1 minimix for 2 parties done by LG Fritz. The parties are being thrown by Purebase Entertainment who are busy doing an excellent job of easing the underground music scene into the notoriously commercial Claremont!
Some sick drink specials on for this one, 2 for 1 all night, some cocktails for the chicks at 1am and FREE shots for all at 2am, so don't dare leave early!
Rabotik have been making some serious waves in a short time. The trick? Some cracking production and networking in all the right places we say! We found out about them via Kyle Watson's shout out a few weeks ago.
They've basically sprung onto the scene with 4 tracks which are available for download on their Fb page, so head on over there, click "like" and grab those tracks!!
We going to feature our favourite of the Rabotik tracks called The Kave. Some awesome grinding Dubstep thats has a real party warming up feel to it, really nice!
The rest of the tracks can of course be found on their Soundcloud page, so get to checking those out. Right now press play have a listen and read on for some more Rabotik info!
MTTM: Ok, so Rabotik has just burst to our attention pretty much out of nowhere, but listening to the production quality of your tracks and some of the big names punting you guys, something tells us you have been around the block so to speak.
Rabotik: Ye, between us we are lucky enough to have quite a fair amount of production experience. It's great that Rabotik has been received so well and especially so early on, with some big supporters already on board.
Rabotik: To be honest we just bounced a few names between us over a ciggie and came up with Rabotik. We both liked it and we think it translates our style of music pretty well, so it stuck!
Rabotik: Both of us stay in Johannesburg in South Africa, so it's easy to hook up in the studio and write music in the same room as opposed to, say, an international collaboration.
MTTM: So Dubstep and Drum & Bass seem to be your thing, the genre's are doing REALLY well down in Cape Town, how are things in Joburg?
Rabotik: It's picking up in Joburg a bit, although it still has a fair amount to go. Dubstep has really only started making waves in the SA scene over the past year or two. There are only a few parties scattered here and there at the moment, but we're hoping we can change that.
MTTM: What gear/software you got hiding in the studio?
Rabotik: We both swear by Mac, and either write our tracks in Logic or Cubase and make use of FXpansion Geist. Software-wise we both love the Native Instruments range, and the FabFilter plugins are also a hit. On the monitor side of things we produce on a set KRK's, often using our Access Virus as hardware to fill in the gaps!
MTTM: Do you guys have any tracks planned for release in the near future?
Rabotik: We do indeed. We've piqued the interest of a local label based in Cape Town, so we're working on an EP for them at the moment. Watch this space!
MTTM: How can someone who wants to know more get in contact with Rabotik?
Rabotik: Any questions/requests/promos can be sent straight to us personally through our email: rabotikmusic@gmail.com. Of course the links to our Fb fanpage are provided, anywhere you see the Rabotik name!
So there is this Pioneer DJ Lady Lea Remix Competition running, its remixes of Lady Lea tracks. They gave the contestants a bunch of songs to choose from off of her new album.
More details are slightly hard to come by and the voting process is a bit of mystery as well, but we are under the impression that you follow the link provided here (click link, or open the link found below the the Soundcloud waveform) and comment on the track. This means you have to be a Soundcloud account holder of course, so it's fairly hard to get the general public involved in the voting. We can advise music lovers who are not DJ/producers to open a Soundcloud account in anycase as its a great way to follow/comment/keep up to date with your favourite DJ's and producers. It will also allow you to vote for Pascal & Pierce's sick remix of Catch Me If You Can, got a real Tech feel but keeping to P&P's electro roots, very very nice indeed and most certainly deserves the WIN!!
We've had a bit of a wake-up call yesterday due to the Dansville Competition we are running.
The concept is of course very closely modelled on something Brick City have been doing for a while now and I think in hindsight we really should have mentioned that our idea was inspired by what BrickCity have done.
Just to let followers of our Blog know just how BrickCity has influenced us from way back when, here's a little history lesson!
JoNNY RoBoTIX entered the Brick City voting process some month's ago and recieved a vote from one LG Fritz, someone who he had not begged and pleaded with to go and vote, someone he in-fact did not even know and so a friendship was born.
Soon enough they were brain storming idea's on how to best get peoples attention and how to get as many people to listen to their music without asking to much time and effort of them. Enter Das Kapital.
