I dragged my sorry ass along to the premier of NSU‘s new video on thursday night and was blown away by just how good this clip is. It’s really exciting and inspiring to see what can be done with no budget and a determination by all concerned to be creative and deliver something which stands against any other NZ if not international video around. I was gonna turn this into a little rant about “funding” and  “just get out and do it yourself” but that’s for another time and post.

Check it out and read Ivan’s rundown on how it all came together below. And if your looking to get a new video done for your track, just get your shit together and do it, cos nobody’s gonna do it for ya kids.

“In late 2008, Alek Janev heard a demo version of “Panic Bells” online and almost instantly developed a concept in his head, and approached Ivan (nsu) about the idea of creating a video for the song. In January ’09, on his return from UK, Alek met up with Ivan to discuss the concept and plan of attack, together with Iain Hamilton-Gates. We twice failed to obtain the funding for the project, but in all fairness to NZ On Air, “Panic Bells” isn’t a song with strong commercial potential, so we weren’t feeling hard done-by. Regardless of the financial situation, the team was determined to make the video happen, no matter how long it took. The process taught us how to be resourceful, and made us appreciate the sacrifices we were all putting in for each other.

It wasn’t until June that filming started, and our 5 shoots were finally completed in September, with Tara O’Brien finally making an acting appearance on that last day. It took over 5 hours for Saul Barnes to apply the special effects make-up to Tara, compared with about 3 hours of filming the actual scenes.

Undoubtedly, most time was spent in editing and post-production, with Alek taking on the mammoth task of creating virtual sets to apply to the green-screen shots, learning many of the techniques along the way. His approach ensured that the scenes he envisioned before the shooting began, made it onto the final video.

After almost 40 hours of shooting in front of a green screen, as well as in the darkness of central Auckland alleyways and carparks, and over 6 months of late nights in post-production, not to mention the time it took to plan and organise the people, the equipment and the resources involved, it’s finally here… and we are very proud, to say the least – it is incredibly satisfying and rewarding to see it all come together.”

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BVX – Steppin back

So here’s the first track from a new project moniker I’ve been working on called BVX. I originally posted about the BVX track a year ago and actually shelved the project to work on a few other thing’s. Since then I’ve been working on a few more tracks which fit under the BVX moniker and thought I really should finish the mix and get this one out there.

I originally wanted to get a new vocalist on the track but decided that the Dwight Trible vocal I used from his “Love is the answer” album works really well and actually inspired the tune so I’d keep it. If you haven’t checked out any of Dwight’s music then you really should head over to his website and get some knowledge. I’m hoping he likes the track because it was really inspired by his voice and his music plus I’m giving it away as a bootleg so I hope he don’t mind.

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The Bluevibe studio website has been live and direct for a year now and it’s been an amazing opportunity to share with you some of my music and ramblings about my influences and inspirations. I’ve never been a great writer so working on these weekly posts has really helped me work on my skills and has now helped me get work as a freelance editor for a new website being launched in the next few weeks in conjunction with The Depot Artspace. It’s a really exciting project which I’ll tell you more about once it’s launched. Ok ramble over and on to the actual topic of this post, my favourite music blogs.

Over the last few months I’ve been getting some good traffic from google for some quite specific keywords including “mp3 blog”, “jazz blog”, “electro funk” and “music blog”. Many of my early posts focused on a few of my favourite music blogs and it is those posts which are now bringing through some of my regular google traffic. So for those of you who arrived here from google looking for “jazz blogs” and “electro funk” here’s a list of some amazing sites which you really should be checking.

Beat electric – This is a recent addition to my RSS feeds and is dedicated to distributing rare and sought after boogie and electronic soul. I’m a huge fan of electrofunk and have found some amazing tracks on this site.

I wish you would – Found this through an O-Dub recommendation and have been a regular ever since, from dub through funk and heavy on the hip hop, DJ Mathew Africa’s blog is always killer.

