The return of the Resignators

Well you know that I love these guys.
After weeks touring the North American Continent they have returned to Melbourne!
There was much energy and excitement at the John Curtain Hotel.
Welcome back guys!

At the festival

The thing about music festivals is ... you never know what type of freaks you'll find there.
It starts out with a couple of guys a dog & a can of spray paint ... and the next thing you know we gotta explain it all to the RSPCA!

Aussie/ Kiwi Hip Hop:

Aussie/ Kiwi Hip Hop:

These days the music travels very quickly, when a new musical wave pops up in New York, L.A. or London it doesn’t take long before the ripples reach every port around the world.

We are all familiar with the path a new sound takes.

When some new thing pops up it is first seen as a threat, then it grabs our collective attention as an underground sensation, it’s popularity grows and before we know it it’s being hailed as the next big thing and then in due course it is cleaned up, packaged and sent out to the masses for consumption, after all the sharp edges have been removed of course.

I’m sure it was the same in 1492 when some guy left home to pick up some cinnamon, we all know how many unexpected results came from that little excursion.

That’s the way I see the movement of Hip-Hop & it’s culture around the planet.

It’s been over three decades ago since the days when Hip-hop was vilified & far from the worldwide phenomenon it is today.

Anyone old enough can remember when most people, including the music industry said that Rap, Hip-Hop, B-Boys & Fly girls would be the end of us all.

It wasn’t!

Now as unbelievable as it sounds we are entering an age when all the early waves Hip–Hop has made are now returning as ripples to our shores from all the far-flung places that the music has touched.

Cuban, South American even Chinese & Japanese Hip-Hop not even language is a stumbling block for this music.

That being said there are still a few small blind spots left on the world map, one such spot is Australia, but not only Hip Hop has stumbled in the antipodes, for a very long time the Australian music scene has existed in relative obscurity.

With a few notable exceptions like ACDC, INXS, Split enz, Midnight Oil & more recently Keith Urban & Jet the majority of Australian act have failed to make a mark on the overseas market.

The reason for this has always been a mystery to me, because to my mind so many Australian acts have had worldwide appeal written all over them.

In many ways Australian music can be almost indistinguishable from the sounds coming from the U.S. or U.K. markets, partly because so many Aussie artists have modified their accents in hope of larger overseas appeal, but the Australian sound is so much more than an accent.

Back in the days when Hip-hop still had that new beat smell, the meeting place was a community centre, block party or the local boys club.

A couple of turntables, a microphone and a few bass reflex speakers was all that were needed to get a party started.

Hip-hop history began in New York and spread quickly across America but now Hip Hop culture is finding it’s way around the planet and now even the most remote cultures are beginning to feel it’s influence. Not even the traditional barriers of language or geography can stop its progress.

We all know that Hip-Hop, like Jazz & Rock it resonates through many groups that feel disenfranchised, or feel the sting of poverty, it may be this ever-growing number of “economic minorities” that has in part made Hip Hop the worldwide phenomenon it is today.

The evolution of Hip-Hop culture in America is being well documented as it becomes big business and as it was at the beginning of Rock & Roll, what was once a sub culture is now being adopted by the mainstream, but it is not so in the case of foreign based hip-hop.

Hip-Hop’s Latin, French, Russian & Australian/ New Zealand cousins are growing stronger and are building there own their own styles.

In the beginning and still to this day Hip-Hop, like jazz has a split down it’s middle that divides it into two distinct disciplines East coast & West coast.

Once Hip Hop could only be found in African American communities and as it was with Jazz & Rock it’s beginnings were rooted in political activism. In those early days, the Hip-Hop & Rap fan base was found among the so-called minority groups and was a produced mainly by black artists.

Although we didn’t know it then, the 80’s were giving birth to a new breed of American entrepreneur that would lead to the inception of the many companies that produce Hip Hop fashion and cultural icons such as FUBU, Sean john & Rocawear.

Back then it would have been impossible to see the shape hip-hop has taken from the time when Vanilla Ice was the great white hope for crossover hip-hop.

I’m sure that not one person could have seen that the market would “crossover” to hip-hop or that we would live in a time when virtually every country would have a thriving hip-hop community.

Back in 1992 when I first came to Sydney, Australia I had no idea how much African-American music and culture had insinuated itself into these people and their culture. Once as I walked Sydney’s streets trying to familiarise myself with the laneways, precincts and general city plan, among all that new and foreign information I began to hear something very familiar, the sound of basketballs on asphalt.

The sound captured my interest, I followed it down one street, around a corner and then boom tat, boom boom tat, yes that familiar kick & snare drum rhythm. I turned the final corner and there I saw the same scene I’d seen on the court at the 4^th street playground… the clothes, shoes, hats all the same with one notable difference.

There was not a single black face among them, or American for that matter and the way they reacted to me, these young Australians with Hip Hop dreams.

As if my turning that corner was the strangest thing… an actual “Black American”!

As I spent more time in Australia I began to realise just how much advance press African-American culture has received and how overwhelmingly positive it is and how it is effecting their culture.

In the 12 years since then, I have watched Australian Hip-Hop grow from mimicry of Afro American styles to the present day when there are many groups making original Australian/ New Zealand Hip-Hop.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for this hip-hop branch office

Ernest Ranglin Live @ The Espy!

This town amazes me!

I'm online pretty much... well a lot of the time. seeing what's goin on and things to do and all that.

I go out for a while on wed night to find that on Thursday the incredible guitarist , Ska Legend Ernest Ranglin is doing a show on Thursday!

Well lucky I ventured out into the real world , or I would never have gotten there.

The man was on! old tunes new ones all done with that trademark Ranglin style. He was joined on stage by

"The Trojan Horns" and boy did they look like they were havin' fun! Lucky bastards.

Open note to Melbourne's event community.... ADVERTISING get to know it!

Wanna see more pics.

click this link

Just about a week ago I went Down to a club in the City to check out my old Friends The Resignators.

The Resignators have a new Drummer, to replace the lovely Cinta, and it was Big Fran's Birthday so I felt I should make my way there.

The club oxide is an odd one. four Rooms on for Floors in a 4 story walk up "I'm too old for this shit!

Any way I was a good night. King City 7 Played Then tie guys got up send did their Punk- ska thing, as you can See it went down a treat!

Tonight its Oxide in the Melbourne CBD

Really this post is to test a new posting system but I will be out at Oxide tonight for real stay tuned

12 Tone Diamonds

Every once in a while in this crazy ol' town I like to call Melbourne (i like to call it that ... cause that's what they told me it was named) you find a group of musicians that seem to have ... something that something while hard to pin down... can be very pleasant.

In the case of th "12 Tone Diamonds" that something is an easy and well meaning alliance with atonality & a deep groove.
If you look closely at the pics you'll see that the sax is doing double duty as he also features in the "Bennett's Lane Big Band" from the post that precedes this one .
The "12 Tone Diamonds" Are however ... a much different group.

Ploughing the same field as Larry Coryell (in the 70's) they manage to keep their interpolations crisp and to the point, without endless repetition.



That is high praise because as I'm sure you know a large chunk of today's improvisers ... well can become tired real quick.

for at least a couple of week they will be doing their thing at the 303 (303 High street Northcote)
so don't come bitchin to me that there is nothing going on in Melbourne on Wed night!