Das Kapital, who had played at a past Brick City, was doing 10 minute minimixes on a Monday just for the fun of it, for shit's n giggles really. His minimixes are what inspired what you see before you today, using 10 minute minimixes to better promote yourself as a DJ with, just to grab the attention of a busy fan and if they like that snippet they can investigate further.
Well, I'm kinda thinking that you get the picture and that without Brick City these 3 may never have crossed paths and you wouldn't be reading this right now!
So big ups to Kennedy & Bruce Willis?? for giving the up and comers something to GO for and hoping they continue to do so in the future!!
ILLtastic will be debuting his newest beat 'BrazILL (Part 2)' at Fuck ItIt's Free this Saturday and this one is his best yet! It's not yet released, but will be before the gig on Saturday! Be sure to catch it on his Facebook and Soundcloud pages:
MTTM: ILLtastic? Bad experience with a bowl of rice!? Tell us about the name man!
ILLtastic: It was originally rap music 2 and a half years ago which is why ILL is in use. I didn't really put a lot of effort into choosing a name because I didn't see myself ever making good music.
MTTM: Do you DJ to showcase your tracks, or produce to get more DJing gigs?
ILLtastic: Producing is the reason I started. DJing is also rad though.
MTTM: We see you playing what we believe is your 1st outdoor festival, tell us more about the gig.
ILLtastic: Yeah I am hitting up Ramfest Cpt on March 4th-6th and of course it's gonna be fat. Banging with Tom Deluxx (France), Haezer, Die Antwoord and other insane acts is always a treat especially on those delicious sound systems. I'm sure its gonna be a cool night, those parties always rock- I'LL make sure of it.
MTTM: Can you imagine what DJ's and producers must have gone through in the day's before FB, soundcloud etc, how does it make you feel being able to reach a global audience and have your tracks featured on international sites and blogs?
ILLtastic: It's really great to have a cool friend like the internet. Soundcloud are legends of note. Fifteen years ago I would never had been able to get fans in over fifty countries without a label. I don’t know how my music ends up in Iceland or Columbia but I think its fantastic. And I can hear their music too! Thanks internet.
MTTM: Thank you indeed! What sort of gear do you do your business on?
ILLtastic: Ableton Live 8 and an Akai APC40 midi controller.
MTTM: We would have to say that you and Das Kapital are at the fore-front of the up and coming Electro producers in SA, any chance of a collab?
ILLtastic: Thanks man- I am very proud of us and he has done well with his Hypem No 1. We are defenitely on the up. We'll have a production session and if magic happens then why not
MTTM: Any other genre's that you might be wanting to or are going to be giving a bash?
ILLtastic: Sure, I've made some minimal, dubstep, trance and tech at times- maybe one day I'll work on those songs on do something crazy. But that wont be for a while, digging filthy filthy electro at the moment.
ILLtastic: Be sure to catch BrazILL (Part 2) an orignal that I'll be releasing in the next few days on my facebook page. This song is very next-level for me, I’ve never been so amped to release a new track before.
This one is in by someone we all getting to know rather well, Half-Life, doing his usual filthy grimey Dubstep.
You can catch him in action this coming Saturday at the Fuck It, It's Free party at The Bassment Club playing 12 till 1. The Bassment Club is below FTV.
More info on this competition can be found here----<!
An awesome Electro remix of a Lily Allen track called The Fear. Sounds like it could be a nightmare but the production duo Sparrow pull it off somewhat!
SP: Sparrow is an electro duo based in Cape Town. It's comprised of Gareth H. Graham (me) and Gavin Gillowey, and we both produce our own original tracks, as well as remixing others and DJing.
SP: Well, I had for a while been thinking about names, as well as listening to a lot of Sarah Mclachlan's cover of Blackbird by The Beatles, so the idea of "Black Bird" or "The Black Bird" popped into my mind, but when I proposed the name to Gavin, he (and everybody else) assured me it was a terrible name, which I now can see, it is. Not wanting to stray too far from the avian theme, I came up with a bunch of other ideas, one of which was "Sparrow". We then decided that it was the best of a bad bunch and that is the name that stuck, lol.
MTTM: What sort of genre's you guys looking to cover?
