Loop Recordings: Cycling at 50hz
by Stephen Jewell, NZ Musician, Vol. 10, No. 5, October/November 2002
Just as The D4 and The Datsuns have been rocking British stages this year, New Zealand electronica has also enjoyed its time in the sun this past northern hemisphere summer.
A host of our leading electronic dance musicians, including Pitch Black, Fat Freddy's Drop, International Observer and Salmonella Dub played 'Return of the Aotearoanz', a special showcase event held in July at exclusive London nightclub Fabric. Billed as the successor to 2000's 'The Underground Sounds Of The Aotearoanz', which happened at the smaller but equally sold-out Cargo venue, 'Return of the Aotearoanz' also launched Wellington label LOOP Recordings Aot(ear)oa into the highly competitive UK dance music market.
Since forming out of the financial ashes of the magazine of the same name, LOOP has rapidly established itself as one of NZ's more prolific electronic dance labels outside of Kog Transmissions. LOOP's rapid ascent has perhaps not been all that surprising given that the cover-mounted CD was the best part of the magazine for many readers. After the magazine's founders Swarm Ltd closed in early 2001, current director Hannah Cornwell purchased the LOOP brand name and recruited old hands Andy Mitchell and Mikee Tucker to respectively act as label and promotions managers.
"Part of LOOP's original vision statement was to be a 'time capsule of creative culture'," states Tucker. "The NZ music cover CD/CD-Roms were a way of facilitating this vision by supplying fresh, innovative audio and audio visual content to readers. The 10 free cover CDs started the ball rolling. For example, the first one back in December 1998 included the first ever tracks from people like Cuffy and Leon D, Twinset, TrinityRoots, Ebb and The Black Seeds. The LOOP CDs provided a chance for unknown artists to get exposed and created a scene around them that has kept evolving ever since.
"When the magazine folded some of the acts and musicians we had supported were ready to release their own stuff. This provided an opportunity for a label as there was still demand for the LOOP sound and respect from the artists had been established."
LOOP's roster of artists, which currently includes The Black Seeds, Rhian Sheehan, Ebb and now 50Hz, have all been Wellington-based.
"It's easy to work closely with artists who are locally based, but our compilations have always encompassed music from artists based all over NZ," says Tucker. "We are selective about who we want on the label as we want to continue the high standards we have been recognised for thus far. Our main focus is electronic, dub, reggae and jazz, but basically we are into everything of a high standard with a Pacific influence - except rock, pop and classical."
After concentrating on NZ during their first 12 months of operation, LOOP have turned their attention to the highly-prized UK market, where their entry into one of the most cutthroat music markets in the world has been greatly assisted by their London-based UK label manager Charlie Kirby-Welch, who also runs Soho dance music store, Vinyl Junkies.
"I became involved in LOOP through meeting Mikee at the Midem Music Conference in France," says Kirby-Welch. "I was attracted obviously to the music but more so to the mentality behind LOOP as a label, which focuses on its artists and their development. This is a crucial element of being a successful label."
Kirby-Welch, who admits to being impressed not only by LOOP artists but other Kiwi acts like Fat Freddy's Drop and TrinityRoots, secured the prestigious Fabric venue for The Return of the Aotearoanz gig and worked closely with main promoter Jasper from Crazy Baldhead Ltd.
"We will definitely hold it again next year as it was a huge success," says Kirby-Welch. "Salmonella Dub, Pitch Black, Ebb and Fat Freddy's Drop rocked Fabric. The owner of the club said that it was his favourite night there in years which is a great compliment, considering the calibre of artists who play there regularly. NZ music has potential in Britain. The UK is one of the most saturated markets, to be successful you need to stand out. Bands such as The Black Seeds, Ebb, Fat Freddy's and TrinityRoots have the potential to do that. You can take the example of (Kiwi ex-pats) Nathan Haines and Mark de Clive-Lowe, who are UK residents. The real challenge is to be successful in NZ first and foremost, being the native land, and beyond that achieving success in other major territories. That is LOOP's mission."
After a busy 2001, LOOP have been relatively quiet this year, to date only releasing The Black Seeds' remix album, 'The Green Room' and 'LOOP 003 Select' compilations and 'Carbon', the sophomore long player by 50Hz, aka fellow Wellingtonian Jeremy Geor.
