Featuring members Levelheaded, Slats, Eslev, Ross Read and DJ Hacksaw, Adelaide Hills hip hop collective Full Tote Odds have announced they will release their debut album Place Your Bets through Obese Records on Tuesday, 16 November 2012.
With two already highly rotated and successful singles Southern Wind and What’s Going Down, the release of Place Your Bets is destined to ensure Full Tote Odds receive recognition as premier talents in the world of Australian hip hop. The new album documents an evolution and marks the group’s arrival at a destination of musical dexterity that has given them the ability to produce upbeat tunes that are both cleverly crafted and thoroughly infectious.
Their latest single, Adrenaline which will be released soon, is sure to repeat the success on the airwaves as its predecessors Southern Wind and What’s Going Down. With its insistent guitar line, world class flow and massive vocal hook, Adrenaline is sure to become a summer anthem and a live highlight when Full Tote Odds hit the road in early 2013 to promote the new album. Full Tote Odds release Place Your Bets on Obese Records on 16 November 2012.
Fresh out the gates comes Brisbane’s Verbill with Slice, the debut single from his forthcoming self titled EP. Produced by Nick One, Slice is the perfect introduction into the world of Verbill with its rolling bassline and smacking drums.
Verbill speaks his mind with pinpoint precision bringing Nick One’s soulful sample to life and proving his EP is something to be anticipated. Not one to do things by halves, Verbill has enlisted Selina Miles of Unity Sound & Visual (Director of music videos for Hilltop Hoods, The Funkoars, Vents) to direct the Slice music video.
You can purchase Slice now by following the link below. The Verbill EP is coming soon. You can check out Verbill’s recent appearance on Phat Tape Radio here.
Blasting out of the Adelaide Hills, Full Tote Odds are back with their second single, What’s Going Down. The iTunes-only track is accompanied by a slick filmclip produced and directed by Selina Miles and DJ Adfu from Unity Sound & Visual.
What’s Going Down takes a cheeky look at how using sex as a power trip invariably ends in disaster. The warm Sixties organ samples and live bass bring a head-bopping funk flavour which is complimented by the Buffalo Springfield inspired hook. Cuts by DJ Hacksaw add a classic hip hop touch to round off this catchy new song.
Building on the success of their first single Southern Wind, which reached #11 on the iTunes Hip Hop & RnB charts, Full Tote Odds recently appeared along side Regurgitator at the Margies Music Festival as part of the Margaret River Pro surfing carnival.
They were also blessed by a very special mash up treatment in the triple j studios by acapella quartet The Blanks from the hit TV show Scrubs. Full Tote Odds‘ full length album Place Your Bets will be dropping in the second half of 2012. Anticipation levels are high – this is one flutter you won’t regret.
By Trem1 – Wow! - Another crazy turnout this time in the city of churches. A couple weeks ago saw an amazing day at Clinic 116 with plenty heads, old and new swingin thru to cop the albs, have a beer & snag, check the visuals, get some shit signed and basically join in the festivities to help celebrate the album release.
Super duper shout out to Justin & the Clinic 116 massive for hosting a great day, my mans Delts & Motions for keepin the decks in check, Vans The Omega, Palmsy, Erbs & Ironlak for supplyin the slammin opticals, Snag Master Lewps n Paws for keepin the hotplates sizzlin, Selina, Leigh & Faz for capturing the moments on cam, Derringers, Jade Monkey and of course all of you who swung thru to say waddup throughout the arvo! Good times chillin with some new friends and re-aquainting with the old!Thanks for the supreme show of support ADL, I cant wait to hit back with the liveness early next year!Heavy duty shout to the homeboy who rolled thru requesting the tags on the VN Commodore and the fresh L.C Leg tat! Much Respect!
Congratulations to Vents with news this week his album Marked For Death snagged an ARIA nomination for ‘Best Urban Album’. Vents sophomore release Marked for Death was produced by Trials from The Funkoars, and the album features Golden Era label mates Hilltop Hoods, and Sesta from The Funkoars.
Also big congratulations to Trials who not only produced Vents’ – Marked For Death but also primarily produced 7 time ARIA nominee Drapht’s – The Life Of Riley album, including the track, Rapunzel which was also nominated for Single Of The Year. Coming soon from Vents a brand new film clip for the title track off his album Marked For Death. The clip is directed by Selina Miles who also directed History of the World, Rollin’ Balls and The Funkoars – Where I Am. Stay tuned!