Blaks Lair – I’ve posted about Lord Blaks site before but really had to drop it in again. I’ve found some amazing stuff on here and many of the albums posted have led me to dig around for more from the artists featured.

dubdotdash – Local blog from Dub Asylums Peter McLennan, always fresh with the latest music news and tracks from Peter’s radio show on Base FM.

matsuli music – wicked blog focusing on strictly limited and out of print juju, dub and afro funk.

soul sides – another legendary blog which I’ve posted about before but had to be dropped again, amazingly written and researched and always inspiring to read. Plus has the best mp3 player on any music blog i’ve found.

The CTI never sleeps – another new addition to my music research feed and this one is a killer focusing on sharing the whole back catalog from the CTI, Kudu and associated labels.

Shook magazine – the crew from Straight no chaser bring you Shook magazine and it’s little blog. You really should be buying the gorgeous hard copy mag but it’s well worth checkin the blog too for some of that Shook style.

So that’s a short list of a few of my regular influences but should give you somewhere to start, dig in to the blog rolls on each site and you could be discovering music you’ve never heard of for years to come, nice. If you’ve got any suggestions for great music blogs focusing on electrofunk, soul, jazz and anything sample based and deep then drop me a comment, I’d love to check em out.

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This week I’m gonna drop a great mix from one of the producers featured on the upcoming Bluevibe studio EP, magOwl .

I actually hooked up with magOwl through myspace and asked him to remix one of the new tracks. He’s an amazing Swedish producer who has been in the game for a while and makes some real cutting edge tracks ranging from old skool hiphop to some nasty nasty dubstep bizness.

Make sure you head over to his blog, sowl.org to check out what he’s up to and also check his myspace to grab some of his remix albums including a killer wu-tang mashup.

The new Bluevibe studio EP – This life volume.1 is finally finished and I’ll be uploading some tracks for you all to check out next week so stay tuned for that. In the meantime this mix by magOwl is a killer blend of some classic tracks and unreleased remixes so check it out and let us know what you think.

It’s a blessing to have magOwl remix one of my tracks and I owe him a debt of gratitude. Look out for future collaborations between the Bluevibe studio and magOwl, keepin it deep.

Track list

01-Grantby-Grimble Bullrushes
02-Tommy McCook & The Aggrovators-The Night Rose Of Sherron
03-Rusko-Gone 2 Far
04-Kvartersakuten feat. Sunflake-Striking Distance
05-Masta Ace Inc.-Jeep Ass Niguh
06-Jean Grae-Hater’s Anthem
07-The Reavers-Empire
08-edIT-Ashtray
09-Yusef Lateef-Love Theme From The Robe
10-Phuture Assassins-Before Dawn (4 AM Mix)
11-DJ Zinc-Super Sharp Shooter
12-Ben & The Goodies-Manzara
13-Cimarons-Hear Talk Of Inflation
14-K’Naan-Smile (Live)
15-magOwl vs. Despot-Substance D
16-magOwl vs. Abdominal-Pedal Pusher
17-Qwel and Kip Killagain-Adam and Eve
18-Depth Affect-Junior International
19-Eddie Holman-Four Walls
20-The Chambers Brothers-So Tired
21-Wisp-Beadumægen
22-Hannu-Sumu
23-Venetian Snares-Szamár Madár
24-Johnny Bristol-Woman Woman

If you like the mix please forward it on to some of your friends and spread the magOwl goodness, collaborate and communicate people.

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This week I wanted to feature my all time essential radio show which has been broadcasting for over 10 years and is available as a podcast from a huge number of websites, Soul searching, The Compost radio show hosted by Michael Ruetten.

An essential show for lovers of soul, funk, jazz, hiphop, house and pretty much any beat driven genre. The Compost radio show comes straight out of Frankfurt and is always an eclectic blend of genres with weekly special guest mixes. It’s also a great place to hear fresh NZ tracks getting the props they deserve and being beamed out to a worldwide audience. Head over to samuarai.fm to listen online or milk.audio to subscribe to the podcast. You can also grab some of the old shows too and I would strongly recommend grabbing show 500 with a special mix by Theo Parish. Nice.

