Here’s
something I wanted to blog about a few weeks back, but didn’t quite get to ...
On
NYE the Hit+Run Crew released a sampler of some of the imprint’s best work from
2013 – it was initially up on Bandcamp as a festive freebie but now has a small
“buy now” (minimum $5.00) price to download.
Anyone
already familiar with Hit+Run’s output will appreciate that the release
represents great value, showcasing as it does some of the label’s more
prominent artists and a fair few hidden gems. There’s some cool stuff on this –
in particular, check out Crimekillz, Esgar, Kutmah, Seven Davis Jr, and Al
Dobson Jr.
Here’s
a short blurb from the H+R Bandcamp page ...
“Throughout
2013, H+R CREW released ELEVEN amazing albums consisting of original music,
remixes and more (some in collaboration with IZWID and BLACK JUNGLE SQUAD). Also
included here are two unreleased tracks from forthcoming 2014 HIT+RUN releases
(January & February 2014) plus an additional super secret bonus track”.
Last weekend I checked out the Red Bull Sound
Select presents … /Hit + Run gig at Wellington’s Bodega venue. It was a rare
night out, not only for the opportunity it presented to hook up with a bunch of
old faces from way back, but for the promise of a handful of top drawer
travelling DJs, and to experience live screen-printing as performance art … or to
witness live art as performance. Or something.
I’d
committed to doing it sober … (ish), so it’s fair to say the night had a
sharper edge to it than it normally would, but the vibe around the venue was
warm and generous, and the beats were never anything less than the main
attraction … despite one half of the dancefloor seamlessly morphing into an art
studio for much of the night. The first 100 punters walked away with a hand-picked
design screen-printed tee, as the smoothly oiled Hit + Run Crew did its thing.
It was a lot of fun.
I
went primarily to catch up with Hit + Run marketing guru Scott Bulloch, a
long-time friend of some 30 years. I’d been in touch with him via social media
earlier in the week, after noticing another project he’s been heavily involved
with – IZWID – was starting to gain some serious traction. I was keen to learn
what that was all about, and after experiencing the artistic aesthetic of Hit +
Run first hand last weekend, I can now see exactly what IZWID is setting out to
achieve … a compelling blend of art, music, and performance.
I asked Scott to explain where IZWID comes from, what drives it, who’s involved, and
what we can expect in the future …
“IZWID is the imprint of an artist called
Kutmah, a place we can release the music and art which have been secret
signatures in Kutmah’s performances over the last few years. From what I understand,
“Iswid" is Egyptian for “black”… Kutmah (of Egyptian heritage) explained
to me that his mum always pronounced her “S’s” as “Z’s”, IZWID id iz then!
Kutmah is probably one
of music’s best kept secrets in London right now, he’s a tight friend, so we
decided to make his stuff less secret with an arts and crafts style label
without any (of the) record company bullshit. The motivation was that he really
wanted to help these musicians to get heard beyond his sets … people go mental
on this stuff on the dance floor, but labels don’t want to know, so time to
start a “record label”.
Kutmah is not just a DJ,
he’s a curator, a digger, a creator, and a super nice guy who really only comes
out to play and enlighten others. When he plays, who the hell knows what he is
playing at any time, but when he does play a set just seems to meld together
into some story about your life. You get touched, and that’s a rare thing in
these days of super pop shit and pre-genrefied prejudice. It’s hard to explain
but there are these often unreleased elements that he uses to tell stories with
his performances; they can be sad, they can be motivating, they can be
disturbing … to me they are simply mesmerising when knitted together in a mix.
Kutmah has the ability to take music from any age and make it sound like it was
supposed to be played right now.
Kutmah
I met Kutmah just over a
year ago through my good friend Brandy Flower, who has championed Kutmah since
he was a freaky kid. Brandy and the HIT+RUN Crew is the reason IZWID
exists. He is the link that brings art and music back together.
IZWID’s first release
was Esgar, hard out energetic Future Bass with dub overtones and a hypnotic
bass space. The second release from Seven Davis Jr I’ll describe as Shroom
Funk. It’s all over the place as much as the 1999-2012 time it was created in,
but I have to say it’s one of the finest musical deliveries I’ve ever been part
of; it’s house, it’s warped out funk, it’s offensive if you’re a puritan. It’s funny
to me, I love it, so dirty, analog, and it reeks of sex.
The next instalment is
from Peckham, some beautiful loose beats from a young talent sonically
travelling under his grand-dad's name, Al Dobson Jr. He is IZWID-003 and I can’t
wait to make this record. We have a busy schedule going into 2014 that was pre-planned
a year ago. In saying that, you should not expect anything … we’ll just plonk
it in front of you anyway”.
