Conspira, 23Hz and Numaestro’s label, Iberian Records – those who gave Octa Push an outlet with their eponymous EP – step out once again and bring out the good time vibes with their latest collated 12”, Tax Haven. Featuring a track a piece from Relocate, Mr Gasparov and Nehuen the three producers all bring a different vibe to this pre-emptively tropical release, providing cut-up, sample heavy break-laden garage, laid back, loved-up, sun blazing dance floor soul and raw, colourful UK funky hybrids.
Relocate turns in an energetic diva blazing bumpy garage number with ‘Soul Survivor,’ the beats kick hard and relentlessly like a cross between UKG and jackin’ Chicago house. The bass is deep, the samples euphoric and its all brought together with cut up horn stabs and disco strings. It’s all pretty reminiscent of hey-day 4x4 UKG and thankfully it’s addictive as hell, thanks in no small part to the beautifully percussive drum breakdown. The summer time vibes really shine through on Mr Gasparvo’s cut with vocalist G.Rina ‘Transient Love,’ It’s a punchy dubbed-out shimmering, tropical gem that sounds like a laid back beach party replete with Care Bear waiters and bubble gum fixtures and fittings.
The flip is the all out dancefloor track on the EP and Nehuen’s ‘Between Love and Hate’ is made up of the raw artefacts of UK funky: relenteless snares and bass that just never gives in. Those bass tones make me wonder if I’ve heard it in Petchy set (though I probably haven’t) especially when they’re played off by the heavy handed beats. There is an eerie urgent air to the production brought on by that swirling grime-esque dubby mouth organ melody but it’s all brought back down to earth by warm chord stabs that bubble along in their own blissful way.
The Portuguese production duo, Octa Push, just linked us their refix of RQM's 'You She Me.' Originally produced by Robot Koch, RQM dropped some pornagraphic verses on it and Baba Jahcoozi sang the hook, but on this version the Octa Push boys chop and screw the whole thing up, vibing properly off the micro diced vocal cuts.
Bristol bass fiends Atki2 and Hanuman – collectively Monkey Steak - have a pretty admirable record for pulling together the best bits of many of the globe’s bass mutations. The first release for their Steak House label was strangely psychedelic, despite its often rapid-fire nature – next to Mr. Gasparov’s comparatively delicate ‘1975’, Lisbon duo Octa Push’s pair of tracks were positively manic, both furiously addictive slabs of funky-infused electro noise. Meanwhile, their recent 12” for the Idle Hands label has proven to be one of the year’s best, notable especially for Atki2 and Dub Boy’s stunning ‘Tigerflower’. It also welcomed a less obvious aspect to their sound, favouring gradual change and melodic progression over simple dancefloor action.
The second release for Steak House sees Atki2 and Hanuman further explore both sides of that split personality: both tracks on the A-side hit like a ton of bricks from the off. ‘Hyped Up!’ and its counterpart riddim ‘Bombeiros’ rattle along at a nerve-busting 150 bpm, their tightly syncopated percussion and frazzled stabs of synth more akin to Octa Push or Buraka Som Sistema’s electrified kuduro than the slightly more sedate vibes of UK funky. The presence of Ghislain Poirier collaborator MC Zulu only serves to solidify this connection, his ever-escalating excitement impressively suited to the music’s manic nature.
The duo’s more experimental side, though, is far better represented on the flip. ‘Tigris Riddim’ is one of the most intriguing hybrids to have emerged so far this year, centred around a lopsided Arabian folk sample that curls around the beat like plumes of shisha smoke. It’s also one of the best, its cut-and-paste nature making it a pleasure to unpick on a decent pair of headphones. Though faster again, ‘Haarlem Drift’ continues in a similar vein, giving equal priority to musical development as to raw dance energy, and in doing so significantly upping its longevity. Though the scorched carnival atmosphere of Zulu’s contribution remains true to this music’s basic purpose, the slightly more exploratory bent they’re taking on the B-side suits Monkey Steak well. Long may it continue.
After the one-two blow of Relocate’s ‘Hard Boogie For Dub Swingers’ EPs, Iberian Records’ next release steps up to deliver the decisive knockout blow. Stylistic miles from Relocate’s delicate dubstep-house infusions, Octa Push share certain similarities with fellow Lisbon disco-wreckers Buraka Som Sistema – all grimy bleeps and rough-edged bass drive. Yet while Buraka operate with at least a semblance of subtlety at times, the three tracks here are relentless in their quest for thicker, faster dance floor thrills.
Lead track ‘Deixa’ pitches itself somewhere in the grey area where kuduro’s high-speed bounce meets the balls-out aggression of grime. MC Toni Clean’s highly percussive vocal utterances are further shredded by the duo’s blender-like approach to production, creating a disorientating maze of gutteral grunts and pants around which bursts of hard-edged sub-bass gather pace. The overall effect is senseless but cheekily compulsive, its restless energy leaving little room for anything other than motion.
On the flip, MC Zulu at least provides a little more comprehensible sense in his chat, even if it mostly consists of dancefloor hype and breathless exhortations to an imaginary crowd. The track in question, ‘Baila Mundo,’ continues where ‘Dexia’ left off, with a relentless stomp reminiscent of a continental version of The Bug’s gritty digital dancehall.
