Calski started writing loops on software and MCing in early 1998 before buying my first MPC 2000xl in 2004. Handling production for Impossible Odds, Rainman, Shawn Lov, Bingethinkers and more. Calski rocks the MPC at bboy jams and comps all over Brisbane, representing with Elements Collective.
Calski won the 2010 Q Song Hip-Hop/ Urban Award for his production on Soul Of The Troubadour performed by Impossible Odds. Calski – Love Drive Omissions – B-Sides, are tracks that were cut from Calski’s debut album Love Drive Commission. Pay what you want for it, every little bit will go towards the next album.
Minimal Aesthetics artist Requiem presents his answer to the Digital Era, his latest EP titled Digital Blues. The Northern Territory based artist, who use to call Melbourne home has released the EP as a free digital download. We catch up with Requiem to talk about his latest offering and discuss the changes the digital music age has brought about.
1) New EP released through Minimal Aesthetics titled Digital Blues, explain to us the concept behind this release? When making the EP I wrote a song called Digital Blues and as it was the strongest topic covered I named the EP after it. Basically ‘Digital Blues’ is lamenting the new era where most people would rather pirate your music than pay for it. But at the same time it’s embracing it, because I put this EP out for free to go with the flow. I’d rather more people hear my music and share it around than try to make a buck off it.
2) Do you think people have a more disposable point of view with music now that it’s in the digital format? Not really, I think it’s just more portable. Music can go with you anywhere now that it’s digital. Sure there used to be discmans and walkmans but digital makes things easier to carry if it’s just on an mp3 player, for example. I think it’s a positive that people can access music easier; I still love artwork and liner notes though and I think it’s important artists make sure they still deliver the full package even when the music is digital.
3) What do you think some of the benefits of releasing music digitally now? Following on from above, I think CDs are fast becoming landfill. Digital music saves space, saves the environment, and as I said, you can bring it anywhere. I try to live minimalist, hence my record label Minimal Aesthetics, I live by the idea that I want to be able to pack it all up and leave tomorrow – I don’t want to own too much that I would find it hard to keep travelling. If you have 100s of CDs or vinyl that’d make moving hard, I like that digital you can easier take your music collection anywhere.
4) There’s cover artwork was done by Third Half Design, do you think cover artwork is an important factor in releasing an album today and how did that design process reinforce this? Quality cover art is essential. Big ups to Chad Mann from Third Half Design for the great work he did with the Digital Blues EP. I judge “books” by their cover all the time. That can be movies, albums, actual books, anything. Graphic design and art is very important to me. Releasing an album or an EP or anything like that is a whole package thing, you can’t just make great music it is art overall that you are making and your finished product has to reflect that. The artwork is the first thing someone sees in a store and in the digital world might be what is shown on a blog to catch someone’s eye. I’m inspired by art more than anything else, actually. So I made it a point to have dope artwork for the EP.
5) The entire album was produced by Beat Butcha, how did you team up with him? I heard of Beat Butcha through the internet, he was working with guys like Jehst and Micall Parknsun. I heard he was working with Trem and then he did Fallout Shelter with Brad Strut which caught my attention. So I’d been a fan for a while, and I wanted beats that took my music up a notch. Around the time I was looking for beats, a couple of years ago, he was sending around his latest catalogue, from that I picked a beat, then I thought “why not do a one producer release?” and so I went on to grab them all from him and we corresponded through email to get the arrangements right.
6) We also see a few features on the release including Rival MC and Joshua Tavares, how did you go about picking these features? Previously I’ve worked with female singers for any hook I wanted to have sung. The ladies I’ve worked with have been friends from Melbourne. For this EP it is even more personal and I thought if I was to have someone else sing the hooks for me, since I can’t sing, they have to be male because the songs are from my perspective, a man’s perspective. I got in touch with Joshua Tavares through Facebook funny enough, I asked people who is a talented male singer from Melbourne. They also had to be from Melbourne for ‘Love Affair’ because it’s a song about that city. Anyway, we talked over Skype about ideas and eventually met up when I was next in Melbourne. We went out drinking and found out we shared similar taste in music so it all worked out. I got Joshua in the studio and we did it organically and he was down to be in the video too. For ‘World Wide’ I wanted a deeper vocal, I had a few singers in mind and Rival MC was the one who came through. He was really professional and had it all finished in a week or so. I got in touch with him via a mutual friend, James Mangohig from Sietta, who recommended his singing ability. I’m really happy to have both artists on the EP.
