Big big show coming up next week with Moodyman and DJ Day heading over to rock a Xmas party for us all in Auckland and Wellington. The kids from RBMA asked me to post these mixes for you to check as a little taster of what you can expect on the night. Not only do you get the imports but you also get some of NZ’s finest talent with support from Recloose, Frank Booker, Manuel Bundy, Submariner & Cian (The Turnaround), Uncle Barnie and Selecta Sam (The Dose).

“Red Bull Music Academy and the Hit It & Quit It Revue have joined forces to assemble a stellar end-of-year throwdown starring none other than Detroit’s enigmatically soulful Kenny Dixon Jr. aka MOODYMANN in his long-awaited New Zealand debut.

With the continued musical vision and support of Red Bull Music Academy, the Hit It & Quit It crew (RECLOOSE and FRANK BOOKER) have been fortunate enough to assemble this musical celebration following in the spirit of their top-rated radio show- a diverse range of contemporary electronic soul music set to inspire dancers, lovers and heads alike. www.hititandquititradio.blogspot.com)

Come experience New Zealand’s rawest, realest and most uncompromisingly soulful party of 2010- MOODYMANN at The Hit It & Quit It Revue End of Year Throwdown!!

With added support from the Turnaround crew: Manuel Bundy, Submariner and Cian, and also Uncle Barnie and Selecta Sam this is an essential party. Get there!”

Tickets on sale now at Conch and Real Groovy, or online:
http://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2010/dec/the-hit-it-and-quit-it-revue-end-of-year-throw-down/
$30 + B/F

“It’ll take you the better part of ten years to collect, in my opinion, the amount of vinyl that’s worthy of being presented to other people. Take you, what? A couple minutes? To download somebody’s whole collection. Now the question is, is it worth the convenience? Maybe. But are you missing out on all of the knowledge that goes into looking for those specific records? […] Are you going to take that time and get your knuckles dusty, and go meet another crazy obsessed individual just like yourself? You got to take that time.”

It’s been about 6  months since I logged in to my Myspace profile or even had a look at what was going on over at “space”. I think most people who got on board with Myspace early have just given up on it now, times have changed and there are much better ways of being found on the web if your a musician. I had a look at my page and as it loaded I could here some music playing, some really bad techno music, AND IT WASN’T MY MUSIC!! In all my time away the spammers on Myspace have stepped up a level on now embed their own music players on your page!

So I deleted the account.

Only thing was as I pressed the “delete” button I had a few nostalgic feelings about the old dog, I guess the main feeling was for some of the connections I made when I first started the account, I’ve collaborated with a few of the artists I met on Myspace and still keep in touch with those guys. The fact is that I just don’t use it to make those connections anymore or to find new music, it’s Soundcloud or Mixcloud or the many killer music blogs around. If I were just starting out I’d probably consider still using it but I still think Soundcloud kills it for ease of use, functionality and the more focused community which exists over there.

I’ve also been blown away by the talent and drive of quite a few of the artists I got friend requests from when I first got the account, the one who still sticks in my mind is Dorian Concept. He was one of the first Myspace friend requests I got and i’ve followed his career since he first started. The guys a synth freak and always takes it to the next level on his tracks, here’s one of his little “messing with” video’s plus a killer jam with Dorian Concept and Flying Lotus.

On a bit of a blog run at the moment, so many great blogs out there bringing us their little rub on music. “I wish you would” from DJ Matthew Africa is another one to check out for totally fresh posts including this great rundown on The Mizell Brothers with a killer little mix of some of their productions, essential.

As most of you probably know by now I’m a bit of a Soul music fan, northern Soul was huge where I’m from and it’s something i’ve dug deeper into as i’ve got older. It’s interesting talking to different people about what Soul music is and what it means to them, I never get the same answer twice, which I love! Soul Spectrum is my new favorite Soul music blog, you should check it out.

This weeks “inspiration” post is gonna focus on one of NZ’s best kept secrets and one of my favorite vocalists and music lovers, miss Lisa Preston aka LP. LP has been working with a long list of amazing up and coming producers over the last few years and I really wanted to put together a little “best of” so you can all check out her style. I first checked out Lisa on a track from the K15 & LP EP “A New Path” which I posted about in late 2007 and had the pleasure of working with Lisa on the “High times” track on my EP. Lisa has a unique & enchanting sound with a strong passion and ability to really push each track to something new and exciting. I’m a big fan of “futuristic” style beats and I think it takes a strong sense of self in a vocalist to really shine over these heavier styles, Lisa seems to pull it off and is always a big part of the arrangement and feel of the tracks too, which for me made it a real collaborative and inspiring process.

Check out the tracks below, some of them are on the “free download” if you want to grab them, really looking forward to the new Benny Tones album which features a colab with Lisa called “Odyssey” plus the imminent vinyl release of the “A New Path EP” 12” with remixes coming out through Rationale Music.

UPDATE – Benny just added the new single “Odyssey” with LP on his soundcloud so head over and check it out.