Best of the three tracks here though is the last, the appropriately named ‘Dubshh,’ which strips away the chest-beating factor provided by the MCs, leaving behind a pulsing house-influenced instrumental not a million miles from UK funky’s darker regions. Its stop-start dynamics are curiously offset by a fluorescent synth theme that drifts slowly across the track’s length, leaving something of a confused taste in the mouth – neither totally testosterone-fuelled nor entirely contemplative, the result is a track both weighty on a big system and strangely relaxing. Not the easiest contradiction to come to terms with, but a welcome one.
Sometime Bristol, sometime London duo Monkeysteak have announced the first 12” release from their new label Steak House, promising to deliver "pure carnival fire" through outsourcing global bass sounds. Over the last few years, the internet’s increasing ubiquity and ever-faster connection speeds have turned the cross-pollination of bass culture into a truly worldwide phenomenon. As well as giving rise to DJs who no longer stick exclusively to one style of music, this has enabled dubstep’s influence to bleed into other localised urban genres – and vice versa, as the Africanised percussive patterns of UK funky can attest to.
Surprisingly, given the label’s dynamic manifesto, Mr. Gasparov’s contribution is a curiously muted way to open their first 12”. Which is not to detract from the track at all – ‘1975’ is a woozy piece of two-step infused house that gradually layers up over its length, from the sparsest of synthetic melodies to an eerie carnival of sampled voices and dizzying instrumental tessellation. It’s still more of a slow-burning brushfire than a massive electrical explosion, which certainly could not be said of Octa Push who bring the promised fireworks on the flip.
‘Ai Nadia’ kicks the reverse off in fine form, its tightly syncopated beat loaded with elements from a whole host of different genres – the propulsive skip of garage, funky’s tribal machinations and the grimey crunch of kuduro. It’s the best thing on here by a long way, a little reminiscent of contemporaries Buraka Som Sistema in sheer bass aggression and lent a distinctly local air by deftly chopped ‘n’ sliced Portugese vocal shards. The fast and furious garage hybrid of ‘Laika Likes It’ wears its UK influences more overtly, a little bit of London attitude ensnared in its suggestive female vocals and bubbling subs.
With the Portugese sound of Kuduro blowing up, with the scene's main exports, Buraka Som Sistema, going from strength to strength its currently a great time for Portugal's underground music network. Octa Push are a duo who fuse rolling drum breaks with sub bass in a particularly driving minimal style, eeking out a beautifully complex and forceful style all of their own.
Ahead of a couple of London dates and just after their performance in the Red Bull Music Academy tent at Sonar we tracked them down to an IP address to DL their exclusive Sonic Router mix and get the lowdown on what they do.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Octa Push: We're Dizzycutter and Mushug, two brothers from Portugal, we've been making tunes for a while. In 2008 we started this live project [Octa Push] that fuses Garage with Bashment, Afrobeat, Techno and Dub.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
Dizzycutter is Leo a Web/graphic designer. Mushug is Bruno and he studies sound.
How did you first get into recording music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
We both started making tracks around 1997/1998. Dizzycutter used to play drums at a Metal and Hip-Hop band. The band split, and then he started building jungle tracks at home with some material from a friend. Mushug was younger, he eventually ditched his Sega Master System to make beats aswell.
What’s the big idea behind the Octa Push moniker?
It's about pushing octaves, not really underwater hockey unlike most people think.
How did you get into making music?
Last year we were talking about how it was stupid that we were both making music for a long time but we werent collaborating or taking it seriously. Then Conspira - one of the first portuguese crews pushing bass music - asked us if we could play a show at one of their nights. We accepted and started making loads of tracks and found a really silly name. From that point it was on!
Whats you production set up like? Has it changed a lot since day dot?
We're using mainly Cubase, loads of VSTs and midi controllers, pretty basic and simple but we plan to extend it at some point with some hardware! Individually we started making tracks with a small keyboard and a 2 deck tape recorder. After that came Acid and Rebirth using a wack Hi Fi music system's speakers.
How did you first get into the dubstep sound? What was it that sucked you in?
There was this DJ ThinKing mix from 2004 that was really fresh. The music had lot's of space and bass. It's funny because we knew a bit of UK Garage and names like Zed Bias, DJ Zinc, Ed Case, The Streets before but took a while to see a relation between them and the particular sound from that mix.
Whats the scene like out in Portugal? Is it going strong?
Loads of wicked music coming from here, things are really taking off. It's great to see that there's actually a new portuguese sound shaping up, drinking from all the influences of different cultures that this country has/had!
What can we expect from you guys in 2009?
We've just finished a couple of official remixes, one for DJ Znobia and other for Debruit. There's also an original 12" coming out on Iberian Records, it features panamanian badman MC Zulu and cape verdean talent Toni Clean.
As for gigs, we just played Sonar and we're at fabric on June 26th. In July we've got gigs lined up at Cable and Glade Festival.
We're really happy how things are moving...
Your mix represents your live sets quite nicely… what are you using to mix your sounds together live?
We're using laptops, Ableton and MPD samplers. This mix was recorded only by one of us, so live we have an extra couple of arms and more things happening. More dynamic in general!
What can people expect when they come to see you?
Expect two guys pushing buttons while dancing like cavemen.
Have you got anything else you want to tell us, words of wisdom for our readers?
Always take care of your back if you dance like a caveman...