You can catch The Funkoars and Vents on tour right now see dates below: Sun 16 Oct – QLD – Spotted Cow, Toowoomba Thu 20 Oct – NSW – Beresford Hotel, Sydney Fri 28 Oct – VIC – Bended Elbow, Geelong Sat 29 Oct – VIC – Karova Lounge, Ballarat Fri 04 Nov – TAS – V6 @ Grenada Tavern, Hobart Sat 05 Nov – TAS – Hotel New York, Launceston Sat 26 Nov – SA – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide
Vents also will be appearing at Homebake in Sydney on Dec 3rd
Adelaide circa 2003, three MC’s and one DJ release their debut full-length album under the name the Funkoars – Things haven’t been quite right since! They’re back! After going to ground 12 months ago, the Funkoars have resurfaced to deliver Where I Am the first single from their fourth LP The Quickening through Golden Era Records.
Not only can you purchase the single on iTunes, but you now you can watch their brand spankin new music video for Where I Am directed by Selina Miles from Unity Sound & Visual. With scenes shot at up to 2000 frames per second by Eran Dolev (Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, Superman Returns, Mao’s Last Dancer) using a Photron Fastcam BC2, the Where I Am music video delivers cutting edge footage of the ‘Oars at their best!
CLICK HERE to buy the Where I Am single pack that includes the official Funkoars ‘You Go Remake’ on iTunes now Catch the Funkoars performing live at: Sprung Festival, Brisbane – 15th October Fat As Butter Festival, Newcastle – 22nd October Full national album launch tour to be announced shortly
Golden Era Records artist Vents is set to release his highly anticipated second album Marked for Death which will be in stores and online on May 13, 2011. The first single History Of The World has already been released to a whirlwind response. We catch up with Vents below for a quick chat about his new LP, the release of the single and much more.
You have just dropped the first single from the soon to be released sophmore LP titled ‘Marked For Death’. The first single ‘History Of The World’ is a cracker. Tell us a little bit about the concept behind this track? It’s been around three years since I wrote that, but I guess I’m trying to convey the idea that the history of society is really the history of the class struggle. The class struggle is the motor that drives society; it’s a historical “process”, if you like. And really, if you’re born working-class, you have three options: work, crime, or the dole. And even if you find the dole a desirable alternative, it is getting much less realistic as an option. So most of us (where I’m from anyway) will take a job in the call centre, or an insurance firm, or retail, doing work that we most likely have no control over, and probably bringing us very little joy. We spend most of our lives trying to get away from “work”; recreation is just time spent winding down from work. I could go on, but the song’s really about what we call “work” in a capitalist society, and the alienation and unhappiness that it produces in individuals. I’m not saying to tell your boss to, “go fuck himself”, just that if it gets a few more people thinking critically about things, I’m happy.
Why did you pick ‘History Of The World’ as the first single? I originally suggested another song as the first single but it was inferred that radio would be more inclined towards spinning ‘History of the World’ if we picked that one, so we changed the single. We got put into rotation… radio has played it a few times so far. You do what you can.
Does the ‘History Of The World’ give us an accurate taste of what the full album is going to be like, concept, beat and lyric wise? Trials and myself are probably five years older since we made the last album, and we love what we do – the artform – and we’ve both continued to make music together during that time so this time around the beats are better, the ideas are more evolved, the album is more varied – I can’t wait until we can put the whole thing out there for people to hear. Lyrically, I covered a pretty wide range of topics on this album – alienation, depression, drug use, militarism, technology – sometimes in the same song. Adfu is a now a full-time member of the group now and has had a huge influence on the overall sound of the album in every department.
May 13th is the date slated for release of the LP ‘Marked For Death’. Was there any particular reason behind the release date? Are you at all superstitious? I don’t have much say in things beyond the creative side of things. Which suits me just fine. I’d like to think I’m not superstitious in the slightest. Raised pretty Catholic, though, so I probably carry some of that around with me.
‘History Of The World’ dropped the on iTunes the other day, followed by a killer film clip. Tell us a little about the people behind this great clip? The film clip was a collaboration between quite a few parties. I worked with videographer Selina Miles who suggested an infographic video that bombarded the viewer with facts relevant to the song. A friend of mine who runs a blog (slackbastard.anarchobase.com) compiled the data, which I took to Adelaide-based visual effects company Resin, who created the motion graphics. The goal was to inform and engage viewers, encourage them to discuss and even argue, and I’m happy with how it turned out.
