS: articles on the Aotearoa Hiphop Summit 2001 (and a NZ hiphop timeline), and the state of NZ music videos in 1992, and 1999.
The book is published independently by Dunbar Noon Publishing, thru the print on demand service, Createspace. Book and cover design by Peter McLennan.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Ring The Alarm playlist, BaseFM, May 18
P-bass expressway - Ride on - Downtown Brown remix
King Errisson - Disco congo
The Jets - Crush on you - extended version
Isaac Hayes - Music to make love by
MAW - Zoe (tribute to Fela)
Tony Allen - Kilode - Carl Craig remix
Upper Hutt Posse - No worries in the party tonight
Jay Epae - Putti Putti
Fat Freddys Drop - Clean the house (brand new single, pre-order the album on iTunes and get it free)
Sound foundation - Ram dancehall - shout out to DJ Dubhead, celebrating 30 years on the decks, much respect!
Rhombus - Tour of outer space - Submariner remix
Mo kolours - Banana wine
Phyllis Nelson - I like you - extended version
Snap - Sidewalk city (1984 kiwi electro styles)
Bobby Womack - I can understand it, Find me somebody, Communication
Stylistics - What's your name?
Butch Cassidy Sound System Echo tone defeat
Hulamen - Working for a living
General Echo - Drunken master
Friday, May 17, 2013
Bunny Walters
Just watched a fascinating documentary on Maori TV about kiwi singer Bunny Walters - part of their series Unsung Heroes of Maori Music.
He arrived in Auckland at the age of 15 on his own, from Kati Kati, and ended up auditioning for Benny Levin. Apparently a mate had given him Benny's number and told him to call for an audition, and he kept calling til he got a slot.
Then he called the taxi company from the YMCA where he was staying, and asked how much was it to go from there to Herne Bay, for the audition. He was told 60c, and he had a dollar, so pff he went. As soon as Benny Levin heard Bunny sing, he sent everyone else waiting to audition home, and signed Bunny up.
One thing Bunny said in the doco was that he got bored with being pigeonholed as a ballad singer, and kept getting given ballads to record (trivia - he had a huge hit here with Brandy BEFORE Barry Manilow recorded it as Mandy). One of the Yandall Sisters mentions how much he loved soul, and Motown.
Then he called the taxi company from the YMCA where he was staying, and asked how much was it to go from there to Herne Bay, for the audition. He was told 60c, and he had a dollar, so pff he went. As soon as Benny Levin heard Bunny sing, he sent everyone else waiting to audition home, and signed Bunny up.
One thing Bunny said in the doco was that he got bored with being pigeonholed as a ballad singer, and kept getting given ballads to record (trivia - he had a huge hit here with Brandy BEFORE Barry Manilow recorded it as Mandy). One of the Yandall Sisters mentions how much he loved soul, and Motown.
There's a great clip in the doco of Bunny slaying a Ray Charles number, Night and Day. So, off I got to youtube to find it, and come up with Bunny doing The Funky Chicken....
....and then I found this. It's called Rangimarie - as one of the commenters notes " Bunny is singing a tribute to Rangimarie Hetet (Ngati Maniapoto). She was an expert weaver and passed her traditional craft and skills onto her daughter Digger Te Kanawa." The production has a definite 80s/Dalvanius vibe to it, I'm picking.
....and then I found this. It's called Rangimarie - as one of the commenters notes " Bunny is singing a tribute to Rangimarie Hetet (Ngati Maniapoto). She was an expert weaver and passed her traditional craft and skills onto her daughter Digger Te Kanawa." The production has a definite 80s/Dalvanius vibe to it, I'm picking.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Myron and E
Myron and E are a couple of cool cats from Oakland, California A few years back they dropped a fantastic single called Cold Game, one of the greatest slices of modern soul you ever gonna hear, collaborating with Finland's The Soul Investigators.
They've got an album - Broadway - coming mid-year on Stonesthrow, again working with The Soul Investigators - this video is a taster. The clip is set in California's soul scene, inhabited by avid Chicano/low rider soul fans - Wax Poetics covered this a while back (issue 49) -I'd link to it but Wax Poetics keep that ish strictly ink. Oh, and if you like the song in the video, download it below...
So good at being in trouble
Ms Tyra Hammond (ex Open Souls) gives a soulful take of 'So good at being in trouble' by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Mister Jeremy Toy (She's So Rad, ex Open Souls) on guitar, session recorded for KiwFM's Short Sets. UMO have just announced NZ tour dates for July this year.
Celebration flow
P-Money's brand new album Gratitude drops tomorrow, there's a stellar cast of guests on it, but the track I've been hanging out to hear is a collab featuring Talib Kweli and our own Aaradhna, who is currently in the US, promoting her album Treble and Reverb, getting a release over there thru Republic/Universal.
Via Ayebro: "Sam Wicks of Radio New Zealand caught up with P-Money in New York on the eve of the release of his new album ‘Gratitude’." Check it here
How bizarre chatter
As part of NZ Music Month Radio Ponsonby has a special series of 'Classic Albums' on the Long Black from 9-10am Mondays. "This week Simon Grigg of Huh! Records popped by and hung out with Murry, and chatted about the iconic Pauly Fuemana & Alan Jansson release from 1996."
PLUS Simon Grigg posted up audio of an interview with Pauly, done by Jock Lawrie for Pavement magazine in mid 1996, before his star blew up internationally. Simon says that it is "perhaps the best interview Pauly did, before the mayhem."
Mokoomba
Hat tip to my mate Trevor for this awesome tune, straight outta Zimbabwe. Mokoomba just won Songlines Best new group 2013. Seriously funky stuff.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Home Brew go gold, sell out
These moments
This young cat Aleos (aka 21-year old Leo Shulman) is originally from the UK and is now studying jazz guitar in New York. This is his debut EP, and it's delightfully fruity. One of the tags he's put on it is 'wonky wonky hiphop' which is close. This EP is up as pay what you want.
Reapeatbutton described it as "A language of electronic colloquialisms, soft accents and harmonious tones so soothing I want them to read me bedtime stories ... With no loose ends to tie, Moments is every bit the product of a producer with focussed determination and total control over his tools. Although you can hear his influences (this EP would sit nicely in theBrainfeeder catalogue), at no point do Shulman’s ideas sound recycled or borrowed."
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