The Must Volkoff production album White Russian is scheduled for release later this year. The first taste comes in the form of two tracks on limited edition 7″ vinyl featuring Mata & Koots. Pre-orders will be shipped with signed posters and digital download cards.
The Must Volkoff 7″ vinyl is available for pre-order/download now. Check the video for Side A Two Sheet Landscape feat. Mata, Side B Grub feat. Koots coming soon. Paypal downloads are available from here.
Tracklisting: Side A: Two Sheet Landscape feat. Mata Side B: Grub feat. Koots
One Sixth has been hip hop’s best kept secret for too long. Today, the brilliant young lyricist has released his highly anticipated debut album Electronic Mail through local indie label Pang Productions together with Obese Distribution. After winning the prestigious Hilltop Hoods Initiative in 2010, buzz surrounding One Sixth’s first LP has been building rapidly.
Bolstered by his memorable on-stage presence, and frequent stand-out guest verses, One Sixth’s name is constantly dropped by the local hip hop elite (usually in the context of “most promising” or “favourite” Australian rapper).
Notoriously personable and comical, One-Sixth has connections among all facets of the scene, and a strong and supportive following as a result. Electronic Mail is a concept album themed around the poignant and increasing apparentness of digital communication. Together with the Nokia 3310 inspired album artwork, song titles such as ‘SMS‘, ‘LOL‘ and title track Electronic Mail, surmise the digital experience.
Working alongside some of the most exciting modern producers in the Australian game, including Dyl Thomas (Polo Club), Must Volkoff (Mata & Must, Pang Productions), Tony Wolf & the late Charles Parker, and Geko (GOATMOB, Crate Cartel).
The use of evocative samples throughout the album assist to colour the tracks with clever pop-culture cues while lyrically One Sixth shines. Instantly impressive for his stylistic dexterity and use of language, the underlying messages woven masterfully through the album allow stories to unravel more after each listen. With his dulcet tones draped over illustrative metaphor and double entendre, One Sixth bares his soul with the upmost conviction.
Guest vocalists include Mantra, Maundz, Lotus, The Tongue, Candice Monique, Class A, Dyl Thomas, Fluent Form and Raven. Lead single Round The Sun, produced by long-time comrades Charles Parker and Tony Wolf, encompasses a m lange of vintage vocal samples, driving bass lines and melancholy woodwind loops. The track is especially sacred to One Sixth representing one of the last opportunities to work with Charles Parker, who tragically passed away in 2011. ‘SMS (Six Million Stories)‘ is produced by the ingenious Must Volkoff, who produced, recorded and mixed the bulk of the album.
“I hope anyone who listens to the album can see how much respect I have for music, and for my craft. There are many dimensions to who I am as a person; I try to incorporate that idea into my music, because I think a lot of people can relate to that self perception.” – One Sixth
A sample heavy track, the full base line plods alongside strings nuances. Lyrically the track empathetically examines a series of unhappy stories; the concept derived from One Sixth’s interest in foreign films, and the SBS slogan ‘six billion stories‘. Track five on the album is the mesmerising ‘Around You‘, a highlight production from Dyl Thomas. Melancholy strings, heartbeat bass lines, and boom-bap kits set the cinematic backdrop for the track. The sensitivity of the femme fatale style sample juxtaposed with the assurance of One Sixth’s flow is a moving combination. With multiple interpretations, One Sixth is somewhat of an alluring enigma.
Brimming with heartfelt professions, Electronic Mail is a magnum opus, a work of art, crafted by a true connoisseur of his genre.
Track Listing Electronic Mail Round the Sun Sick – Feat. Mantra and Maundz SMS (Six Million Stories) Around You Electrolude 1 LOL (Love or Lust) Let Me Know VHS (Virtual Hot Stepper) Crossed Wires – Feat. Lotus, The Tongue and Candice Monique The Night Market Electrolude 2 Think of You – Feat. Class A and Dyl Thomas System Error #HTTP – Feat. Fluent Form and Raven Quartz
Born in Australia but raised in Namibia, One Sixth is an African-Australian who is emerging as one of Australian hip hops freshest talents. Schooled in Africa until 18, he recently returned to Australia to experience a new life. Now based in Melbourne, One Sixth boasts regular appearances with respected groups Illzilla, Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, The Mega Horns, Polo Club, Black Jesus and his crew Pang Productions.