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This week I’m spreading the word about the Soul Sides music blog, now some would say that everybody should already know about this amazing blog but it’s a wide wide web out there and I still talk to people who haven’t checked out Oliver Wang’s site.

Soul Sides is the first music blog I think I ever read on a regular basis and still enjoy because of it’s depth of knowledge and diverse approach to music blogging. The articles are always fresh and it’s been interesting and to see the blog develop over the years and still manage to keep one step ahead. Oliver has now started to write (amongst other things) more in depth articles based around a “box set“, the first focused on Aretha Franklin and the new one looks at Latin boogaloo, you can check it over at Uber.com.

Most of the musicians/producers/dj’s I know have an amazing level of knowledge around their style of music and don’t really think about how to maximise their opportunities for income generation (except being able to tell me which label my favourite artists released their first bootleg on and where I could buy it). Blogging can be a great way to move towards earning a living from your knowledge and passion and looking at how Oliver has done it could be a good start.

I’ll be posting a few articles in the future on music blogging and focusing on some of the bloggers who have used their blogs to start labels, release compilations and generally make more creative opportunities for themselves.

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Just wanted to put together a list of some of my favourite beat makers and producers from New Zealand. This list is purely based on my tastes and focuses more on new artists who are making both live and electronic beats which stand up against anything else internationally and have a really soulful and futuristic edge. I’ve thrown in a few heavy weights of the NZ scene too for those visitors from outside of NZ who may not know who they are. The local scene for beat makers is healthier than it’s ever been since I moved here from the UK in 2000 but still doesn’t get enough attention locally despite many of these producers exporting their tracks out to the world on a regular basis.

Local heads might notice that I’ve missed out most of the NZ hip hop producers who are putting together some amazing beats but I’ll be covering them in a future post. In fact I’ve missed out a huge number of acts like Concorde Dawn, Greg Churchill, P Money, Pitch Black, Simon Flower, Rhian Sheehan and many more of the amazing producers from NZ. I’ll look at doing some more artists features in the future.

If you have any suggestions for additions to this list or the u coming NZ hip hop list then just leave me a comment and I’ll check em out.

Manual Bundy

First DJ I saw play in NZ down at the Box and one of my favourite DJ’s. The Solephonic EP is well worth checking out and is taking Manual to the world, you can check out release info. and bio here.

Chris Cox

Killer DJ and broken beat/ soulful house producer, recently worked with Nathan Haines on his latest album and is one half of Universal Sun with Mdcl.

Mark de Clivelowe

Amazing keys/ synth player and a master of live MPC. Check out his new Mashi beats blogspot for new info. on music and upcoming projects.

Lewis Mccallum

Local multi instrumentalist who recently released his first album “Wake” which is being played by Benji B, Domu and Michael Ruetten who puts out the fabulous soul patrol podcast. Lewis will hopefully be playing synth on one of the new Bluevibe studio tracks.

Adi Dick presents the beats

Adi Dick is another multi talented musician and beat maker, you can check out tracks from his solo album here but I’m really lovin his new beats projects at the moment. Adi’s contributed a killer remix for the new Bluevibe studio EP which you can check out the pre master version on his beats site.

Julien Dyne

Killer drummer for the Open Souls and released the Phantom Limbo EP which got play from Wajeed and Madlib, as we say in the north of England, nuff said! Check it.

LP and the cherished collective

Lisa Preston has blessed one of the new Bluevibe studio tracks with her vocal talents and will be putting out an amazing EP with K15 providing the beats. 2008 is gonna be LP’s year.

Jeremy Toy – OTA

Definitely top of my list of NZ producers and musicians, check his myspace profile for the full rundown and if your lucky you might still be able to grab his limited instrumental 7″. Super nice tracks on super nice vinyl, nice.

