Kiwi dance music: The class of 2002

By STEPHEN JEWELL

There seems to be a new one along every week. Local dub, dance and electronic music acts whose DIY studio labours and sonic aesthetics make for albums that are eagerly snapped up by local fans and that increasingly are heading out into the wider world. Paradigm, Rhombus and 50Hz are the cream of the 2002 Kiwi-tronic crop.

50 Hz

Who: Jeremy Geor.

From: Wellington.

Album: Second album Carbon.

How does it sound? Geor's record label Loop reckons that Carbon is, "Sophisticated drum'n'bass, not jungle, not techstep. It's more for listening than dancing", which neatly sums up 50 Hz's sound. However, the artist himself resists such easy categorisation. "In my head, I just hear music. I don't hear styles."

Connections: Carbon features guest vocalists including Verse Two's Ladi 6, aka Karoline Tamati of the now defunct Sheelahroc, Miss La from Auckland jazz outfit the Torch Set, Barnaby Weir from the Black Seeds, Conrad Noema from Maori R&B group Maia and, interestingly, Wellington-based Pepsi Demacque, ex-Wham backing vocalist who was once half of 80s popsters Pepsi and Shirley: "What an awesome lady. Working closely with someone who has been that big and who name-drops 'George' as in George Michael is a very unnerving experience."

Where they stand in the dance v rock debate: "Both forms are changing. Since the invention of the Walkman the role of music has altered. It's gone from being mainly a social sharing experience, at parties and gigs, to developing into a more personal mood-enhancer and definer as well. As a result, people's attitudes to music have changed. It's now more likely that someone would own both a dance music album and the Datsuns and play them each as their mood takes them."

Is it hard making this sort of music in NZ? "The hardest thing is the lack of endorsement by the general public. They are unaware of the strength and context of our artists. As more and more artists like Bic Runga and Anika Moa make a credible living as musicians, then hopefully more and more children can grow up believing that they too can persevere and make a reasonable living from their passion."

And next: "With Carbon having just been released, I will be playing in Auckland soon and certainly want to go as far south as I can afford. I would love to play a sunset gig on Stewart Island."

Oh and by the way: The track Smooth Rhodes is an update of jazz standard Detour Ahead which wouldn't sound out of place on the recent Verve Remixed compilation. "Miss La just started singing the song in the studio and I was like, 'I love it but they'll never let us use it', but she suggested changing the words and the melody. But not wanting to get into any trouble, we contacted the publishers in New York and they said, 'Love it, it's a parody, not a cover because you've changed everything'."

RHOMBUS

Who: Producers Thomas Voyce and Simon "The Knife" Rycroft plus vocalists Aaron "MC Mana" Retimana and Ahmen Mahal, who is also alternately known as Murkwon 108 and Imon Star.

From: Wellington

Album: Bass Player (out end of October) covers a diverse mix of musical styles, says Rycroft. "It would be difficult to pinpoint all the styles that have influenced its creation, except to say that we all have very different musical backgrounds to throw into the mix. The most common thread throughout the LP is the dub production technique, which sews it all together."

How does it sound? Rhombus describe their music as "sonically brilliant, multi-faceted dub and bass", and Rycroft notes that dub is more a studio methodology than a genre. "A lot of the grooves we use wouldn't be considered dub grooves. Dub is more a production technique than a style."

Connections: American-born Ahmen, who first came to notice here as part of Mark de Clive-Lowe and Manuel Bundy's Nuvonesia, is the son of legendary blues guitarist Taj Mahal. Meanwhile, single Clav Dub's Goodbye Pork Pie-inspired video stars not only Kelly Johnson, who played Blondini in Geoff Murphy's original film, but also boasts cameos by various members of Wellington's dance music community, including TrinityRoots, Mu and Dallas from Fat Freddy's Drop and DJ Vee.

"The original idea was just to have Ahmen in the front of a mini, squashed in with four other guys," says Voyce. "We then got [director] Chris Graham on board and it just so happened that he'd wanted to do something with the Goodbye Pork Pie theme for some time."

Where they stand in the dance v rock debate: "Dirty old Rock is making a comeback in a big way, which is great," says Rycroft. "But it has never really eased; its roots are so deep. There will always be an element of rock in my music. Electronic music is a very broad term, but I wouldn't put Rhombus into that category. We use electronic production techniques, but if that makes us electronic, there isn't much else out there that isn't."

Is it hard making this sort of music in NZ? As if making music in New Zealand wasn't hard enough, Voyce has been based in Japan for the past year. "I sent back a variety of different tracks over the internet and Simon and Ahmen would then do their own thing to them, making them fully produced tracks, or I'd entirely produce a track and send it home for them to master," says Voyce. "My favourite songs on the album started out as skeletons in Japan and were then fleshed out at home."

And next: Clav Dub is out now while Rhombus' debut album, Bass Player, will be released through the FMR-distributed M.O.K.O. Music at the end of the month.

Oh and by the way: Clav Dub is named after the clavinet, an instrument featured in the track. "It's a stringed keyboard instrument which does skank sounds," says Rycroft. "It's clav and then dub because that's what we're doing in the production. We're dubbing the clav, dubbing it stupid."

PARADIGM

Who: Mark Kneebone and Damian Vaughan

From: Auckland

Album: Process - "the culmination of 12 months of trying to get our heads around how dance music is written and formulated," says Kneebone. "We really wanted to have a strong musical flavour to what we were doing so melodies played a big part in trying to keep a musical focus. We came from a band background, and want people to be able to listen to the tracks both in the clubs and at home."

How does it sound? Process sits neatly between Concord Dawn's ferocious drum'n'bass influence and 50 Hz's cafe-friendly breakbeats.

"Damian and I try to avoid imitating other people and instead bring our own experiences and influences to what we're doing."

Connections: "Luckily for us we both have day jobs at Kog Transmissions, who gave us some invaluable insight into how to release our tunes and how business works. And Evan Short from Concord Dawn mixed the album and helped with the production, as well as giving us some solid advice on how to get gigs together and tour."

Where they stand in the dance v rock debate: "Dance music is now so ingrained in the night-life of young people that it will survive whatever is thrown in its way. Rock and Dance can quite happily co-exist. It's a bit of a myth that in order for one to be strong the other has to be weak."

Is it hard making this sort of music in New Zealand? "Making drum'n'bass in New Zealand has as many positives as it does negatives. Luckily it's a very international-sounding genre, so things like vocal accents don't get in the way. The likes of Concord Dawn and Bulletproof having so much success has definitely made it easier. But on the other hand, the production benchmark is so high now that there is pressure to live up to people's expectations and it is easy to become intimidated. Also, as a genre drum'n'bass doesn't get a massive amount of support from the likes of New Zealand On Air, even though lots of people are into it."

And next: "Right now our focus is primarily New Zealand, although Europe and the States is the main goal of any local electronica producer. But we are happy to take our time and not try and do everything straight away. It's a long process and we are relatively patient guys."

Oh and by the way: Paradigm's label, Tardus Music, which isn't a Kog imprint as many think, is a genre-spanning collective which also includes the dubby Dejusa, ambient Terraforming and downbeat Cheshire.