Here we go people for the first allaussie hip hop review and its for theElefant Traks 10th anniversayr party Live at the Fourm DVD. As a part of the
Elefant Traks 10th Anniversary celebrations, a concert was held late in 2008
featuring performances from The Herd, Hermitude, Urthboy, Horrorshow, Unkle
Ho, Astronomy Class and The Tounge. The show was a one off and was
professionally filmed and recored.The subsequent fotage was turned into DVD
package that has a run time of 130mins and is jam packed with live
performances.
The DVD cover featurs artwork taken from all of the performing artists,
underlaying the Elefant Traks logo. Opening the case, your presented with a
nice A5ish sized booklet featuring photos, track list and credits.
Personally I would have liked to have seen a bit more effort placed into the
booklet. I could have imagined a cool profile on each band with extensive
photos of each. Additonally a write up on the Elefant Traks rise to become
one of Australias most influential hip hop labels, would have been an
interesting read to say the least.
Moving onto the DVD. Right from the start the production and presentation
reaks of quality. To watch The Herd live on my widesceen HD tv and 5.1ch
surround sound was an exciting experience.The menu of the DVD is split into
three different viewing sections; 1) The whole concert 2) Select groups 3)
Blondies photos.I found this an excellent way of navigating through the
menu.
After selecting the whole concert option, I was greated by none other then Elefant Traks emcee The Tongue. The Tongue had hosting duties for the night and did an exceptional job. In between sets, The Tongue would interact with the punters and also offer some of his own colour commentry on the events appearing on stage. This offered a nice mix throughout the DVD presentation.
As all performances were red hot, I am going mention below some worthy
moments worth checking out.
Unkle Hoe
Senator Jim on the Antena, this was amazing to see. Catch the cool antenna
mix at the end of the track Big Bag Rag.
Astronomy Class
The Tongue joins Astronomy Class on stage; Nuthin Nice, School Daze and A
Bright Tomorrow are all banging tracks. Gina Mitchell joins the guys on
stage for School Daze and is one fine looking women, with an even finer
vioce.
Urthboy
Urthboy, Jane Tyrrell and Elgusto don the pirate oufits for Urthboys set.
The Signal is hard to go past as a major highlight and the crowd get right
into it. The Tongues comment on Urthboys choice of outfit is a classic.
Horrorshow
Solo and Adit are set to release their second album Inside Story on October
2, but the song No Rides Left is still a favourite and the live version
didnt diasspoint.
The Tongue
One of my favorite Elefant Traks artists, the heavily rotated tracks Bad
Education and The Punch are clear stand outs.We look forward to seeing sine
big things from the Tongue in the near future. Stay tuned for more on this.
Hermitude
Hermitude bring some crazy beats. The end of Cartridge Kingz features a cool
keyboard and beat pad showdown from Elgusto and Dubs.
The Herd
How can I select a highlight from this set! Songs performed included, I was
Only 19, Burn Down The Parliament, The King Is Dead and 2020 amoung others.
The Herd really are a spectle that has to be seen live. This is as close as
it gets in your own lounge room.
All in all I must say we were quite impressed with the quality of the DVD,
both in production and sound quality. The high level of production clearly
makes up for the lack of effort with the booklet. The performances from each
of the Elefant Traks acts are large and can be enjoyed by the average aussie
music fan. As for an aussie hip hop DVD, I highly recommend this addition to
any aussie hip hop collection, It’s a must have. I give the Elefant Traks
10th Anniversary Party Live at The Forum DVD 4 out of 5.
If you would like to check out some of the performances on the DVD, Elefant
Traks has posted some clips on YouTube. You can check those out by following
the links below.
