Hermitude’s The Villain Tour featuring Fishing – Oxford Art Factory (11.02.13)

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Liza Moscatelli

‘Hermitude’s rise over the past year has been remarkable. The duo recently took out FBi SMAC Awards for Best Live Music Act and Best Song (HyperParadise Flume Remix) and were shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize.’

It’s inevitable that once you hear Hermitude‘s first Sydney show of the Villain Tour was sold out, then the second, you’d only hope they would make a another one. Especially after hearing they also sold out in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, one was considering to go the extra mile to make it. But gladly a third and final show was announced in Sydney on Sunday night at the Oxford Art Factory.

Hermitude were supported by Sydney-based band, Fishing. I’ve heard a lot about them lately and was pleased to finally see what the fuss was about. They filled the night with dope MPC generated beats and in turn – a room full of sweaty people. They were definitely the appetisers for the night making sure we warmed up for the headline act. Full of energy and charisma, Fishing was definitely a winner to the crowd. I enjoyed the playlist in between sets too. Pulled out my iPhone and Shazaamed nearly every song. Never heard of some of the artists that popped up but enjoyed the electro-hip hop infused tracks bringing heavy bass and head-banging beats. Some of the tracks included ‘Yaow!’ (Baauer), ‘Cbat’ (Hudson Mohawke), ‘F**kin’ Problems’ (A$AP Rocky feat. Drake & 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar), ’110%’ (Jessie Ware) and ‘Gold Lion’ (Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

Fishing finished off their set which seemed so suddenly, but politely acknowledged the band that people came to see. I made a slight transition from the front to the back of the OAF and was greeted by familiar late-comers who walked into the venue and clarified – ‘We’re here to see Hermitude’s show!’. It was apparent as the venue started to look like a can of sardines – heat and condensation kicked in and the crowd were pumped as ever.

Hermitude played everything from their earlier tracks to the new school stuff from the Hyperparadise LP. The highlight tracks were…. pretty much everything from ‘Get In My Life’, ‘Hyperparadise’ as well as the Flume remix, ‘All Of You’, ‘Flood’, ‘Golden’ and ‘Cloud City’. What went off was ‘Speak Of The Devil’ with guest Chaos Emerald. The Oxford Art Factory incorporated a brilliant light show especially during ‘Speak Of The Devil’.

If you haven’t been to a Hermitude show, you could try catch them before they work on another album. They will be playing at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne on Thursday 21st February and The Big Pineapple Music Festival in Queensland on Saturday 20th April.

For more information on Hermitude check out www.hermitude.com and www.elefanttraks.com/hermitude

Rating: 5/5

Set List
Engage
All of You
Sloucho Darzx
Can’t Stop
Galactic Cadillac
Golden
HyperParadise
HyperParadise (Flume Remix)
Ghosts/The Presets (Hermitude Remix)
The Hunt
Get In My Life
Cartridge Kings
Frayed
Let You Go
Splendid Isolation
Speak of the Devil
The Villain
Cloud City

Fishing
Hermitude

Speak of the Devil

Electric Empire – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (02.11.12)

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Aldrich Dittles

Electric Empire @ Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney. Photograph credits: Robbie V.

Fresh from their tour of the romantic streets of France, Electric Empire enticed, energised and elated their fans on a funky Friday night at the Oxford art factory.

Virtuoso musicians from the Northern Beaches, Lime Cordiale set up the table for EE. They boasted a brand that was rhythmically reggae with ska-like harmonic melodies.

Their performance captured the feel of a young Elvis Costello during his early days. The raw talent that radiated from the classy vocal pitch to the brassy trumpet fills reflected its bluesy roots. They are a truly entertaining up-and comers. A little more cultivation and maturation of their sophistication style and they will be soon serving perfection.

Cooking up the main course was the gentlemen group from Melbourne, brightly brisk and bracing, with their latest eponymous, Electric Empire brought the house down.

Their new creation ‘Changin’ communicated the chronicles they have completed whilst on their journey. Playing for the third time in the familiar Sydney venue, they have yet again given their fans an electro-plasmic performance.

Simon, “the new guy”, exuded a chilled chemistry with the band, providing a richer experience when compared to their last gig at the Standard. He even chipped in a few lines when they played ‘Love’.

If Prince, Omar Hakeem, Stevie Wonder and Marcus Miller somehow got together and produced music, it will be the best combination of musicians ever. At the very least, the next best thing to those names would be Dennis Dowlut, Jason Heerah, Aaron Mendoza and Simon Olsen.

Rating: 4.5/5

For more information on Electric Empire visit www.facebook.com/ElectricEmpire

Live Review: Secret Walls (Live Art Battle) TEEM v VEKS – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (11.07.12)

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Liza Moscatelli

Written by Liza Moscatelli

Whether you love your music or art there was definitely something for you at Secret Walls at the Oxford Art Factory. Secret Walls resurrected Sydney on a Wednesday night where we all came to see two amazing artists battle (with their artistic skills), TEEM versus VEKS. It was the first time I have ever been to Secret Walls. As anticipated I loved it. One of my mates commented ‘I went last time and it was really good, but this one is even better’.

The concept of Secret Walls (formerly known as Secret Wars) originated in East London in the UK, Europe and has now expanded to Australia. It has been used as a platform and another way of self-expression for artists from all kinds of creative backgrounds, whether it is graphic design, illustration, writing and the like. There has been such a positive response worldwide that it has grown since its birth.

The venue had filled up in no time, full of creative people (perhaps even hipster-like) from various cultural backgrounds that came together that night to see Teem versus Veks battle it out. We were on time to see Melbourne based hip hop artist Zulu Flow Zion perform. As one knows Zulu lives and breaths Hip Hop, and as anticipated he did an awesome set with a combination of hip hop and reggae jams keeping the crowd entertained before the live art battle began. Zulu Flow and friend Joe Mooney who deejayed (also came down from Melbourne) even had us doing 180′s back and forth as the audience watched them spit rhymes so fast, that even the speed of light would envy. At one stage I had no idea what they were saying but all I knew was that they got some serious skills!

After Zulu Flow, Creative Director and MC on the night, Shannon McKinnon introduced the artists TEEM and VEKS. Both artists had a 90 minute period and were only to use black acrylic paints and black markers on blank white walls. The battle began. On the left wall we saw Veks and on the right-hand side was Teem. Veks started off by drawing two simple shapes (circles) which eventually formed into more intricate shapes, lines and shading and appeared to become something like a character out of a Transformers movie. His illustration was named ‘VEKSATRON’ with captions ‘The Paint Spillin, Teem Killin’. I grew fond of Veks’ illustration. On the opposite side Teem was working on his comic-like representation of himself. He was kind enough to include Veks in his illustration, only to realise later that Teem was about to eat Veks almost literally (double meaning here). His caption read ‘Start Your Day With Vitaveks’.

90 minutes were up and it was time to decide who would win the battle. There were three judges and the audience cheers were measured with a decibel reader. The reading presented with equal results for the first time ever and had to be done again. It was a tight battle and the winner was Teem. It was an emotional win for Teem having his family alongside to support him. Teem and Veks exchanged hugs which was nice to see. Great effort by both artists and well deserved win by Teem.

Congratulations Teem, from the team at Mosca Media Australia!