One Sixth has been Melbourne’s best kept secret for too long. In August 2012 the brilliant young lyricist will release his debut album Electronic Mail through local indie label Pang Productions together with Obese Distribution. We have already heard the brilliant first single from the album Electronic Mail titled Round The Sun, One Sixth now brings you the second single from this hotly anticipated albumand the track is called LOL (Love Or Lust). LOL (Love Or Lust) has been released alongside a killer filmclip once again executed by the team over at Full Clip.
One Sixth’s debut LP Electronic Mail will be available August 24th. You can pre-order now through Soul Clap Recordshere.
From the depths of Melbourne, the highly respected rapper and venomous author, Tornts, is back with his highly anticipated LP, Concrete Slang. Broken Tooth Entertainment’s most prolific MC returns with a hard-hitting dose of reality rap and imagery riddled visions of city life in 2012.
Explain to us the concept behind the title of your new album Concrete Slang and how that relates to the tracks on the album? I set out to do an album that had a lot real life rap content and story type joints about living in Melbourne…so ‘Concrete Slang’ relates to what I’m rapping/writing about…life in the city and how I relate to it. Out of all the albums I’ve done this is the joint that I think is the most killer. It definitely shows the evolution of my style.
How long have you been working on Concrete Slang? I worked on the album for just over a year and at the same time it was getting mixed and engineered along the way. I ended up recording about 27 joints haha but cut it down to 16. Those other joints will end up coming out but on different projects or for download.
Broken Tooth Entertainment is the label you’ve been a part of for many years now. What’s it mean to you being an artist on the BTE roster and how does that flow on down to the final product you release? Well I had the very first release on BTE back in early 03 and it meant a lot that they backed me and helped me get product out there properly. I’m proud of the music that has come out through the label and we have definitely been pioneers in street level/hardcore rap coming out in Australia. It’s good to have a label behind you and one that has always given me freedom to release whatever music I wanted to do.
For those that picked up your last LP The Deadbrain Diaries, how does Concrete Slang differ from that release or should heads expect something in the same vein? Concrete Slang is a better album in my opinion. I put so much focus and writing in to it and the content I think is more complex and full of real life joints and story tracks. I fucked around with my delivery on this album too, going hard in the booth on some tracks, backing off a little on some joints… you know fuckin with my vocals to see how I could switch it up. The mixing/engineering by 2Bladez takes it to a new level too…sounds real pro. I set out to do an album that stands up internationally rap wise and production wise and I think that’s been achieved.
For this release you’ve sourced beats from around the country and also internationally, was this a big change-up for yourself? Yeah in the last few years I’ve been working with a few different producers/beatmakers it adds another angle to my tracks, I think its good to vary it up and show you can spit over any beat. I’ve got Beat Butcha from UK, Ciph Barker from Holland, WIK from Melbourne, Nebs from Sydney, 2Bladez and some others I’ve been working with.
The track City Life is a dark tale of Melbourne city living. How do you find living in Melbourne? Is there a touch of a love/hate relationship there? I love living in Melbourne man, I moved around a lot when I was a kid but Melbourne’s my home, in the sense I’ve lived here way longer than anywhere else. In the track ‘City Life’ yeah I’m, talking about those days when you just think fuck, look around there’s a lot of stress and paranoia around the place and I’m gonna write about it…it should be written about you know. it’s a universal track man people overseas in other cities could relate to what I’m writing about as well.
You’ve always had a dark and hard-hitting style and the track Venom is no different. What were some of your inspirations for this album? Venom is more of a straight up dis/battle rap joint taking foes out type shit hey, more of what I’m notorious for. My inspiration for this album was setting out to do some ‘life rap’ shit and do a few story type joints too. Melbourne inspires me daily and the people and shit that I see in general. I write with a lot of imagery and description in my verses.
A clip dropped a few weeks back for one of the lead singles titled Traumatic Cinema. The track deals with some pretty heavy issues. Why did you pick this track to apply the Full Clip treatment and what was the motivation behind this menacing track? I showed Heata from Full Clip who’s a good mate of mine and in my crew some joints off the album and we both agreed straight away there had to be a clip for that joint! Traumatic Cinema…it says it all really. I started writing to that beat from WIK and ended up writing two nutso verses about kids getting revenge on their parental figures who abused them. It turned out so sick that clip! My motivation comes from knowing some kids like that who would have loved to have got revenge and I think that kind of subject matter should be talked about .