Onur Engin & Lisa Preston – Love Gift by Onur Engin
Paddy Fred & LP – One by kowtow music
Lord Jackson & LP. by LordJackson
stevo & lisa preston – sigh by stevo
Know U feat. LP by Cy Tru™
Vaiper Of Cafeteria – Pomare (Feat Lisa Preston) by Vaiper Despotin
MoOnjoy – Indigo Pyramid ft.LP by Infinite Potentials
Koru Licks – Riosynth by Koru Licks
High Times by Bluevibestudio
TheJunk by Bluevibestudio
D.Construction & LP – Hit Me Up by D.Construction

Lisa Preston aka LP

Vocalist, alchemist, dreamer, believer….playing with the harmonies and layers, waxing lyrical about moments & things that matter to me…

The cherished collective – beautiful friends who enter my world and share my dreams of beats and harmony…LOVE in collaborative form….shout outs to all the beautiful brothers from near and far I have been blessed to meet and jam with….

Live Jams with Sons of Puha, future soul beats & production With Adi Dick and Pet Johnson….

Rivers & LP, two turntables and a microphone….

Releases to date:

Jellphonic and LP 7” vinyl through wonderful noise Japan 2009

‘Know u’ single, Cy Tru Feat LP , Sub Soul 2 digital release 4Lux 2009

K15 & LP – A New Path EP (digital release 2009) 12” release with remixes being released 2010 through Rationale Music

“Odyssey” single, Benny Tones Chrysalis 12” vinyl through wonderful noise Japan 2010

New jams & releases brewing with Sir Froderick & Lord Jackson and Josip Klobucar & LP “sunlight” , more goodness to come….

www.myspace.com/thecherishedcollective

www.soundcloud.com/lisa-preston-aka-lp

www,twitter.com/lpcalling

So it’s just hit May and that means it’s NZ Music month, now for most of my readers who come from outside of NZ you probably don’t get what that means. If you want to check out the official background on the month you can check out the NZ Music month website but in short it’s a time when the media tend to focus a little more on a broader range of music than usual and a chance for everybody to have a good old celebration of some of the amazing music which comes from this fair country. It’s been going for 10 years now and in general has been really successful in bringing NZ music to a wider audience locally. This is the first of 4 posts during music month where I’m gonna highlight some of the music I’ve been listening to and give you all a little taste of some of the more underground artists you should be checking out. I’m also gonna have a look at some of the background on music month and throw up a few idea’s on where it might go from here, but not in this first post, lets just stick to the music.

The first guy we’re gonna check out is Scratch22 who’s been producing for time now and has had his fingers in many pies around town. Check out his bio over at the mighty BaseFM website, definitely one to watch on some of his new projects, really lovin this EWH remix, just my kinda deep re-rub of a great tune.

Electric Wire Hustle – Again (Scratch 22 Remix) by Scratch22

Adi Dick is next on the list of guys who are getting their shit together on the beat front for me, Adi’s solo stuff is well worth checking out alongside his Sons of Puha project alongside the fabulous LP and LordJackson, but more from those guys next time. Adi’s back from some time in London and you can check him out at the producers showcase in Auckland at the end of May.

Sons of Puha – The Beat by Adi Dick

And last but by no means least is DJ Truent or Christoph El’ Truento, I grabbed a beat tape of “Homemade Shit” back in Feb and it’s been on rotate ever since, some wicked little beats in there and alongside his work with Koru Licks I think his style is well worth keeping an eye on. I was gonna link through to his beat tape so you can grab it but couldn’t find it, so I re-upped it again for ya, go get it.

You may have noticed but I’m leaning heavily on the “future beats” tip at the moment, there’s some wicked producers bubbling under and the moment in NZ and I think a little more recognition is well in order.

Intergalactic Love Song by Christoph El’ Truento

Bluevibe Collective have been working on a few gigs for NZ music month with the kids over at Jester Underground so I thought I’d give you all a quick run down of whats coming up in May. BVC is starting to get busier now and we’re rolling out some cool gigs in May plus working on a few new events over the coming months.

Smash the Jukebox – May 8th Juice bar – A Fundraiser for ‘Ronald McDonald House’ Auckland. Smash the Jukebox’ is a celebration of all things New Zealand Music, Past and Present. A chance for everyone to come together and celebrate the History behind the Music and Give back to a Valuable Charity at the same time.

NZ Beats showcase – May 15th Coherent – smashing a few genres with this one which is something I think is missing in a few local clubs at the moment. Scratch22, OoGun, Bromide Dub (live), Pigout and Tim Richards are gonna crank the system all night, best get down early for this one.

Battle Circus and Decortica plus guests – May 22nd Kings Arms – As far from mainstream rock as your gonna get in NZ and always put on a killer live show, really excited to have these 2 bands playing together.

Bang Bang Eche w/ Bandicoot and Sherpa plus Guests – May 29th Bacco room – closing party for our little gig fest and it’s gonna be loud with this bunch of kids tearing up the Bacco room.

We’re also giving away a bunch of prizes and passes to all the gigs in May over on the Jester Underground facebook page so check it out.

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