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OOOooh, this tune is crazy good! Props to my Blunted crew (Shears and Grande) who have recently brought these guys into my conscious by posting up the video’s for ‘So(ul) Amazing’ and ‘Blu Collar Workers’ on forums I regularly check. Since then I’ve been keeping my ears open and must say these tunes are growing on me. Both tunes are available from the album ‘Below The Heavens‘, which I really need to cop asap.
To find out more check out their Myspace
Some of you lucky enough to have the Blunted DVD will remember this video of DJ Fu. He has since teamed up with the mighty Jungle Drummer to create a formidable double act. If you haven’t been able to catch them live, or you just want to check out some serious skills, look know further than this new promo video courtesy of Yakuza Studios.
A few years back Reading’s scene was kicking off with the like of Mr.Phlo putting and some big ukhh lineups’s over in Berkshire. One of the local acts was the beatboxer WanDan. From his days doing his solo thing he has gone on to use his skill as an instrument in the incredible hiphop band Lazy Habits.
They’ve been plugging away for some time and have now built up quite a reputation for their live shows. Such a good reputation that this Summer, they played at 14 festivals. The band is made up of 9 members, including DJ Itchi, a dope horn section, 2 MCs and beatboxer WanDan.
They have just released a video for their new single Even Out. Check it.
To find out more, check their recent interview on UKHH.COM, the website and their tunes on myspace.
It’s a classic name, conjuring up images of Dr.Robotnik and the like. It’s also the name of a Brighton-based band who really are worth checking out. I first saw them a couple of years ago and must admit, I didn’t quite ‘get them’. Probably cos I was a newbie to the Brighton indie scene I felt a little out of place. Anyways, that’s all in the past, I saw them play recently at The Albert and they were on top form! This band, originally hailing from the coolest sounding place in Leicestershire are set for big tings.
They have a new deal, a new video and have just been nominated for the Orange Unsigned Awards. I took a little time to catch up with their drummer Joe Askew…
First up, introduce yourself (and the band) my good man –
We have myself (Joe) on drums, Dan on keys, Foz sings and stuff, and Luke likes to play four strings
End of Level Baddie is quite an elaborate name, how did it come about?
We all grew up playing computer games… what can I say?
How did the band form?
I met Foz and Luke at school. We all grew up in the small Leicestershire town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch - A town probably best known for its manufacturing of popular snack foods. As you can imagine, there wasn’t much for us to do, so we used to meet up in my dads attic and play Iron Maiden covers. When we moved down here we found Dan and became the Baddies
How would you describe your sound?
Always a difficult question… well I guess we’re kinda an inde-rock band – but we add some nasty keyboard sounds to keep it interesting.
Where can people hear your music online?
We have our website or our myspace. Or come to one of our gigs and ask us nicely for a CD. We just made our first music video for Creeps On The Beach – if you want to see Foz in a dress, look no further…
You got any gigs planned in the near future?
Our next gig is part of the Brighton Live festival. We play on Friday 26th September and it’s free!! For all up to date listings check our website.
I hear you’re getting involved with Orange Unsigned. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
A friend of ours entered us for this. We don’t know much about it, but we like oranges.
Speaking of which, what does the future hold for EOLB?
Well… we’re looking to record some new tracks in the next couple months. We’ve been offered a single deal with a local independent label, but we’ll have to wait and see how that pans out. The main thing for us is to keep gigging. We’ve been trying to set up our own UK tour, but our Baddie Van just died a terrible death. We’re thinking of going up market and purchasing a Volvo Estate… we know how to keep it real
Do you hope to follow in the footsteps of your bro or do you want to concentrate on your own trail?
The Knives have done great, but we consider ourselves a very different band. They’ve worked really hard and deserve to do as well as they have. We’re happy just to see people come to our shows and enjoy what we do. If we don’t have to get real jobs then it’s all goooood.
Whats your favourite track and why?
Mmmm I can’t be held solely responsible for this bitch of a question. So here’s the Baddie collection of favourites:
Foz: Aaargh… what, ever?? That’s a hard one. There’s lots, but I think ‘sympathy for the devil’ is up there with the best of them…I saw the documentary about the making of that track recently, so maybe that’s pushed the song back into my consciousness, but I like the fact that it’s the result of a long creative process, some songs are hard work and I guess that shows it’s worth the effort!
Luke: (Repeat above pain in having to choose a song) but if I have to, I’m in a regressive period at the moment and I’m loving Toto – Hold the line
Dan: Yep, it’s a tricky one, but off the top of my head it’s No More Heroes by The Stranglers, purely for keyboard genius.
Joe: …Mmmm well right now its maybe Gary Numan – Music for Chameleons.
If you’ve liked what you’ve read and heard, be sure to vote for End Of Level Baddies in the Orange Unsigned Act Awards. Make sure you look up their Facebook group too.
If you pay close attention to the site then you should have noticed that we are now hosting a free download of Reeplay’s excellent 2007 debut LP ‘Come With Me’. If you have missed this, then check it out on our releases page and grab yourself a copy. Here we have a little interview with the man behind the music.
When did you first get into producing tunes?
Well really it was back way in the day when I used 2 use ‘Hip Hop Ejay’, I used to actually write to some of the tunes, but no one will ever hear those… trust me!
How would you describe your production style?
My music sounds like it would have if I was making music 10 - 15 years ago. By that I mean golden era style, classic beats.
So you’re influenced by 90’s US hip hop?
Definitely, but not just US, UK inspires me also, but there are only a few that retain that true skool feel, I’m mainly inspired by those around me.
Ok, so, the album ‘Come With Me’ – what’s the background?
Originally the concept was that it was like a film, or journey, and each song represents a different feeling in the movie, as in an intense bit, or a bit that leaves you feelin’ inspired, the tracks actually turned out better than I had thought, but the concept was lost along the way.