We see a mammoth posse track feat. Jake Biz, Ciecmate, Gaz Hazard, Fluent Form, Briggs & Bigfoot. In your opinion what makes a quality posse track? Yeah dope track that one…well I reckon for a quality posse track you have to get the talent on there and rappers that are varied and from different hoods/areas but speaking on a similar theme. Each spitter gotta carry their own weight and add some style up in the mix.
How did you go about selecting the guests on this album? All the guest rappers on the album are either crew or friends of myself who I respect on all levels and also who I thought would add some extra style and content to the album. They all on some similar steez but different angle type shit heh
On the cover of Concrete Slang there’s a picture of you showing a bit of ink, did you what to tell us a bit about your tatts? Well my first tattoo was a Decimation Recordings tattoo I wrote myself and got a fella I know at a shop to do up for me and I just kept going on from there. They all mean something to me, got some quotes off my tracks on there, got a whole Hells Burn Melbourne theme on one arm. There are too many others to go into here, this could sound like a Picture mag interview if I ain’t careful haha Basically they all link into my writing and my fucked up psyche.
There has been quite a bit of discussion on the state of Hip Hop in Australia of late, whats are your opinions on those who choose to rap over boom bap style tracks to those who go for more of the dance styled beats? Everyone does their thing, fuck everyone’s got an opinion haha but it would be boring if everyone did the same rap that’s for sure. I like more new 2012 sounding production that you tend to hear in UK gangster rap shit or new NY or Texas / Down South production than boom bap joints. I used to rap over them joints but I like to keep it moving and evolve and progress.
From the depths of Melbourne, the highly respected rapper and venomous author, Tornts, is back with his highly anticipated LP, Concrete Slang. Broken Tooth Entertainment’s most prolific MC returns with a hard hitting dose of reality rap and imagery riddled visions of city life in 2012.
Since he exploded on to the scene in 2003 with his groundbreaking first album Adding Insult to Injury, his uncompromising approach has inspired young hopefuls nationwide. Concrete Slang is another chapter in the evolution of Tornts’ undisputed originality, as he continues to grow in his style, delivery, content, and as an artist. Stark and confronting, and always pushing boundaries, he has refined and honed his style of story telling narratives and rebellious social commentary to a new level. Tornts has garnered the reputation as a unique voice for the growing under-class of our sprawling cities and those who are downtrodden and frustrated with their place in society, and that voice is one that is truly to be reckoned with. This is the Australia that most people choose not to see, crime, violence, poverty, drug problems, racism, dispossession, and a general apathy and anger at a society that increasingly ignores some sections of itself. The production is powerful, with modern synth laced beats from himself, UK’s Beat Butcha (Mobb Deep, Lloyd Banks, Brad Strut), Holland’s Ciph Barker (Killah Priest), Melbourne’s own Wik (Crate Cartel), Sydney’s Nebs (Kerser, That’s Them), and 2Bladez (Audio Zombie Productions). The heavy production line-up lends a varied, contemporary, and immense background for his aggressive wordplay and visual verses.
Known for his vigilance in providing a visual aesthetic to his gripping tales, the critically acclaimed and highly praised video clip (and single) Traumatic Cinema, is a vivid revenge tale of abused youth. The song is a powerful account of the issues faced daily by a forgotten segment of our society. The album delves deeper into the mind of a story teller, with such tracks as City Life – which depicts his street tainted visions of life in the Melbourne of ‘cold steel eyes and paranoid minds’ – and Undercover Maggot, a real life account of an undercover police and deceptive entrapment. The contrast is stark when highly personal stories of his life and dark past, such as The Rain and Rise Up, hit hard while anthems such as Danger feat. fellow cohort Diem and the cinematic tale of Smack Dust feat. Brad Strut add further impact. Any listener can tell that Concrete Slang is not your typical local rap album, but an evolved masterpiece from a veteran rapper, considered by many to be the most original and important voice of underground hip hop in Australia.
Track Listing 1. Wandering Blocks 2. Traumatic Cinema 3. Danger – Feat. Diem 4. City Life 5. Undercover Maggot 6. Venom 7. Smack Dust – Feat. Brad Strut 8. The Rain 9. Soldier 10. As The World Spins 11. Shadows And Swine – Feat. Kid Selzy, Illuminate And Gutz 12. Stalk These Streets 13. Keep That Mouth Shut – Feat. Jake Biz, Ciecmate, Gaz Hazard, Fluent Form, Briggs And Bigfoot 14. Rise Up 15. Eight Bar Crime – Feat. Hosper The Horrorble 16. No Escape
