Heaps Decent

The Indent Ten Year Tour MusicNSW has announced the Indent Ten...

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:43:00 -0400

The Indent Ten Year Tour

MusicNSW has announced the Indent Ten Year Tour in celebration of ten years of live all-ages drug and alcohol free events. Headlined by Urthboy, the tour will work it’s way around regional NSW. Indent will be working with teams of young people (12-25 year olds) to completely manage the event!

The Indent Ten Year Tour kicks off on the 24th of September in Newcastle.

For dates and more details, head over here.

At 7.30pm on the 22nd of July, Dr Greenthumb, Ngaratya, Adam...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:51:00 -0400

At 7.30pm on the 22nd of July, Dr Greenthumb, Ngaratya, Adam Hill, Leroy and Samson, Nadeena Dixon, RCC singers, Marlene Cummins and very special guest Emma Donovan will be featured in an acoustic night of Aboriginal songwriting at Redfern Community Centre.

Come along!

ABOVE: Stunna Set BELOW: Trindoe BELOW: The Last...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:21:00 -0400

ABOVE: Stunna Set

BELOW: Trindoe

BELOW: The Last Kinection

Levins, Adriana (The Last Kinection’s Manager) and Nina

Heaps Decent Crew Adam, Levins and Charlie

Here are some more photos from Klub Koori last Thursday night at the Oxford Arts Factory.

Thanks to Hugh O’Brien for the amazing camera work!!

ABOVE: Trindoe performing at the Gadigal Music & Klub Koori...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:18:15 -0400

ABOVE: Trindoe performing at the Gadigal Music & Klub Koori EP Launch Night last Thursday

BELOW: Stunna Set

These photos were taken by Adam Bozzetto, we’ll have some more going up later this week, it was such a great night!

Last week The Last Kinection were guests on triple j for the...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:55:46 -0400

Last week The Last Kinection were guests on triple j for the always fun segment Like A Version. They chose to cover Snap’s 90’s house anthem Rhythm Is A Dancer and tore it up in a big way. Naomi needs to record some house tunes! Who knew she was such a big room diva? That dubby bassline that drops in the last minute is dope too.

For the last 2 months I’ve been working on a new Shopfront...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:42:16 -0400

For the last 2 months I’ve been working on a new Shopfront project called At The Drive In.

It’s a crazy combination of film, performance, music, dance and multimedia all based around the themes of a zombie war and an alien invasion. So far I’ve worked on the project at Shopfront HQ in Carlton and I joined Sarah from Shopfront on one of her visits to Fairfield IEC. I’ve spent evenings covered in fake blood, created some zombie dancemoves and helped some aliens invade their principal’s office. It has been pretty damn fun!

The next few weeks sees us continue work at Shopfront, as well as some special workshops in Hazelhurst. Sarah and I will also be heading back to Miimali in Blacktown, as well as a high school in Mt Druitt. Finally we’ll heading to Broken Hill together, where the At The Drive In project will end up.

I’ll be blogging regularly about it here, but keep up to date with the whole project over at the At The Drive In blog.

- Levins

Earlier this week Stunna Set dropped in to FBi Radio in Sydney...

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:58:54 -0400

Earlier this week Stunna Set dropped in to FBi Radio in Sydney to promote their EP launch which is tonight at Oxford Art Factory with Last Kinection and Trindoe!

Watch the video above to get you in the mood for tonight!

Levins and I were back in Wagga Wagga for 3 days last week in...

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 01:21:00 -0400

Levins and I were back in Wagga Wagga for 3 days last week in run more workshops at the Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre and the Riverina Community College.

First off we were back at the Juvenile Justice Centre. This was only my second time to the centre and the first time I was there it was school holidays so we only had 2 classes of about 5 students each. This time was amazing because after 6 classes of around 6 students each we had made 7 different beats and many more boys, who after a little coaxing and writing assistance from Levins, who were ready to lay down some raps. In the end we had about 10 boys who contributed raps which is more than 3 times the amount we got last time I went to the centre. Not only did we record great raps but we recorded a last min acoustic guitar and singing performance from MC Icey and one of the interns at the centre Ryan.

Because it was the end of the school session we also were able to get up in front of all the boys at their end of session assembly and show them some of the work and songs we had made at the centre. I definitely think this will mean many more boys will want to get involved next time.

Secondly we did another session with at the Riverina Community Centre with the always awesome MC Huz and an amazing singer I was only meeting for the first time called Mandela. Mandela came to Australia as a refugee from Sudan and has been living in Australia for 4 years now. The guys at the centre have know that Mandela is an amazing singer for some time but he had never really had the confidence to record some of his own vocals. We set up a small studio in the centre and were lucky enough to have him record a beautiful verse and chorus over a beat which the guys at the center had made. Also, we can’t fail to mention an awesome short verse from MC Huz and need to thank her for giving Mandela the confidence he needed for one of his first ever recordings.