You got some guests featured on the album; tell us a bit more about them
All the producers I know and people within Civil Mics.
The ‘Come With Me’ free release has been out for a piece, how come you’ve decided to do this as a digital release through Blunted Presents?
I know what its like and how much effort it is to actually listen to somebody new without being told or shown by somebody so I thought it would b a better idea to make it easier for people to obtain. We are the computer generation, no one even gets CDs anymore although, and I will still give the CD away if people want it.
So whilst people get on and check your album, what can we expect from Reeplay in the future?
Well at the moment mine and Melodiq release is almost ready, the Hypnotic EP. I have another free release of the Soton Sessions with press too. He came over to the UK a month ago and we spent most of the time in the studio.
What’s it’s called?
The Soton Session, because we were literally in there for one whole day and we recorded most of the tracks for this EP, and later on this year/early next year will b my album. I want my album to proceed after both of these releases
I don’t really have anywhere completely sorted but I no that blunted will help everyone to find them!
Wicked last of all shout outs squire
Shout out to anybody who supports me or listens to my music, and shout out to u boys coz u always have my back. I would also like to shout out to Civil Mics because they are the splatz!
Download: Reeplay ‘Come With Me’
Time for a little something different - hip hop from Down Under. The scene in Australia is so strong that even some UK hip hop acts, Mystro, Fraksha & our boy Doc Freud are all plying their trade there. (It may have something to do with the sun, sea, and sand too!). You’ve probably heard of Hill Top Hoods. However, there are other acts making some serious moves including the mighty Choose Mics.
Haunts: We had another name at first but it was kind of wack so we dropped that. But the truth behind the name ‘Choose Mics’ is a bit fruity, it’s inspired from the old Wham t-shirts that said Choose Life. Don’t get it twisted though Choose Mics is NO HOMO haha!
Haunts (emcee) and Mules (producer)
Haunts: I don’t really have a link per say but dad moved us (mum, brother and me) here when I was 13. I’ve been back and forth to Birmingham since, permanently moving here in 2006.
Haunts: Tac tic one first put me on to Mules’ beats, then he took me round to his place and we started working together. It was about a year before we decided to actually form a group though.
Haunts: I had to get over a big case of writers block but now it’s coming along nicely, were about five tracks into it at the minute.
Mules: For a min there I thought we had another detox situation going on, you know, in for a long run, but it’s all starting to come together now nicely. Just trying to do as many joints as possible so we got a shit load of tracks to choose from for the album. I got slowed down in the beat making area for a while cause I was doing like four projects at once. But now I’m finishing up half of them, so I’ll have a lot more time to work on the album beats for Choose Mics. We got about 11 beats to work with at the moment.
Haunts: Fraksha is a good mate with M Phazes and I’ve known M since I was about 16. They were on holiday on the Gold Coast and I caught up with them one night and having met Fraksha a couple of times briefly before and being into his music I just asked him if he would like to jump on a track. His also jumping on a track on the album too so watch out for that, it should be another heater!
Haunts: Just us introducing ourselves to the world, trying to put our stamp on hip hop. There’s 19 tracks on it, a lot of braggadocios rap with some stories of money troubles and crazy bitch anthems thrown in. But basically it’s just us doing our thing and hopefully people will enjoy the way we do it. Dope beats, Dope raps!
Mules: Some seriously dope lyrics over heavy-ass, sample based beats.
Haunts: We got our style so it should be a more refined version of the pre album but also bringing something new to the table. Not letting down our fans that we’ve gained and also hopefully making some new ones.
Mules: We coming with all new material. We got some surprises in store too man! This project’s like my baby! We at a really good point at the moment creatively, you know trying new things. But in the end you still gonna get Haunts and Mules.
Haunts: We’re not too sure about release dates yet….
Mules: Late this year if I get my way, but early next at the latest! I’ll make sure of that! Keep checking Formula Recordz for updates!
Haunts: More touring, a hell of a lot more music, just grafting’ to reach our goals!
Mules: After the albums done we gonna tour with it for a while. And then start all over again on another album. In the mean time, we doing the Bliss n Eso tour in Sept/Oct so make sure you check that out. Also playing random gigs around the place, but if you wanna keep up to date on what we doing just check out the myspace at /choosemics.
Haunts: Maybe soon for me, I gotta catch up with all the family and friends back in Birmingham, but who knows what the future will hold for us hopefully shows and that if we get the chance.
Haunts: First of all a big ups to our manager Adam, family, friends and a massive one to my lovely girl Shimya who puts up with my craziness on the daily!
Mules: Yeah man big shout to Adam man (fucked without ya bro). Mum, Dad and all my family. My girl Suez, Maeds, Punes, Renz, RJ. Archie, DJ Xplane, M-Phazes and all the fam.
The film is absolute genius. Directed by the hugely talented Shane Meadows, This Is England has already won cult status in my eyes. It tells the story of a young lad, Shaun, who’s leading a pretty bleak life in 1980’s Grimsby. With his dad killed in the Falklands War, his mum finds it hard to keep tabs on him as he gets involved with a local group of skinheads, taking Shaun and the story into uncompromising territory.
There is no doubt that the lead character Shaun played by Thomas Turgoose is the star of the film. With such a breathtaking performance, you might be forgiven for thing that Turgoose is a classically trained actor or that he actually enjoys acting. You’d be wrong.
Truth is Shane Meadows searched the length and breadth of the country to find the actor right to play Shaun. It wasn’t until he chanced upon a community project in Grimbsy that he came across Thomas Turgoose.
Here is his audition tape. It gives you a real insight into kind a kid he really is. I think what strikes me is how genuine he comes across and how it translates to a captivating performance in the film itself.