SP: We originally started out as wanting to play pretty much primarily dirty electro, but our influences are so diverse that we're kinda cover a wide spectrum of electronic music. From 8-bit chiptuney stuff all the way up to massive, orchestral stuff. Gavin's background is in metal, and mine is in electronica, so our stuff (in particular the drums) have quite a big metal feel to them, but they are still dancable.
SP: We're both self-confessed gear nerds. In the studio at the moment we're running Reason and Reaper as our software front-end, with a couple of VSTs which we occasionally use to flesh out the synth sections. Hardware wise, we use a Korg microKontrol keyboard for laying down all the synthlines and doing some of the automation. We also use a BCR2000 to record some automation too. That's all running on a Line6 UX1 audio interface.
Our live setup for our DJ shows is basically a Macbook Pro running Traktor Pro. We use a BCD3000 for mixing, juggling cue points, EQing and filtering. Then we also have the BCR2000 connected to Traktor controlling 4 FX decks and all their parameters. Finally all of that goes throu a Korg miniKP effects unit for some on-the-fly filtering and flangering. We're looking at also incorporating our Novation Launchpad at some point.
We're working on a new version of our live show, where we would play predominantely our own stuff with some real instruments while remixing on the fly, but we're keeping the details of that under wraps for now.
SP: For the studio, I'd love to get a few analog synths. A lot of older stuff, like a Korg MS-20, as well as some new stuff like the new Moog SlimPhatty, and maybe a better audio recording interface, with a nice big desk and some decent mics so we can lay down some vocal stuff.
SP: We're just looking to play out as much as possible, and we're busy working on our debut EP, which should be coming out in the next few months.
MTTM: What would be your ulitmate gig? Including DJ's you'd wana play alongside.
SP: It would be an amazing experience to play alongside someone like Soulwax, who are a massive inspiration for us. But we have so many amazing local DJs and producers, so to play with some guys like Haezer, Battle Beyond the Stars, Double Adapter - they are all great.
So this also going to be a new idea of ours, along with the new SOTD......... Brand Focus! Pretty much is what it says, we going to bring you some indepth info on the brands that are out there and related to the EDM industry.
First up is someone well known to us here at MTTM. Infact he is part of the team, so why the hell not help promote his own brand: Crunch Design
We had a lil chat with him to find out what it is he has planned for Crunch Design and what interesting things he has on the go!
MTTM: When did you realise you were going to be an artist?
CD: Well, I was born into an arty family. My first memory was my mother giving me a hiding, because my box of newly bought crayons weren't used on my colouring, but rather on, what I thought at the time was a masterpiece along the walls in our hallway. After that I just kept the interest until about 3 years ago when I really discovered my passion for it and carried on working on my somewhat unusual style.
MTTM: Describe your drawing style for us and what influenced it?
CD: I like to try and keep the gritty hand-drawn look in my illustrations. The topics I work with are pretty random, and the drawings that accompany them usually feature grotesque characters based on people and imaginary creatures.
CD: My illustrations all begin with a blank sheet of paper. When inspiration hits I begin to draw ideas and outlines with pencil. If I'm happy with the roughs, I redraw them neatly with pencil and go over them with a selection of pens and fineliners. They are then scanned and cleaned up, vectored, and coloured with some minor digital editing.
CD: I started off doing a few designs for some of my friends' bands. Although my designs now seem to have blossomed in the Dubstep scene after entering a design competition for the international Dubfreaks crew from the UK. I recently did album artwork for The Wheeze EP by another UK based Dubstep producer and DJ, T-Vicious. Furthermore, I design for you guys here at MTTM since you have given me the opportunity to be part of the team.
MTTM: Glad to have you onboard man! Future plans for your artworks?
CD: In the future I'd love to work with more Dubstep producers, because, apart from the fact that my art gets showcased with the music I love so much, I end up getting the EP's for free - that's just a bonus! I'd also love to do a lot more personal work so that I can have my very own exhibition in the next few years.
To promote my Facebook page I've put together a Dubstep Minimix featuring some really hard and filthy Dubstep tunes by some of my favourite producers.
Hope you enjoy it!
Right, so the 1st minimix entry is in for the Dansville Competition!
It's by Qi, a Drum & Bass/Dubstep DJ/producer from Somerset West.
If the standard of this mix is kept throughout the competition, then we are in for a SICK ride. We seriously can't wait to hear what else is going to be thrown our way!!