Jedy Henzal

Fresh new producer from Christchurch, don’t know much about him but love the tracks and will be keeping an eye on future releases.

David ‘Taay’ Wright

Member of Solaa and amazing beat maker who has worked with the likes of Waajeed, Oddisee, Todd Simon, Flying Lotus, Ladi6.

Isaac Aesili

Another member of Solaa and an amazing musician who has worked on a huge number of projects with some of NZ finest, it’s all about the fusion.

Andy Morton

Andy Morton or Submariner is another of my favourite NZ artists who has a long list of production credits and is one of NZ’s finest DJ’s as part of “The Turnaround”crew. Just google the name and dig in to some real NZ history from pure talent.

Let me know if you’ve got any suggestions for additions to the list, it’s always inspiring to find new beat makers and producers with this level of talent so leave me a comment and continue my education.

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Raw DMX – Do it to the funk

taken from “Credit to the edit – compiled by Greg Wilson”

Looking back through my record collection has got me thinking about where these records come from and how I got in to all this in the first place. I’ll be doin a few posts about some of my influences, posting a few rare classics and generally diggin in to a bit of my musical up-bringing in the UK. I thought I’d start with the first electronic music I ever got into when I was 13 way back in 1983, some people called it “electro funk”.

I actually come from Bolton which is a huge, grim, working class town in the north west of England and one of it’s few redeeming features for me was that it’s about a 1hour bus ride to Manchester city center. From being 12 or 13 years old we would jump on the bus and go hang out in Manchester on a Saturday afternoon. We’d wander around the city center, go to the music shops and play guitars and also try and hang out in the record shops without getting thrown out, which we always did, too young and no money to spend.

it’s the sound of electro funk that always reminds me of the streets in the UK

It was outside these record shops that I first heard these weird tracks, they had normal instruments in them, vocals and guitars, but they also had all these weird drums, and bleeps and blips that I hadn’t really heard up close before. I used to listen to radio 1 and piccadilly radio so had heard some of these tracks before but it was in the city, in and outside the record shops that the music really hit me. It was in that environent on the street that for some reason the music just resonated. I’m a “big city” lover and it’s the sound of electro funk that always reminds me of the streets in the UK.

Then there was the break dancing!!! Now Manchester had quite a few crews who we’re in to break dancing and we used to just hang out and watch and listen to this amazing music. It’s something I was in to when I was a kid, break dancing, poppin and lockin, the clothes, the sneakers we couldn’t afford to buy then, but it was the music, the beats that got me hooked. I loved the record shops too, the vibe of the place, the freaky looking guys who hung out there, the nods and smiles when certain tracks were played. I didn’t start getting in to the club scene until I was 17 so missed out on much of this early scene in Manchester but electro funk has always played a part in most of the club experiences I’ve had in the city since then.

I loved the record shops too, the nods and smiles when certain tracks were played

Now I’m not going in to too much of the history of the whole scene and all the other scene’s that jumped off from there. For that you should go check out Greg Wilson’s site electrofunkroots.com Greg was one of the most influencial DJ’s of the time and his site is an amazing resource for anybody interested in music and music history. Check out some of his articles and play lists and especially the colab article with another Manchester legend “a guy called Gerald”.

Starting to work on this site has had me looking back at all the styles of music which have had an impact on my life. I’ve always felt that certain music is developed directly from the area and environment in which it is made. The north of England creates certain types of music just like New York or Wellington or Detroit or Tokyo create there own spin on certain styles and genre’s. Having only moved to New Zealand 7 years ago I’m still looking at the impact it has had on my music and the styles created by this country. It’s something I’ll be looking in to as part of this Blog so if you’ve got anything to add or share with me about your side of the world and how it shapes your style then just leave me a comment. Now go check out Greg’s site and get that electro funk fix.

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