7) Love Affair (featuring Joshua Tavares) was released alongside a sweet film clip, why did you pick this track to turn into a film clip? ‘Love Affair’ was chosen as the lead single with a video clip because it represents where I’m at now. I’ve chilled out a bit in the years since my last release. When I put out Grassroots Anarchy I was in a dark place, that record speaks on a lot of anger with politics and personal life. Sure, on Digital Blues I rant about the industry still and there’s serious tracks like ‘Til Death’ but day-to-day I like to appreciate life and what I’ve got. ‘World Wide’ also speaks on this but ‘Love Affair’ suited a first single better I think. I love Melbourne and miss living in that city. I’m up in Darwin these days which is great but Melbourne holds a special place in my heart. Some people took a shot at me for the song and video clip because they thought it was generic to be rapping in laneways full of graf and at coffee shops but that’s exactly what Melbourne is to me and that’s why I love it. We didn’t set out to tick all the boxes of clichés, we just wanted to highlight what makes the city so vibrant and most locations happened to be at bars and laneways. I’m really happy with how the finished product came out. Hopefully some people relate to the song.
8) What’s next for Requiem? First off I want to get Digital Blues heard by as many people as possible. It’s a free release so there’s no excuse not to check it out at least once. I’m going to keep pushing this and letting more people know about it. I’ve been doing gigs up in the Top End fairly consistently and we’re just putting on more shows and building the scene up here with the local crews. I’m looking at writing some new songs now too, I want to work with Australian producers for this next project, there’s so much talent locally I can’t look past it. It’d be good to maybe work with some producers from the older releases too. It’s exciting to hear the high standard of production coming out at the moment.
Requiem is in a long distance relationship with a city. While enjoying the tropics of Darwin and its monsoonal rains the young MC reflects on the city that gave him his start in hip hop and inspired him to make music.
It’s the city of crews he grew up listening to and a constant source of inspiration.Away from music it’s a city of art, arguably the graffiti capital of Australia and one of the premier graf capitals in the world. With its vibrant laneway and coffee culture and buzzing nightlife Melbourne is the place Requiem says welcomes him back every time he visits. This is an ode to the city where they sell wax under a train station and denizens sprawl from Footscray to Brunswick.
Love Affair is the lead single from Requiem’s new EP Digital Blues which is set to drop on March 1 for free via www.requiemhiphop.com The single, like the entire release, is produced by the rising UK maestro Beat Butcha and features the vocal talents of Melbourne soul singer Joshua Tavares.
Director Andrew Wood and his team at Rockaway Creative take this audio love letter and project visuals that represent it to the fullest in the video clip. For anyone that has lived in Melbourne, just visited or has heard of it as a melting pot for culture Love Affair is sure to resonate.
Tracklisting: 01. Digital Blues (cuts by 2Buck) 02. Love Affair (featuring Joshua Tavares) 03. Til Death (cuts by DJ Kilo) 04. World Wide (featuring Rival MC from Impossible Odds)
Calski first started producing jams in 1998, and has since worked with the likes of Impossible Odds, Rainman, Shawn Lov, Binge Thinkers and more. It is not uncommon to find Calski rocking his MPC at b-boy jams and comps all over Brisbane, representing with Elements Collective.
Set to release his debut production album entitled Love Drive Commission through Obese Distribution next month, Calski describes the album as ‘sonically diverse’ with tinges of West Coast smooth, Detroit inspired grit, and New York drums. The LP will feature spots from Dialectrix, Rainman, Tommy Illfigga, DJ Butcher, Rinse and DJ 2Buck among others. Love Drive Commission drops Febuary 24. Calski has also jumped up on Brisbane emcee Rainman’s latest singleDarlin feat. Calski
Based around the core of front-man Rival MC (aka Fred Leone) and DJ Returnagain (aka James Vincent), Impossible Odds are an Indigenous Hip Hop/Soul group from Brisbane. October saw the release of their long awaited debut album Against All Odds.
