GROOOVE

Rip It Up, Issue 184, 1 November 1992, Page 36

GROOOVE

MO' BETTER BEATS

VARIOUS ARTISTS Beverly Hills 90210: The Soundtrack Wow! Not only are they all great actors but they’re singers too! Dylan, Brenda, Brandon, and the rest of the gang sing some of their favourite songs together on one album. I wish!! What we get here is a merciless cash-in featuring new songs from the likes of Paula Abdul, Color Me Badd, Jody Whatley, and some new whiteboy called Jeremy Jordan. Luckily for 90210 fans (who’ll buy anything with a postcode stamped on it) it’s not a bad com-pilation-just bland. Like the 90210 gang there’s nothing down and dirty about the funk and soul found here. Best tracks: Puck & Natty'Just Wanna Be Your Friend’ (great!), and Geoffrey Williams ‘Let Me Be Your Baby’. Worst Track: John Davis '90210 Theme’. Biggest Disappointment: Chaka Khan & Michael McDonald: 'Time To Be Lovers’ W 4 NICK D'ANGELO GEOFFREY WILLIAMS' ; Bare’ .- -t: • > The aforementioned Geoffrey Williams turns up dreadlocked and bare-chested with his own album. Smooth soul harmonies, rhythm guitar, funky beats • .’ ; •,•/ * • wow! Not quite my cup of tea but a good and strong brew nonetheless. Actually it grows on you, it’s very good for late night loving (white women will no . doubt play it all weekend). Williams has obviously got mo’ talent - . ■ he writes and performs all his own material. Best tracks: ‘Deliver Me Up’, ‘lt’s Not a Love Thing’, and ‘This Not a Love Song’ (not the P.I.L. song). ' uiND’A CHUBB ROCK I Gotta Get Mine YO! Chubb takes himself seriously, there’s a photo of him behind the typewriter trying to look like Alex Haley. Sorry Chubb, but you’re full of shit. Your lyrics are wac: ‘‘lt’s burning in Paris, Demaris, the madness, I’ve had this, even Gladys, lost her Pips”. Put away the lyric sheet and just enjoy the beats. 1/iND’A AL B. SURE! Sexy Voices . Al B. Sure! is a young Luther, just more overtly sexual. All his songs are essentially about sliding your panties off and fucking you real slow (metaphorically,). Since I don’t wear panties it’s obvious who this is aimed at. Play this after Geoffrey Williams and you’ll be in the Oval Office quicker than Bill Clinton. Seriously, Al B. Sure! sings smoother than warm chocolate running down your, er, sundae. The production (Al B. Sure!) is equally smooth, these grooves are slow and fonky, fonky. Guest rappers include Rakim, Chubb Rock, Slick Rick, and Grand Puba you can bet they were queueing up. Standout track: ‘Popes in the End’ (but completely unrepresentative of the album). iillND’A . THE STRAWPEOPLE Have A Little Faith In Me Not quite the rousing spiritual it could’ve been, the Strawpeople are surprisingly restrained in this, their second single from the forthcoming Worldservice album. Thank god, because this could have ended up an over-the-top gospel outing a la U2 instead of the intelligent funk it is. Vocalist Stephanie Tauevini is stunningly impressive, her voice gently melting out of the speakers, and proving one shouldn’t be afraid to hassle Tierney at the pub for a pint o’ lager, packet o’ crisps, and a turn singing on the next Strawpeople single. I think John Hiatt will be happy with this. Bonus tracks: ‘S.L.Y.’, ‘The Slide’, and ‘Ave Maria’. 4 4 4 4 DAK MADISON