'Carbon,' the long awaited sequel to 1997's jazzy drum 'n' bass-inspired 'Cyclehum', is significantly more ambitious effort than its predecessor as it embraces other genres including breakbeat, hip-hop and garage. Geor has also collaborated with numerous live musicians and vocalists including Pepsi Demacque of Pepsi & Shirley and Wham fame, Verse Two's Ladi 6, aka Karoline Tamati of the now defunct Sheelahroc, Miss La from Auckland jazz outfit The Torch Set, Conrad Noema from Maori r 'n' b group Maia and Barnaby Weir from The Black Seeds.
"I really enjoyed working with vocalists," says Geor. "In between albums, I've produced a couple of albums with people and really enjoyed that experience. It's interesting how a musician can effect a project. And having a half and half feel on the album, half slow half fast, is not really a concern, although there is some anxiety attached to it. But a good tune is a good tune and you'll like it for being a good tune. At least, that's what I figure."
Vocal duties are divided between the sexes with male contributions provided by Conrad Noema and Barnaby Weir, who reminds me of house crooner Robert Owens' collaborations with drum 'n' bass don Photek on the sublime Every 1 Can See.
"It's weird that you should say that," remarks Geor. "Someone else said that to me. It's kind of R&B saves the planet. But if you think about it, drum' n' bass and reggae comes from R&B - which is a weird association to make but that's what they did. It all goes back to banging a drum in the jungle, mate.
"One day Barnaby popped his head around my studio door with a coffee, saying 'Hey, what's this tune?' I was working on a tune which was actually substantially different to how the track ended up. Barney sang some stuff over it which caused me to change the tune to fit his vocals a bit more. It worked really nicely. Barnaby has a talent for pulling a hook out of a hat. As for Conrad, he's from a Te Reo R&B band called Maia. His track Folly is not really a song like the others, it's more like a sample excursion. He actually sang that to a totally different tune and speed. I just moulded it into what it is now.
"The Ladi 6 track Seek Know More is like a rhyme segue," continues the voluble Geor. "Talk about magic! The tune basically fell into our lap in just four hours. We went into the Radio Active studio and jammed until we worked out what sort of beat we wanted. Ladi 6 sang some lyrics out of her book, like a freestyle, and then she was like 'Okay, I'm going now. Time to meet my friends.' 'Sweet, see you tomorrow'."
Geor has previously worked as a sound engineer at Pacific Film Studios but he denies that his day job has had any positive influence upon his music.
"I've come to the realisation that even though I enjoy film work, I enjoy making music more. I got into that because it got me to the source of the junk if you will. It also gave me a very broad and deep knowledge foundation to do what I do for myself. But the dynamic of storytelling, as opposed to film per se, is really what keeps all of us going. For me, it's not just about repetition of one element but maybe repeating an element and pulling it away so that that space makes you crave for something that's gone. That's what I get when I make music. It's like I'm on drugs. I'm not actually on drugs but you're in an environment where there's nobody saying 'Hey, you've got to do it this way, not that way'."
Why did Geor name his album 'Carbon'?
"It was originally going to be called 'Carbon Bassed Lifeforms', with a pun on the word 'bass'," he explains, insisting that he didn't intend to draw any analogy with carbon copies.
"I didn't think of that but the album cover is blue and my wife said straight away, 'Oh, it looks like a piece of carbon paper'. I really like the idea of Carbon because it's what we're all made of and it's what we need to survive. It's one of those elements that have five or six different forms, from diamonds through to graphite. But essentially it's about when you put enough pressure on such an object, it changes into something else. Not so much the journey from one point to another but the intersection where pressure changes a lump of black into clear diamonds."
Now that 'Carbon' is finally in the shops, Geor hopes to soon take 50Hz on the road.
"It will be interesting figuring out how to do it," ponders Geor. "Do you go early and go slow or late and go fast, or criss-cross. It's almost like an opportunity to play in two different places. I'm a studio head and very little of this album could translate well live but the bones, or the skeleton of it, could be rearranged. To me, that's exciting. If I was in a band I'd have to play the studio version of a track live and that would be so stultifying and unsatisfying."
And after the landscapey 'Cyclehum', Geor has strangely produced an album containing a number of potential singles.
"After my last album, my mum said 'I'm proud of you, boy'", laughs Geor. "Whereas with this one, she'll probably like a couple of the tunes."
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