With one EP and 3 singles released over the last 5 years, Impossible Odds have held a steady line. Though still instinctively founded in the indigenous community – through strong national community radio and triple J play, heavy media coverage, killer live shows, big support slot’s and national touring – the band have also earned themselves a large mainstream audience. This is tribute to their tenacity, longevity and of course, the quality of their music. It is also due to the fact that Rival MC is nationally respected and a born community leader, intelligent, steadfast, passionate, balanced and able to clearly vocalise his opinion’s without pointing fingers or denigrating others.
With strong Australian Aboriginal, Tongan & South Sea Island family roots, Rival MC’s lyrics are a journey through the mind of contemporary Aboriginal Australia, addressing not only issues facing his people, but more to the point, Australian society and the global community in general. A socially conscious attitude that speaks volumes, triple J has described Impossible Odds as “ferociously intelligent… Fred Leone quips with the informed subtlety of Kev Carmody and spits with a visceral slag like Henry Rollins’s. ‘Cept hip-hoppier with specifically Aussie concerns.”
With a South Australian launch date TBA for November, Impossible Odds launch their debut album nationally on the remaining date: Saturday December 3rd @ Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney, NSW
Based around the core of front-man Rival MC and DJ Returnagain, Impossible Odds are an Indigenous Hip Hop/Soul group from Brisbane. Mon October 3rd saw the release of their long awaited debut album Against All Odds.
First single Everything was ushered out late July and went about cutting a swathe through alternative radio. Tue August 16th it became the 4th most downloaded track on Australian radio through AMRAP’s AIR IT, where it has also spent 6 straight weeks in the top 5 tracks on the AIR IT Hip Hop chart (currently #2).
With one EP and 3 singles released over the last 5 years, Impossible Odds have held a steady line. Though still instinctively founded in the indigenous community – through strong national community radio and triple J play, heavy media coverage, killer live shows, big support slot’s and national touring – the band have also earned themselves a large mainstream audience. This is tribute to their tenacity, longevity and of course, the quality of their music. It is also due to the fact that Rival MC is nationally respected and a born community leader, intelligent, steadfast, passionate, balanced and able to clearly vocalise his opinion’s without pointing fingers or denigrating others.
With strong Australian Aboriginal, Tongan & South Sea Island family roots, Rival Mc’s lyrics are a journey through the mind of contemporary Aboriginal Australia, addressing not only issues facing his people, but more to the point, Australian society and the global community in general. A socially conscious attitude that speaks volumes, triple J has described Impossible Odds as “ferociously intelligent… Fred Leone quips with the informed subtlety of Kev Carmody and spits with a visceral slag like Henry Rollins’s. ‘Cept hip-hoppier with specifically Aussie concerns.”
Against All Odds covers a lot of ground. From battle raps to faith, facebook to musicality and of course Indigenous identity, as seen through the eyes of somebody who gives a damn about all of it. Rival himself explains:
“It was a challenge to myself after the first EP (funded by the JB SEED, now The Seed Fund) to say, hey Australia, you’ve heard one particular side & style of me…. but now try this on for size. This album aims to takes people on a personal but not unfamiliar journey, touching on things we all think and experience, but don’t often talk about with our friends and sometimes even loved ones. Being our debut album, it was important for me in particular to express where I’m at. Lyrically, it’s a snapshot of my attitude toward life, hip hop and music right now. I’ve been rapping for 14 years, I needed the lyrics & rhythmic flows to reflect my experience.”
With a South Australian launch date TBA for November, Impossible Odds launch their debut album nationally: Friday October 21st @ The Loft, Gold Coast, QLD-54A Thomas Drive, Chevron Island Saturday October 22nd @ The Globe, Brisbane, QLD-153 Elizabeth Street, Fortitude Valley Saturday November 5th @ The Laundry, Melbourne, VIC -50 Johnston Street, Fitzroy Saturday December 3rd @ Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney, NSW - 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
Based around the core of front-man MC Rival (aka Fred Leone) and DJ Returnagain (aka James Vincent), Impossible Odds are an Indigenous Hip Hop/Soul group from Brisbane. Renowned Australia wide, their list of award nominations reads like a tome.