BEATMASTERS Life and Soul Does anyone remember the Beatmasters? Leaders and masters of the UK House beat, they’ve evolved into . something quite groovey. Equally well known as producers and remixers of other people’s work, the Beatmasters seem to have everything sussed just right, especially the samples. Whether it’s acid jazz, a rap, or just housey beats with soaring vocals, this album is a trip. Some of the grooves are so strong they’ve dispensed with the vocals altogether.. Not content with instrumentals they even try a little dub, beautifully sampling ‘Sign O’ The Times’ for ‘A Fistful of Dub’. Side Two is more atmospheric than the first. . Best tracks: ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘lt Ain’t Just Jazz’, ‘Whispering Tree’, and ‘A Fistful of Dub’. rmDM STEREO MCS Connected . Like the Beatmasters, the Stereo MCs are a UK band not adverse to remixing other peoples work. ■ Under the name Ultimatum they have remixed the Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, X Clan, and'Mica - Paris, amongst others. - They obviously know their way around the studio and it’s apparent with this album, which opens impressively with the title track and just grooves on from there. The hip hop influence underlies everything ; the album is sprinkled with scratch beats and samples but all done in a way even Michael Jackson could get into. File under ‘M’ for Massive, mi DM ' UPPER HUTT POSSE Ragga Girl Back after an 18 month hiatus, this is the perfect summer hit for the Posse to return with. Three Versions plus a dub mix here, Rhythm & Business lead with their radio mix, a very fat and juicy groove. D-Words original production is simpler with a very catchy keyboard hook, but for the life of me I couldn’t pick DJ Rhys B on the hip hop version. Because Auckland radio is playing this some are asking ‘has the Posse sold out?’. This is the same unique blend of ragga and hip hop the Posse have always played — radio has perhaps finally wised up! tiiiDM • • • ■ i . iSEMI MCS Trust Me While some stations may have trouble playing the Posse, there’s no way you won’t be hearing this one all over your radio this summer. Very much in the vein of After 7 and Boys II Men, this is some serious low down slowed down funk. Slick production combined with a powerful vocal and ‘Loveyasobad’ lyrics, it has ‘Hit’ written all over it. . LiriDM ’ d-FACTION Babe I'm not Original This band are perhaps best known for their work producing Ngaire’s album and her various radio hits. Now d-Faction strike out on their own with a new debut album and this,' their first single from it. D-' Faction were originally one half of seminal South Auckland funkers Ardijah and this is a 90s update of that sound — a mix of southsidfc funk laced with a touch of raw guitar to give some edge. ‘Babe I’m not Original’ is a smooth grooved mid-tempo ballad with vocalist Tony T joined by guest Maryanne Antonnvich. Hervoice underscores beautifully the passion of the lyrics. 41 i iDM MO’BETTER BEATS i i i lit MACKIN’ ITII SLAMMIN’ 4 14 HELLA ft MO’KAY 4 GIGGIDY GIGGIDY

The Semi MCs first appeared at an Auckland rap contest held by student station 95BFM to find a local support act for Run DMC. It was 1988 and already an emerging rap scene was stepping out of the shadows to say: "We're Here!" It was James (Semi) Waterhouse and his

three friends from Manurewa High School who took out first prize, despite stiff competition from some other now famous rap crews. Bouyed by this early success (they say they only entered for the hell of it) the Semi MCs decided to get a little more serious.and started doing more live gigs. By 1990 they had "management" and were in the studio recording 'Set Your Body Free'. While the Semis are now dismissive of that single it did get radio play, and it did dent the Top 20.

It's now 1992 and the Semi MCs are back to perform midweek at DTMs after a 12 month break from live gigs. It's a disappointingly small crowd which the Semis maintain wouldn't have happened if they'd been given top billing, but they give it their all nonetheless. It's a stunningly tight and driven performance, even more impressive given that their radio mics keep cutting out.

To prove the point The Semi MCs play Club Cleo's a month later and rip the room apart. The place is packed and already it's very very hot, support act Pacifican Descendants have obviously warmed things up very nicely. This time the guys stick with standard mics, and their performance is even more confident, The audience is in the palm of their hand and they love it. During the second set members of the audience get up to show their moves on the dancefloor, by the end of the set everyone is on the dancefloor. They've come a very long way since those early days. The Semis now boast a new line up which includes a live drummer, keyboards, DJ, and a new lead vocalist.

