I n v u r t

On Wednesday June 9th, Revolver Upstairs presents the sounds of popular DJ and street scene aficionado Hans DC playing an improvised set to the mad painting skills of Drewfunk.

There need to be more of these types of events happening – lets hope that this kind of thing springboards more events like it. Really, theres nothing like a beer, good tunes, and great art to keep smiling through the winter months – should be a fun evening!

Who: Drewfunk & Hans DC
What: Live Painter/DJ Improv
Where: Revolver Upstairs, 229 Chapel St, Prahran
When: Wednesday, June 9th, 8pm

Check out Drewfunks website here for some awesome art, as well as Hans DCs blog for more info on his gigs, and plenty of other cool shit.

The word veteran brings connotations of age, and yet with such a status, Oakley “O.G” Grenell is anything but a wisened patriarch – instead, this youthful “veteran” is so full of vim and vigor that in his thirty years short he has already cut a wide swath, intent as he is in putting as much of his creativity in the hands of his listeners as often as he is able – whether by performing, DJing or releasing records on his label Central Records.

“This is my sixth release in New Zealand, so it’s kind of what I’m here to do, release music and put it out there as much as I can,” he responds sincerely. “I’m hoping to do an album a year. When i first started out I knew my stuff wasn’t really going to be commercially viable to get signed so I decided to throw it down on my own label. I’ve had six releases in seven years, I think.”

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Despite the heat, Chromeo absolutely killed it on the main stage. This duo proved that good things really do come in pairs. Covering a range of old and new tracks, with D-Thugg pumping out his vocoded lyrics via a talkbox, the pair had the crowd eating out of their hands. From Fancy Footwork, to You’re so Gangster and all their best in between, funked it up good and proper. As the set wound down, and the lads walked off stage, chants of “Chromeo! woah woah!” erupted, and they came back to with 100% for their finale, leaving a large number of people deeply satisfied. Read more »

Last weekend saw a veritable feast of electronic music. With such a large range of events to choose from in recent days, a sampling of what is currently on offer here in Perth was definitely in order.

Friday night saw a large swath of punters descend on The Nine for the inaugural Boogaloo tracksuit part held in the Bar Open area downstairs. Forgoing the usual route to the upstairs Dnb arena, our group entranced Bar Open, plonked ourselves down, orders drinks, and took stock of our surrounds.

The dulcet sounds of Midnight Star pumped, the dance-battles ensued, and the night was on. Upstairs the DnB continued to pound away, but it was curious to note that many of the Nine regulars were, instead, sitting down below in Bar Open enjoying the smoother sounds of old school electro, boogie and funk whilst we watched the parade of track suit festooned individuals getting down and dirty. Read more »

The last several yeas have marked a distinctive change in the face of Australian hip hop. With acts such as the Hilltop Hoods and our own Downsyde making their mark and busting out into the mainstream, and with radio stations playing more local produce, things seem to have shifted. Where once it was very difficult to ever get an australian accented tracks onto the airwaves, things have now shifted rapidly into a window of opportunity. Read more »

After having won three DMC World Championships, one would think that a DJ would retire gracefully and rest on his laurels – happy with such a huge accomplishment. Yet six years after his record breaking winning streak, DJ Craze still batters away at the turntables, and has even come to encompass more than simple hip hop beats found in his earlier sets. Turning to DNB as a weapon within his arsenal, Craze turned heads when he decided to branch out into a faster and less well known genre in the US at that time, and set himself up as a dominant force within the DNB scene in North America – yet still retaining his hip-hop and Miami Bass roots. Read more »

Stepping away from dnb for the evening, Greg Packer pulled out his hiphop and stepped up to the decks. Watching Packer playing old school hiphop is always a treat, and the fact that he was able to run for an extra half an hour, dishing out classic after classic was a pleasant surprise. Read more »

With instantly recognisable gravel throated vocals, production techniques and several million album and single sales under their belts, Lil John and his East Side Boyz crew are a near household name throughout the world.

In the early days, Lil John had little idea that such huge success would was looming on the horizon. “You know, I’ve come a looong way man,” ‘John remarks. “When I was just djing I was just living in my mommas basement getting drunk every day. I didn’t have no idea what I was going to be in the future – then Germaine hired me to his label and I was an A&R guy for So So Def – and started doing that. While I was DJing I had a radio show and I used to take hophop a capela’s and put them over Jamaican beats and Jamaican acapella’s and put them over hip hop beats – and that kind of started me off producing.” Read more »