INVURT

You’re thinking – why a music gig event entry? Well, its been over a year since I transformed my humble website into Invurt – but, before that, if you go a browsing through some of the different categories, you’ll see that once upon a time I interviewed and wrote a hell of a lot about the breakbeat/dnb scene.

Having been involved in the dnb scene in Perth for, oh, twenty years or so, I decided when I came to Melbourne to focus on other things, art, and writing about art for myself, rather than writing about music for others.

That said, I still fkn love dnb, seeing Netsky last weekend was not only amazing, but he and the kind of music he produces is one of the reasons I still love the genre.  I don’t get involved in the scene here (I just go back to Perth for that) so, when I see a gig that has both dnb, breaks, hiphop AND live art by one of my favourite crews, Everfresh – as well as Marky, Andy C, Cern and my old friend Stamina – well, shit, I know where I’ll probably be on Oz day.

Who: Andy C (UK), MC GQ (UK), DJ MARKY & MC STAMINA, PLASTICIAN (UK), CERN (NZ), BEATS ANTIQUE (USA), TRUTH (NZ), AN-TEN-NAE (USA), EVERFRESH CREW (AU), Safire (Dispatch, Requiem Audio), Johnny Hooves (SOM Music), Droid Sector (Requiem Audio), Finna B2B Ruxspin (Jungle Run Set), Dabeata, Muska, Baron Von Rotten, Bass Bin Laden, Same O (Too Much), Affiks & A13 (Heavy Innit), Wasabi, Dust, Dysphemic, Dyzlexic CM, Tobias J, Teilhard, Lickweed
What: Lost in Bass – breakbeats and live art on Australia Day
Where: Neverland Entertainment Complex – January 26th, 2011
When: 32 – 48 Johnson Street, South Melbourne, Victoria

Check out the Broken Beat Assault website for more info.

I’m squinting hard as the early dawn light is pummelling through the vans windscreen. We’re hurtling down the highway, somewhere between Rhode Island and Brooklyn – its post-party hour and some friends and I are dropping Reid Speed back home after an all-night rave in an abandoned bank vault. The gig is all done and dusted, and we’re talking shit about breaks, d’n'b and all the things in between – the details are murky, its the start of the new millennium after all, but I can still hear the passion in her voice and I’m still feeling the vibe of the set she played, and I easily recall my predominant thought at the time – “this girls really going somewhere, can’t wait to see where she ends up…”

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“The day that you feel comfortable and happy with anything, is probably the day you give up and retire,” cites Gareth McGrillen, who, along with Paul Harding and Rob Swire constitutes a founding members of Pendulum, arguably one of the most progressive musical groups producing music today. “You always need that drive, its really essential to us – our drive has always been about 70% competitive and 30% love, and having that competitiveness as a lynch-pin of what you’re doing ensures you’re never really happy with where you are.”

Their need to constantly reinvent themselves has seen Pendulum rise from their humble origins in the drum’n’bass genre, to the heights of a gold album producing band. Having played to some of the largest crowds at some of the most prestigious festivals across the world, they are often surprised at how swiftly time has passed. (more…)

One of the most successful, well known, and respected names in the drum’n’bass scene, both today and over the past decade, is Andy C. From his position founding RAM Records, to his solo and group production work with the RAM Trilogy and Origin Unknown – not to mention his often explosive and sometimes unbeatable DJ sets, Andy C has been riding the high roads of d’n’b for some time. Reaping the rewards of his talents and, by all accounts, loving every minute of it, Andy C is a man both happy with his place in life, and passionately optimistic about the music that he loves.
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When a familiar face from a successful group goes solo, there is always slight trepidation that the strength of their work may diminish, however, for drum’n’bass performer and producer Audio, undoubtedly one of the top notches in the tech-heavy d’n’b echelons, going solo after several years with the popular Resonant Evil has proven to be a boon, as his success continues on an upwards spiral of popularity amongst lovers of the genre.

“I always worked solo, and, obviously, I started solo when I was sending tunes to the guys from Resonant Evil (Mackie and Risk),” Audio explains. “I’d send Mackie a little material to sign, and he said come to the studio and we’ll see how it goes. So I did and we wrote a few tracks, and the rest is history. So it wasn’t really a conscious decision or something new for me, but it was more convincing myself that yeah I could do it on my own and that I could be successful, and that people wanted to hear what I do on my own. I’ve think I’ve got something different to offer, so, it wasn’t too hard.”

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Amongst the drift and tide of the musical realm, it is a rarity for an electronic music group to have mass market appeal, and yet several years ago, three guys from Perth embarked upon a journey that would take them not only to the top of the drum and bass charts, but also into the living rooms of anyone with an interest in cutting edge music. No stranger to fans since breaking out with their seminal album, Hold Your Colour, Pendulum are now poised on the verge of being one of the few bands who have been able to escape their niche, as their upcoming new album, In Silico, is sure to prove. (more…)

In the ever shifting and tumultuous landscape that is the modern drum and bass world, producers and DJs rise, fall and stay fast. Yet in the past few years Chase and Status made more waves in such a short amount of time within the genre than most others, and after only four years in the business, have managed to produce music that is now to be found at the front of every Djs crate.

Their meteoric descent into the forefront of the drum and bass does, however, seem to contain almost a hint of a conscious decision on behalf of the duo. “We’ve DJed since we were about fifteen or sixteen, and for ten or eleven years we’ve been DJing in our bedrooms and at house parties, anywhere we could really,” Chase explains. “Then we kind of realised that unless you really put effort into it you wouldn’t make it just on DJ merit alone, so we decided to pack in university and quit all that, and got a studio in Manchester and just sat in there every day for ten to twelve hours and learnt how to work on tunes.” (more…)

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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. (more…)

For several years, every Friday morning, a mysterious plague has been affecting Perth Drum n Bass fans. With symptoms including headaches, nausea, twitching, partial deafness and rictus smiles stretching across faces, the plague has been non-stop in its assault – and we can blame this virulent epidemic on the enthusiastic and salubrious minds behind ROLLER.

Its been a long ride for all the boys of Roller, who over the past six years have not only won the Best Regular Weeknight category in PDMA awards for the past three times running, but also carry the reputation of now being one of the longest running drum and bass nights in the Southern Hemisphere. (more…)