Seventeen year old Francis Tui was discovered at a South Auckland Kareoke contest and invited to join eighteen year old Sam Feo on vocal duties for the Semi MCs. Sam had already been recognised as having one of the most powerful young voices in NZ, and the arrival of Tui gave the Semis an opportunity to move in a new direction. There's no more Human Beatbox, they're a 'band' now — complete with keyboards and drummer, and the raps are restricted to chorus breaks in the songs they perform. The following weekend I caught up with some of the Semis at DKD, an Auckland coffee house. I asked James, who formed the Semis, how he felt about the band's move away from hardcore rap considering he and Paul Aumua were the rappers? "It's not a problem. I like our new sound. It's not like we've thrown out the rapping, we're just not letting it dominate the set. Beside's, we were never a hardcore rap band. It's not like we were out there buying the latest rap records every week, we didn't want to be Auckland's Most Wanted. The trouble with being hardcore is you've got to be so political all the time. Rather than bash heads with 'The Message', we'd rather just get out there and 'Do It'. We're all Polynesians, all from the pacific, and we know who we are. We'd rather just get on with it than have to worry about being politically correct." I found it interesting that you chose to do a few covers in your set. That's probably not very PC in music circles but I must say it really highlighted the vocal abilities of Sam and Francis. Francis: "We just want the people to have a good time, get them dancing and all that. I think the response to the covers was very good. The attitude that NZ'ers have is that if they don't know the song then they won't dance to it. It's as simple as that. We're a dance band and we want to get them down on the floor. " Your vocals seem to be a cut above most NZ bands, have you had lessons? "No, but I practise singing for about an hour every night, just to keep my voice in shape. Lately we've been rehearsing three nights

a week at Club Cleo's to get our performance right. It's important that you look right on stage, that you feel comfortable about what you are doing, too many bands seem to be embarrassed. If you aren't confident the audience can sense it, they feel embarrassed, cheated even, and then you've lost them. Sonny, from the Pacifican Descendants, is our choreographer and it's good to have an outsider giving advice on how we look, how we should move." You guys are signed to an Australian record label, how did you manage that? Hiran Benton, keyboardist: "Most NZ bands want to be released overseas so they try and sign to a

local record company with overseas connections. The thing is they never get released overseas because the overseas major says how many records did you sell at home? The band says: Well we had a Top Ten hit, we sold 1500 copies; and then the record company says: 1500 copies? and they laugh and hang up. Our manager decided to go beyond all that and set up a deal with an Australian company which sees us released both here and over there. Hopefully if we get noticed in the Australasian market we might get somewhere internationally." I point out that Bobby Brown probably only sold 1500 copies of his latest single in Australia, a na-

tion noted for it's love of White Cock Rock. 1 ask the boys how likely it is that they will find fame and fortune internationally? James, laughing: "We don't take it too seriously. We're just doing this because we enjoy it. I'm still doing a course at Tech - it's just one of those 'what if' things. Like what if you won Lotto? Everyone dreams about what they'd do if they won Lotto but you never expect to win. And if you do it's only fifth division! You have your heart set on a million and all you get is thirty bucks, big deal! We don't really want to make a big thing about this Australian connection. Because we live in NZ we can't support the release of our new single over there so it's probable it won't do jack in Australia anyway. And that's okay." Tell me about this new single, give me the hype.

"It's called 'Trust Me' and it's released nationwide November 12th. We've just shot a video for it in a South Auckland warehouse and that was quite a buzz. We had a bigger budget than for our 'Set Your Body Free' video and it was interesting to see the difference that made. We had the single release party for 'Trust Me' at Club Cleos, and our manager is trying to line up more gigs around the country so we can get out of Auckland. We went to Wellington last year so we know we’ve got some fans there, and it would be nice to get to Christchurch, I hear it's really flat."

SEMIMKH

NICK D’ANGELO