NZMM_ Denver McCarthy

Denver occupies a special place in New Zealands dance music continuum. I'll let the music do the talking.



Bandcamp here. So good. This concludes my specialist posts for New Zealand Music Month. Thanks for checking them out.

NZ_MM: Epoch & Egyptian Avenue Records

Christchurch based producer Epoch has been building a loyal following in the local and international dubstep community for a couple of years now, and when you listen to his tunes, it's easy to see why he counts people like Blackdown amongst his supporters.

I have a complicated relationship with Dubstep. In its earlier incarnations, listening to producers like Digital Mystikz, Kode 9 and Loefah was a revelatory experience, they were like nothing I'd ever heard. I'd grown tired of the monotony of the House and Breakbeat orthodoxies that dominated the club scene. Raving had become a dead end, and Dubstep seemed to provide an alternative, a third choice, if you will.

I was pretty actively involved in the first wave of Dubstep to hit New Zealand, happy to play my small part in promoting something fresh. Pretty soon the whole thing took on a life of its own and I saw an exponential increase in the audiences at the parties, the younger deejays and producers coming through.

Post 2007, though, there was also a dramatic change in the direction of the sound, Producers began pushing a harder edged, more upbeat angle that took some of Dubsteps common denominators (wobble bass, half time drum patterns) and dramatically exaggerated them, pushing themselves to create the 'sickest' wobble, the 'hardest' beat. The crowds were younger, bored with House and Drum'n'Bass and looking for a new sound to latch onto and identify with. They still wanted the pay off, however: the rush.

The end result? Dubstep created it's own orthodoxies. Between DJs who began to play to the crowds expectations, the crowds themselves and the endless train of bandwagon jumpers who came through to fill the gaps with Hard Wobble remixes of practically any lame piece of shit tune you could be pained to name, Dubstep lost its sense of freedom, it's experimentation.

Producers like Epoch go a long way toward renewing my faith in what Dubstep represented: sound system focused music that is fearless in it's commitment to innovation, that honours it's foundations, that looks to the future. His label, Egyptian Avenue, likewise has a small catalogue and roster of Artists at present, but has already distinguished itself from the herd. Producers like Wen and Filter Dread are making waves in their own right, and Epochs own productions stand up there with the best of them, effortlessly evoking the spirit of early Dubstep innovators such as Vex'd and Loefah, as well as recalling the fertile crossover point between Dubstep and Grime.

It's the dynamics of an Epoch tune that characterise his sound, drums that switch up in the 8 bar tradition, or dispensed with altogether in favour of a spare percussive rattle or lone reverb drenched conga. His beats are frequently coloured by odd chromatic effects or saturated in distortion. He frequently cites Hip hop as a formative influence, snatches of MC chatter haunt his mixes, proverbial ghosts in the machine. His approach to bass is a return to the intense subharmonic pressure of early dubstep, eschewing the grating midrange popular with post crossover producers for the spare LFO reductionism of early Loefah, Skull Disco or Kode 9s groundbreaking Hyperdub 10"s. Melodies, if they appear, recall the skewed, sour sonics of grime. In the current dubstep climate, where most producers chase Burials post UK garage ghosts or attempt to capitalise on Skrillex style crowdpleasing maximalism, Epochs odd, broken grime is anomalous, and I for one am truly grateful for this.



Epochs next release on Egyptian Avenue, Bodywash b/w Gun Talk, is available from May 24th on digital format exclusively from Juno Download.

The Avenue is available for free download from the Egyptian Avenue soundcloud.

NZMM_ Totems/Gotenks

Probably not fair to lump them in together, but TOTEMS (i'm pretty sure it's meant to be capitalised) is definitely generating some heat right now, so tagging in his GoTenks collab with Eno (of Supervillains RMC fame) just seemed to make sense.

Rueben Winter is also known around Auckland for his exploits in the under 18s indie music scene (for those of you overseas, 18 is the legal age limit for purchasing alchohol/attending a licensed premises in New Zealand), as a member of bands  such as Bandicoot and Kitsunegari, but it's his solo output as TOTEMS that has been capturing the imagination of listeners and music scribes alike, a woozy head nodding melange of influences spanning indie, witch house, hip hop and bass tropes, funneled through a smudged, heavy lidded 420 prism.



Despite the numerous weed references, Rueben's an incredibly industrious guy. I have at least four TOTEMS releases knocking around on the hard drive (although currently there are only two available on his bandcamp) and each one steps up the game from the last. His most recent Island, blends blurry electroacoustic psychedelia with plangent melodies and dirty south style bass thump to create something that you might expect Zaytoven to knock out while hanging out stoned at St Lukes foodcourt. Okay, probably better than that, I might be underselling it.



One of Islands standout tracks is Overcast, Winters collaboration with Foxtrots Flo Wilson. Combining TOTEMS based vibes with Foxtrots melancholic vocal loops, Overcast is simply killer,  like Hurdy Gurdy Man updated for the 21st century. With Beats. And a ridiculous blooping synth that hijacks the whole thing halfway through and totally twists the track into a different direction. and a Girl singing. So not like Hurdy Gurdy Man at all, to be honest although they do use that cool flanging vibrato effect on the vocal loop. I need to work on my hyperbole. Bear with me.

Gotenks, Winters hook up with Eden Jouavel (a/k/a ENO) is a different kind of swag altogether. One of the first projects to result from the Kerosene Comic Book co op, Gotenks self titled EP blends hazy thugged out coke rap influences with a surreal sense of humour (it's in the titles if you look) to create an incredibly entertaining take on that slowed and throwed sound you get from old DJ Screw mixtapes, or that Yin Yang Twins tape you accidentally left in the sun in the backseat of your car. Listen to their flip on Three Six/UGKs Sippin On Some Sizzurp, and you should get what you're in for straight away.



