HUIXIAN

Location: Block 3C The Cannery, River Valley Road, #01(02) - (07) & #02(01) - (08), Clarke Quay, Singapore 179022
Contact: 6235 2292
Online: http://www.ministryofsound.com.sg
Opening Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 9pm till late
Description:



include Freestylers producers Aston Harvey and Matt Cantor got together in 1993, through talking about the music they were into — electro, breakbeats, Afrika Bambaataa and the whole old school hip hop culture. But it wasn’t long before they took their obsessions into the studio, running off what would eventually become the Freestylers’ first U.K. single, "Drop The Boom" – initially released on the small Street Plastic label pre- Freskanova. Like Matt says, "we plunder samples like no man's business."

"We’re into really instant music," says Aston. "Too many dance artists are making jazz albums, because they feel it’s the mature thing to do." And the upshot of that is — "there are plenty of great home listening albums. But not enough proper party ones." And for the Freestylers, proper parties are what it's all about.

The Freestylers took off fast on the up and coming Freskanova label. The Uprock EP, and the FSUK2 remix compilation for the Ministry Of Sound have kept British dancefloors spinning; in America, "AK48," a retitled version of "Drop The Boom," became the hottest thing to hit the break circuit in years. By the time the Freestylers appeared on MTV’s PartyZone last summer, they had cut through the club scene’s traditional polarity like a cheesewire, and brought the world flooding to the Freestylers’ door. The boys took the UK summer festival scene by storm.

Grooverider, the Dub Pistols and Robbie Hardkiss have all turned in remixes for the US version of the UK chart topper "B-Boy Stance"; this was the first single on the US agenda. "Hip hop heads come to see us," Aston says, "clubby people, reggae people... it’s quite mad, really, two funky white boys bring all these people together. But people can see what we’re doing, and we're not selling out."

Not even a highly publicized brush with Oasis could stop them. When the Freestylers lifted a few bricks from "Wonderwall" for "B Boy Stance," Noel Gallagher was outraged enough to force the Freestylers back into the studio to re-record their masterpiece (look for the line about a certain "Mr Bad Man"), and that was enough to send "B Boy Stance" soaring up the British chart. And it was only when all the fuss had died down that anyone realized, it would probably have gone up there anyway.

The Freestylers’ UK single (second American single), "Here We Go," investigates the same Ultramagnetic MCs song that Prodigy plundered for "Smack My Bitch Up" ("Give The Drummer Some"). Irresistible hip hop recorded with the masterly Definition Of Sound, Melody Maker called it "a full-on, relentless funky blast," but Aston prefers to point out that the band are Freestylers by nature as well as name.

"Feel The Panic" features a blistering sample from Public Enemy; while "Freestyle Noize" bags another. "We’re doing hip hop With Definition Of Sound, an electro track with the Soul Sonic Force, and a jump up ragga tune with MC Navigator. That’s why we’re called the Freestylers."


www.thefreestylers.com


Cover charges on 22 DECEMBER:
Before 10.30pm - $18 for males and $15 for females (both covers include 1 drink) and
After 10.30pm - $28 for males and $23 for females (both covers 2 drinks)