Canberra producer & emcee duo D’Opus & Roshambo have teamed up again to bring out their long-awaited second LP Past Time, which includes the promotional single Come Find Out featuring Chanel Cole. The album will be released on April 8 on Mercury Switch Lab through Inertia.
The duo have drawn from a pool of Australian artists to collaborate on songs throughout Past Time, with Hau (Koolism), Muph (Muph & Plutonic), Dialectrix, Scott Burns, and Mdusu all contributing guest verses to the album. Chanel Cole, member of trip hop group Spook, provides her unique voice on the tracks Bring Happiness and Come Find Out. Nearly three years on since their successful last album The Switch, the duo describe the evolution of themes on Past Time:“‘The Switch’ was, for the most part, a kind of story-telling record, soaked in the experience of melancholy, the darkness of regret, and of disappointment in self. This album [Past Time] is drenched in feelings of relief, happiness, contentment, excitement and opportunity. It is a record about moving on and traveling to a brighter future.”
Tracklist:
01. All I Need
02. Come Find Out (w/ Chanel Cole)
03. No One (I Can Depend On) (w/ Hau)
04. Sound Is A Weapon
05. Action Montage
06. Left To Right (The D’O Funk)
07. Bring Happiness (w/ Chanel Cole)
08. Addictive (w/ Jeff Hann)
09. My Space (w/ Muph)
10. Run To The Sun (w/ Junior)
11. The Push Over
12. Tell Her No (w/ Mdusu, Scott Burns & Dialectrix)
13. Terrorist Is Us
To celebrate the new album the guys are giving away a free album tune Left To Right (The D’O Funk) thanks to the good people at Inertia. It’s a nice and simple groove, sending dedication to the DJ (in this case Mr. D’Opus himself). We hope you like the tune and please feel free to download it by visiting the link below and share it with your friends.
D’Opus & Roshambo are set to unleash some new material, and are spearheading it with their new single Come Find Out, featuring Chanel Cole on the hook (alternatively, off the hook, depending on how you look at it). Ross Garrett (D.Opus) and Rowan Thomson (Roshambo) met in 2003; D’Opus already an established DJ having supported everyone from the Jungle Brothers, Q*Bert, Mr. Thing and De La Soul, while emcee Ro had built up an impressive reputation for spreading the hip hop gospel through his long-running show on 2XX FM. Taking inspiration from the golden era of hip hop, classic funk and contemporary drum .n. bass, Ro & D.O came up with tight blend of story driven hip hop and rich musical diversity.
Having worked together for only a few months the lads released a promotional single The Question, which received national airplay on Triple J’s Hip Hop show. The duo’s first EP The Question was released in 2006 and distributed through legendary local imprint Obese Records. 2008 was a massive year for Ro & D.O, seeing the release of their full-length album The Switch (Mercury Switch/ Shogun).
Their single Million Dollar Bill proved to be a bona-fide Triple J favourite, spending a good portion of the year on high rotation, and being in the Top 100 most played songs on the station for the year. The duo received further support by being featured in JMag’s ‘Home & Hosed’ and Rosie’s Vox Pop saw her roaming the streets with Million Dollar Bill in hand. This culminated as D’Opus & Roshambo were chosen as part of Triple J’s Next Crop in November ’08 (alongside Cassette Kids, Pez, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Horrorshow, and Oh Mercy), with the second single The Basement, featuring Canberra indie-rockers Hancock Basement.
Far from being content with airwave representation, D’Opus & Roshambo played a flurry of shows in, supporting the likes of Krafty Kuts, Muph & Plutonic, TZU, Downsyde, Koolism, Low Budget and The Bamboos, and hitting the stage at Soundscape (Hobart) and Corinbank. Million Dollar Bill and The Basement also received rotation on ABC RAGE, JJJ TV and Channel V .
‘We’ve been very busy over the first few months of 2010 with a few major projects – the most significant of which is our second album ‘Past Time’which is nearing completion. It’s been another journey-and-a-half, but we are very happy with the way it is sounding and are very close to having it ready for release and giving it over to the people! Our second album has been a long time coming. It is the album I’ve wanted to make ever since I started this emcee thing. It is the type of record that has been in our minds waiting to be born and made real. Where ‘The Switch’ was about making the leap from EP to LP, from making casual songs to a full-blown full length record and taking ourselves more seriously, this new record will be our first cohesive album with a tangible theme at its core.
‘Come Find Out’ is the ‘we’re back’ and it is ‘business as usual’ tune – a throwback to the party braggadocio hip-hop tunes of old and paying homage to the classic Eric B & Rakim ‘def with the record’ concept, but with a modern D’O & Ro twist of course. It is about getting involved, getting into the vibe, checking out where our new sound is headed and joining us for the ride. Chanel jumps on board to give the hook an added disco-flavoured bounce and D’O's beat is full of thick rolling funk and a few surprises throw in for good measure.