Deadly Award Nominated Artists in 2008 & 2010, they were 2010 QSONG finalists in the “Song of The Year” category, 2010 QSONG winners in the “Urban” category and previously, JB Seed Speak: ‘Indigenous Hip Hop Competition’ Winners. More recently, in the last 3 weeks alone, they have been nominated for: • 2011 QSong Courier Mail ‘People’s Choice’ Award • ‘Indigenous Hip Hop’ BUMP Awards 2011 • ‘R&B’ BUMP Awards 2011 • ‘Best Hip Hop Group’ & ‘Lyle Munro Urban Legend’ Award
All this before even announcing that, come September, they will be releasing their sophomore long-player Against All Odds. Specific info on the forthcoming release will be announced soon but in the meantime the band have ushered out a taste test thereof, new single Everything. Half Aboriginal and half South Sea Islander / Tongan, Rival MC’s lyrics are a journey through the mind of contemporary Indigenous Australia, addressing not only issues facing his people, but also Australian society and the global community in general. A socially conscious attitude that speaks volumes, Triple J has described Impossible Odds as “ferociously intelligent… Fred Leone quips with the informed subtlety of Kev Carmody and spits with a visceral slag like Henry Rollins. ‘Cept hip-hoppier with specifically Aussie concerns.”
Impossible Odds have been featured on V Australia and Qantas international in-flight radio and have played live everywhere from Woodford & The Dreaming festival’s through to stints on ABC TV, SBS TV & NITV (National Indigenous Television).
Forming like Voltron, The Herd blaze across the country on the Future Shade Tour with the newest Elefant Traks signees Sietta as well as a swag of great acts in each city including Jimblah, Impossible Odds, Acumen and many others. Not only that but you can get the first song from Future Shade when you buy your ticket!
The Herd are set to unveil their fifth album, Future Shade. In the lead up to the release The Herd are releasing an 8 Part series on all aspects the album, check out Part 1 with Jane Tyrrell here. Part 2 (below) features Urthboy talking about his love of fast cars and artist management in Elefant Traks. He describes how Grandma’s Song from The Herd’s upcoming album came about.
The Future Shade Tour with Sietta Sun 21 Aug | Darwin Festival, Darwin, NT Fri 26 Aug | UniBar, Hobart, TAS Sat 27 Aug | The Gov, Adelaide, SA Thu 1 Sep | Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, NSW Fri 2 Sep | Cooly Hotel, Coolangatta, NSW Sat 3 Sep | Hifi Bar, Brisbane, QLD Fri 9 Sep | Metropolis, Fremantle, WA Sat 10 Sep | Settlers, Margaret River, WA Fri 16 Sep | Prince Bandroom, St Kilda, VIC Sat 17 Sep | Metro, Sydney, NSW
Urthboy is stoked to be part of the huge RECONciliation Beats event at Musgrave Park, South Brisbane. Also playing is Muph & Plutonic, Impossible Odds, Jessica Mauboy, The Medics and many more. We’re on stage at 6pm. Tix are $25 through Oztix.
Come for the party but share in the story that is genuine reconciliation with our proud Indigenous brothers and sisters. Plutonic Lab is one of Hip Hop’s illest producers and one of the few that slam dunks every remix he does. Urthboy has so much love and respect for the guy he wanted to share this remix he did of We Get Around with you. Enjoy for free download below!!
One of Brisbane’s favourite rappers Unda Dwella delivers his highly anticipated Everyone Loves U.D. mixtape after several complete overhauls and a project name change. The Brisbane big man calls upon a cast of thousands to deliver what could prove to be one of the mixtape releases of the year.
The Everyone Loves U.D. mixtape sees Unda Dwella trading bars with the likes of Armageddon of Fat Joe’s Terror Squad, Aussie legend Hunter, Broken Tooth’s Maggot Mouf, Rival MC (Impossible Odds), Melbourne old-schoolers RKS, Shunda K (Yo Majesty!), fellow label mate MCRotheee and more.
Coming in at 22 tracks ranging from the short and punchy single verse of Good Clothes to the posse cut Eight Aint Enough featuring ten rappers dropping twelve lines each back to back. This release has something for everyone; all delivered in a trademark U.D. fashion.
The lyrics delivered by the impeccable lineup are matched with equally impeccable beat choices including jacked beats as well as original production from New York heavy hitter Domingo (Big Pun, Fat Joe, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One). Out now from Unda Estimated – available direct. Hitting stores soon by way of Kut Paste Records.
