life is noise

Melbourne outfit Heirs are taking their ear-splittingly massive show on the road around Australia in March (tickets to the Perth show are available here). Ahead of the shows, Georgia Martin caught up with Damian Coward and asked him all the standard interview questions about intra-band cannibalism and audience incontinence.

If you were forced to hibernate for 15 years, with no contact to the outside world, what trade or craft would you master?

Phwaor, that’s a fantastic question. I would say making horseshoes.
You can throw them for a fair distance. I’ve seen somebody throw one and they go like the bloody clappers. I think the whole idea that we’ve gone to automobiles instead of horse travel is a bit of a joke. I think there’s a lot to be said about travelling on a steed through the country. You know, feeling that pain between your legs which I think is what a lot of people need. I think car travel has been a little too comfortable for a lot of people these days. I think that if every one could feel that pain that horse travellers felt, the world would be a better place. I also think the good thing about horse riding is that hymens get burst before they hit the bed. That’s the old thing isn’t it? Ride a horse, smash ya bloody hymen over! Read the rest of this entry ”

After the drop of his Digerbodia tape earlier in the year, Local beatmaker and one of the founding fathers of the Perth Community Crew, Diger Rokwell, has dropped his full length feature album,“We Are All Related”, a world music inspired future beat excursion.

The album opener, “let go’ slowly melts out of the speakers. Rich with deep, atmospheric sounds, floating wind instruments and a reverberating group chant, the track eases the listener into a mood that is conducive to the output of the record.  This attempted mood is contemplative, possibly an effort to let the listener ponder the open-ended humanitarian message as deeply as one sees fit.  The next track, “journey” blends soaring synths, reversed sitars and ambient sounds into an ethereal mixture and when combined with the smooth bass rhythms, spaced-out hip hop drums and intermittent samples of Timothy Leary dialogue, it results in a track, as well as an entire album that would that would work as an apt soundtrack for the aforementioned guru’s recreational activities.

Diger seems to place emphasis on our responsibilities of the past, future and present and the ultimate interconnectedness of human beings throughout the album. Considering the ambitious premise, he manages to find a way to showcase his thesis without overshadowing or drawing attention away from his production.

Spoken word samples from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot resonate on “Save Us” while the track effortlessly floats from ambient sound scapes to jungle-esque drumming. There are a number of other forward thinkers sampled throughout the record, blended with instruments native to a plethora of places around the globe. “Cousins” features Mongolian throat singers, while “Free Ticket” features pigmy vocals and Turkish Anatolian drums alongside samples from a woman in what seems to be an English language lesson.  The lyrical styling’s of fellow Community crew comrade, Mathas, brings the record home on the last and title track of the album.

Diger weaves worldly influences and a surplus of ambient synths and samples into a modern future-beat production really nicely. His rich compositions seldom sound convoluted, despite the multitude of elements thrown in and his ability to make a beat record with a distinctive narrative without being overbearing is extremely commendable. A special mention is also due to the stunning engineering of the record, which was mixed by Sibalance and mastered by Dave Cooley of Stones Throw and Elefant Traks.

For the first time, Beaufort Street, which is at the heart of independent culture in Perth, will ignite to celebrate the music, art, fashion and food that makes the precinct so special.

On Saturday November 27th, The Beaufort Street Festival will showcase the cutting-edge talent and diversity of Perth’s musicians, artists, designers and culinary tastemakers. Perth’s cultural hub will come alive with unique, eccentric and stylish displays, temporary art exhibitions and fashion parades lining the streets and setting up within shops, cafes, bars and laneways. This will all be set to a local soundtrack, with a plethora of Perth’s finest musicians playing across four massive stages.

RTRFM 92.1 will be doing a live outside broadcast at the Planet Stage from 11am — 7pm. Tune in on the day for all the colour of The Beaufort Street Festival.

Music

From 10am to 7pm the Planet Stage on Grosvenor Road will showcase an eclectic range of WA’s freshest musical frontrunners. From swinging soul pop to superb beat making and everything in between, this electrifying stage will be host to performances from: The Highgate Primary School Band, Hootenanny, Split Seconds, The Tigers, Umpire, Naik, Boys Boys Boys, 6s and 7s, Boom Bap Pow and the Brow Horn Orchestra plus RTRFM’s media award winning MC’s Meri Fatin and Peter Barr. Read the rest of this entry ”

Four of the most promising electronic producers came together in one banging showcase of off kilter, bass driven electronic madness at Villa Nightclub on Friday night. Local beat maker and former Red Bull Academy go-er, Ta-Ku kicked off the night and set the scene for what seemed to be the most eclectic electronic lineup of the year. At 11pm and laced with energy, the notably mysterious Brainfeeder maestro Samiyam is clearly not the type of guy that is comfortable standing back, nodding his head while his beats pulsate through the venue. Rather, he was bouncing around behind the decks, wording every lyric to the rap songs he played and frequently grabbing the mic to commentate to the eager crowd.
“Here’s an Illumsphere remix”, pausing the music with a smirk on his face ”…did you know he’s playing tonight?” and even snatching the mic to rap along to a track he was playing. Live on his sampler, Samiyam stayed true to his wonky, disjointed, hip hop flavoured production throughout his set, as he blended various forms of electronics with hip hop rhythms into an ethereal mixture, which was surprisingly digestible for a dance floor considering the warped ingredients thrown in. Read the rest of this entry ”