One of the stats that really caught our attention, was that 1 in 4 Australians illegally downloaded content in 2010. What are you views on downloading illegal content. Firstly as an artist and secondly as a consumer? We see a clear argument for downloading information when certain groups and companies try to control the flow of information and products. What’s your thoughts on this? Good question. Firstly, as an artist, I encourage everyone to download my music and hopefully they play it to their little brothers, out the car window at full blast, at school, etc. I figure, the more people who hear it, the better. Also, I haven’t really ever seen any money whatsoever from CD sales so I am usually pretty insistent that people download my music even when they tell me they went out of their way to buy it. Whatever small amount of money I’ve seen has been from touring. At the same time, I recognise there are certain contradictions inherent in being an artist and being a commodity. In order to exist – or survive at all – you need money. You probably need a record label. The label needs money, or more importantly, a return on their investment. I’m (now) lucky enough to be on a label which is owned by friends who don’t really have exploiting artists as their main source of income – it’s more of a hub for all of us to put out music through – it’s something that feels like it’s “ours”. So yeah, we have to sell some records. That’d be the ideal scenario. At the same time, I would never get on anyone for downloading my shit. If they were selling it, it might be a different story. Secondly, as a consumer, I think it’s great – awesome. I download shit all the time.
You’ve just mentioned Golden Era Records, tell us a little bit more about the set up there. Golden Era is our record label – Hilltop Hoods, Funkoars, Vents, Briggs. It’s our new home, so to speak. Suffa helps me with everything. I basically confer with him before I make any decision regarding music. He is superego. Debris lets me hang out at his house quite a lot – he’s also a good friend. The other guy is Pressure – a strange and mysterious person with a shaved head who I still think he is probably the best MC in the country, for what it’s worth.
Will we be seeing a national Marked For Death tour this year? Yes, Adfu and myself will be doing capital cities sometime around mid-June most likely.
Over the whole recording period, your time in Take Away studios and filming clips etc what is your favorite part of the whole album making process? Just hanging out with mates and creating something that we’re proud of. It’s a good buzz. It’s one thing that I can say for certain I am sure life is really about. Recording with Trials is good times – he is a hilarious motherfucker. His mind is always completely on his work and I trust him 100% with regards to music. That, and listening to a track when it’s done!
Most enjoyable track to record for the album and why? Probably ‘Marked for Death’. That’s probably my favourite song and the first track on the album. I am very proud of that one. Lyrically I think it’s one of the best things I’ve written, and the beat is disgusting.
We recently saw Vents appear in the Rappertag with a few mates. Did you have fun doing that? I was in Melbourne staying with Conrad, (the drummer in the video) and I got tagged by K21, who funnily enough I used to live with for a year. I highly recommend it! Contrary to popular belief, the Porsche 911 was there purely for its use-value: we had the windows wound down and the beat was playing out of the car stereo. Pretty sure Bunks and them just killed it though. Thanks a lot, Billy.
Final Comments, words of wisdom or hello’s to ya mum! Thank you! Be kind to people. ‘Marked for Death’ comes out May 13th.
Golden Era Records with Hilltop Hoods present the Mixtape 2011, hosted by Trials and Mixed by DJ Madcap. Mixtape 2011 features all of the Golden Era Crew with a few special guests including Vents, DJ ADFU and Ash Grunwald.
Here’s Vents with a snippet from The Discrete Charm Of The Bourgeoisie The track appears on the Golden Era Mixtape 2011 Filmed & edited by Selina Miles.
1. Intro 2. Sesta & Suffa – 99 Bottles 3. Pressure – The Fire 4. Briggs – Let It Burn 5. Funkoars – Lock Me Up 6. Vents – Love Song 7. DJ Reflux, DJ Debris & DJ ADFU – Portion Of The Raw 8. Funkoars Feat. Ash Grunwald – Little Did I Know 9. Vents & Trials Feat. Mortar – Discrete Charm Of The Bourgeois 10. Briggs Feat. Suffa – The Wrong Brother (Remix) 11. Briggs – The Peoples Champ 12. Vents – Existential Absurdity 13. Trials, Sesta, Suffa & Briggs – Lunchroom table 14. Hilltop Hoods Feat. Trials – Debris Told Me 15. Interlude 16. Hilltop Hoods – Chase That Feeling 17. Golden Era – The Funkiest 18. Funkoars – All We Need/Vamoose/Where I Am (Medley) 19. Vents – Rollin’ Balls 20. Trials – Baby C’mon
SOFLES | Adelaide exhibition recap. A couple of photos from Sofles’ solo exhibition at Bull N Bear in Adelaide last week + some black and white sketches.Photos thanks to Selina Miles.
1/6 | Ironlak freestyle @ Obese Records Store 1/6 Ironlak freestyle at Obese Records store (Melbourne). Another day at Obese Records with 1/6 dropping a freestyle about the colour range from Ironlak paint. Can you pick all the colours mentioned? Download the 1/6 mixtape here
Members of the Ironlak Family traveled to Cairns, North Queensland (Australia) to paint at the Taste-y Graff Jam. Phibs and Shem from Melbourne made the journey too.
Thanks go out to Josie and the crew from Taste-y for making it all possible. Much respect, Taste-y have been holding it down for the hip hop heads in QLD since we can remember.