2010 is upon us and D’Opus & Roshambo have something keen to share Come Find Out. You can grab the tune below or on the guys Triple J -Unearthed page here – don’t hesitate to drop a comment and let em know what ya think.
Hailing from Hobart – Australia’s southern-most capital city, mdusu (pronounced muh-DOO-soo) is one of Tasmania’s premier hip hop artists. Since his first live performance as an emcee in 2003, the MC/producer has built himself a reputation Australia-wide for quality recordings and raucous live shows, a feat which is all the more remarkable considering the isolation of his home town. In just a few short years, he has performed alongside acts such as De La Soul, Jurassic 5, Jungle Brothers, Z-Trip, Swollen Members,The Herd, Drapht, Funkoars, Muph & Plutonic etc. and can even lay claim to having shared a stage with Wolfmother (before the Grammy). Mdusu has also performed at every major music festival in Tasmania’s history (the Basin Concert, Gone South, the Southern Roots & Blues Festival, Soundscape & the Falls Festival), and has been a performer on over 10 albums as either a solo artist or band member since 1998.
As an emcee, mdusu earned his stripes through the freestyle & battle scenes, winning countless emcee battles across Tasmania, and performing solidly in battles across Melbourne. His lyrical skill has gained him respect amongst the leaders of the Australian hip hop scene, and has led to collaborations with many artists from around the world. mdusu is also an accomplished producer, having laced beats for almost every emcee in Tasmania during his 10 plus-years as a beatmaker. A skilled multi-instrumentalist, mdusu has spent more than half his life playing various instruments in live ensembles, and has toured Australia & around the Pacific Islands as far as Hawaii, playing many different styles of music.
In 2007, he produced two tracks for The Tongue’s debut, “Shock & Awe”, and supplied a verse to super-producer Chasm for his 2008 smash debut LP, “Beyond the Beat Tape”. The following year saw him drop verses on Dialectrix’s debut smash “Cycles of Survival”, and Astronomy Class’ second album “Pursuit of Happiness”, which was nominated for the “Best Urban/Hip Hop” Album of the 2009 ARIA awards. mdusu also produced a track for Obese Records’ signing Skryptcha on the DJ Flagrant-mixed mixtape “Who’s Got Next”.
In May 2008, mdusu and Tasmanian DJ Dameza released their groundbreaking sophomore LP, Can we get a soul clap? On May 10th (distributed by Obese Records). The album was picked up by Triple J, and helped mdusu&dameza become one ofTriple J’s Next Crop artists for 2008, an honour which is only bestowed upon 30 artists of all genres across Australia. The album was also made the Triple J Hip Hop Show “Album of the Week” (June 9th-15th).
In February 2009, mdusu embarked on his biggest challenge to date, to raise money for victims of the Victorian Bushfire: A 12-hour non-stop Freestyle Marathon. Not only did he manage this incredible and never-before tried feat, he raised over $1300 in the process, and set an unofficial world record (longest continuous freestyle rap) in the process.
After relocating to the Gold Coast for family reasons in July 2009, mdusu released his solo debut, “The Excess Baggage Mixtape” (available below) – which has over 500 downloads in just two weeks, and is currently putting together his debut solo producer album, which features some Australia’s best emcee’s, singers & DJs.
My new album is going to be the first solo effort I’ve ever done – all my previous stuff has been group stuff, so I’m excited as to take the leap of faith by myself, and see what happens. I’ve been working on it for about a year and a half now, and I’m just up to the stage of getting verses back from people and mixing the whole thing. Not sure if I’m going to approach any labels about it yet, but ideally I’ll be able to work out a licensing deal for release. Guests include: Muph, Solo, Louis Logic, Dialectrix, Jeswon of Thundamentals, Ozi Batla, Skryptcha, BVA, Scott Burns, Roshambo, The Tongue, Patto, Haunts of Choose Mics, Homebrew (NZ), Thorts, Class A, Syntax, Prime, Purpose, & Rigby, so it’s a real collaborative effort. It’s gonna be called Ex-Samples, and I’ll be handling all the production, so it’s a pretty massive undertaking.
Discography:
2010 – The Excess Baggage Mixtape – all verses and arrangement
2009 – Astronomy Class – Pursuit Of Happiness – Verse on “War Of The Worlds”
2009 – Who Got Next Mixtape – Production on Skryptcha “For You”
2008 – Dialectrix – Cycles of Survival – Verse on “The Takeover”
2008 – mdusu&dameza – can we get a soul clap? – Verses & all production
2008 – Chasm – Beyond The Beat Tape – Verse on “Cop a Lesson”
2008 – Unleash The Nugget – The Illustrated Guide to… EP – Drums & percussion
2007 – The Tongue – Shock & Awe – Production on “That Word” & “The Blues”
2007 – Heads of State – Making The Best Of What We’ve Got – Verses & all production
2006 – mdusu&dameza – sounds from our town – verses & all production