It's by no means all thug business though, there are some excellent head nodders in a more psychedelic, Brainfeeder-esque vibe too, and as an indicator of what to expect from further KCB collabs, it sets the bar pretty high. Check the self titled Gotenks for evidence:



While you're at it, you should probably also peep game on what the rest of the Kerosene Comic Book family are about too, You can pick up the the 420 mixtape here, plus check releases by Race Banyon/SKYMNING and Muirs too.

Next time: Epoch.

New Zealand Music Month_ Jet Jaguar

May marks the beginning of New Zealands month long celebration of our local music music culture known, imaginatively enough, as New Zealand Music Month - or NZMM, for brevitys sake.

NZMM has long been a source of controversy amongst Producers I know for the rather uniquely one eyed view it tends to present on New Zealands musical climate, particularly in regards to electronic music. While New Zealand is lucky in the sense we have a Govt funded body to assist aspiring talent via funding for videos, recording etc, said body's increasing focus on commercial viability means that for some time talent that didn't fit an easily marketable mould has been left languishing. Uncompromising? Unfunded. Likewise, bNet, the network of student radio stations that serves as the safety net for those less commercially oriented, has had accusations levelled at it that it too, fails to support Talent that isn't seen to meet its criteria.

In an attempt to redress the balance, I figured NZMM to be an optimal time to showcase a few of the local producers whose work is often overlooked by more mainstream media, in the hopes that perhaps they might receive a little more well deserved attention. And possibly some money.

First up is Jet Jaguar. Known as Michael Upton to his friends, has been producing electronica from the breezy climes of New Zealands capital city Wellington, since the mid Nineties, making him one of our electronic music veterans. He's produced a stream of albums on local electronic labels many of which are now, sadly, out of print. He runs an excellent site called NonWrestler, which I highly recommend for your perusal, and deejays on a semi regular basis on Wellingtons RadioActive 88.6, co hosting a show with local music scribe Martyn Pepperall called Everything Time, which maintains a pleasantly eclectic playlist.



Michael is also one of the few electronic musicians in New Zealand I know to regularly play out live. Like, pretty much since he started making stuff. That's nearly twenty years. Pre Ableton, people. He's also one of the few people I know to make music with the delightfully quirky AudioMulch system, which is worth a post in itself, but I'm not going to do that now. His live sets constantly reinvent old and new material in a dynamic and engaging fashion and are always a joy to listen to. I have fond memories of Michael playing support to Monolake when they played Auckland back in 2003 or something, where he sat quietly away from the sound desk, tinkering with his laptop and producing a steady stream of music both cerebral and physical with a almost playful psychedelic and somehow folky (er!) edge to it, while the crowd drifted past him, oblivious that the quiet bespectacled guy on the couch was the musics source (although this could have been his soundcheck, my memory isn't 100% reliable).



Thank all that's good in the world for his Bandcamp, then, as here you will be able to purchase pretty much all of the Jet Jaguar material released to date, including some of the out of print stuff. He's also embarked on another round of releases this year, beginning with the Single Digit High EP. He's recently followed this up with a release called Shreds. His plan is to release a further four EPs this year, so might pay to keep tabs if you like what you hear.



Michael is also part of a couple of Collaborations as well. One of them, Montano, has just published an EP of remixes for their Subtitled album. Somewhat more ambient than the Jet Jaguar gear, but just as rewarding. Remixes come from Isan s Mugwood, Aquaboogie and Jet Jaguar, amongst others.

There you have it. Next post I'll talk about Totems/Gotenks.

Flowers & Keepsakes 'Wired' EP

Nuff Said recordings inaugural release treads a finely balanced line between Deep House, Future Garage and Techno flavours. The result of a collaborative effort between Auckland based producers Tommy Flowers ( Host of the George FM Nuff said radio show ) and Keepsakes ( Who is likewise building a strong reputation with discerning Auckland club goers for his upfront blend of techno influenced bass), this 3 track e.p packs serious production smarts into its three tracks.

Opening track 'Do' is, for me, the standout, grafting sexy Garage syncopation to tough Techno stabs and a seductive Deep House slink, 'Do' oozes class in a very special way. 'Code' walks a more trad Deep House route, all Rhodes Electric confectionery atop a stately kickdrum bounce, and closer 'Suspect Packages' is a deft confluence of all three genres, it's cheeky vocal sample lending a catchy refrain to the chunky groove and nuanced percussion.

A strong starter for this young label, the Suspect Packages EP can be purchased from the Nuff Said Bandcamp page.

I'll be interviewing Flowers & Keepsakes in the coming week, keep a look out.

Welcome!

I originally started this Blog in 2007, and intended it to be a documentation of the bass driven dubstep scene that I'd been a part of kickstarting in my hometown of Auckland, New Zealand. Time and family commitments got in the way, and the blog has been left to languish until now. Recently I was in conversation with a good friend and he encouraged me to re engage with the blogosphere, as effectively I've been microblogging via Facebook for some time now.

To provide you with some background, I've been engaged with Aotearoas Music scene since 1990, via bands and performance, and with its electronic/dance/bass music culture since the mid 90s, I deejayed and performed at a number of  well regarded festivals (Splore, The Gathering, Hara...) and clubs (Herzog, Fu/Zen...)    and on several nationally broadcast radio stations ( 95bFM, Base FM, Fleet FM and occasionally George FM).

I've played across the spectrum of electronic dance music, enthusiastically endorsing House, Techno, Electronica and Breakbeat/Hardcore in all their manifestations, past and current. Louderisms is an opportunity for me to translate some of that enthusiasm to a wider audience, and to engage in a dialogue on the potentialities of electronic music in the club and beyond

I'm glad you can join me, this is my truth, tell me yours....