Soon we will have a huge bunch of the songs ready for listening. There is so much great stuff to get through from this trip. From the large number of raps and the acoustic guitar and singing performances from the boys at the Juvenile Justice Centre to a beautiful singing performance and raps from Mandela and MC Huz at the Community Centre. Also a big thanks to Thom for transporting us around and Mrs Agzarian for putting is up and feeding us for 3 days.

Photos and words: Adam Bozzetto

HEAPS DECENT REMIX COMPETITION REMINDER!!! From the Mad Decent...

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:05:33 -0400

HEAPS DECENT REMIX COMPETITION REMINDER!!!

From the Mad Decent Blog:

Just a reminder to get your Lomandra remixes posted up onto our soundcloud! We’ve got awesome prizes to give away including a shiny new Apogee One,
audio interface with built-in mic!! Be creative get free stuff!!!

GET REMIXING! Entries will only be accepted until the 18th of July!

Get your tickets to Parklife here!!! When you buy your ticket,...

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:00:00 -0400

Get your tickets to Parklife here!!!

When you buy your ticket, you’ll have the opportunity to buy the Yolanda Be Cool vs DCup Parklife 2010 DJ mix, which includes two Heaps Decent tracks! All proceeds from these two tracks will go straight back to Heaps Decent. If you go for the aptly named “More Expensive Ticket”, they’ll throw in the mix for free!

Keep an eye out for who we’ll be working with for our Parklife Workshops…

Get there!

Hey! Have you heard our new song with A-Trak Anywhere But Here...

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:33:00 -0400

Hey! Have you heard our new song with A-Trak Anywhere But Here yet?

It’s been featured on dozens of blogs in the last two weeks, thanks to our friends at Biz3 for hooking most of these up! Thanks to all the blogs who wrote about us too.

Those of you who haven’t picked the track up yet can do so FOR FREE at one of the 500 blogs below…

PITCHFORK

XLR8R

RCRD LBL

HYPE MACHINE

DISCO BELLE

MIKEY BLOOM

MUZIC

HYPETRAK

DITTED

ELECTRORASH

STEREOBAIT

KICK KICK SNARE

SHAPED NOTES

HAIDO

THE DAILEY BLEND

BANGKOK RADIO

DONE WAITING

SHEENA BEASTON

GIGA CRATE

HOT BISCUITS

FULL UP AND WAITING

In May we attended the NSW Reconciliation...

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:17:00 -0400

In May we attended the NSW Reconciliation Council’s Reconciliation Week Challenge, where Paige Lagettie performed her major prize winning song “Don’t Look Down”. As the major prize, Paige won a recording session at Gadigal Studios, a state of the art recording studio space.

Levins was asked to say a few words and we also saw the Revesby South Public School sing the National Anthem in Dharawal, the language and clan of then traditional owners of the land south of the Georges River.

Check out the videos and if you missed it, you can download Paige Lagettie - “Don’t Look Down” here.

HEAPS DECENT REMIX COMPETITION w/ MAD DECENT from the Mad Decent...

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:53:11 -0400

HEAPS DECENT REMIX COMPETITION w/ MAD DECENT

from the Mad Decent blog…

Earlier in the year Heaps Decent worked on a project called Detours and Destinations. With partners Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre, Juvenile Justice and The Sydney Opera House, Heaps Decent visited two schools in areas of Sydney that had a high percentage of young people in juvenile detention. Over 3 months we ran music and video workshops and produced 4 songs from those workshops featuring the young people singing and rapping. We then put on an exhibition at The Sydney Opera House that allowed an audience to interact with the songs with a dancefloor that worked as a controller for the music. It was a huge project with some great results!

We’re now looking to release an EP of the songs we made, along with some video clips AND some remixes of the songs by some friends of Heaps Decent. We have one song left to remix and we thought we’d make the call out here to see what you guys can come up with!

The song we want you to remix is called “Lomandra Crew.” It was made by a group of students at Lomandra High School in Campbelltown. They wrote the lyrics with us and helped us produce the beat too. The final song was arranged by Adam Bozzetto.

The original track can be heard HERE.

Below are the parts for the remix, the winner gets their remix on the Detours & Destinations release and a shiny new Apogee One, the soundcard we use to record at all Heaps Decent workshops! Thanks to Apogee for providing the prize!

HEAPS DECENT REMIX CONTEST

Assets for the remix can be found HERE

Finished mixes can be uploaded HERE

All entries should be received no later than July 9th and the winning remix will be chosen and announced by July 16th.

GET BUSY.

We recently took some new Heaps Decent recruits to some...

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:36:00 -0400

We recently took some new Heaps Decent recruits to some workshops we ran at Juniperina Juvenile Justice centre.

Up top is Heaps Decent’s new Assistant Manager Charlie O’Brien (aka Charlie Chux of Sydney’s Disco Punx) with Sydney DJ Anna Lunoe and below that is Charlie, Nina and Jeremy Leon aka Pipemix of Sydney DJ crew Generic DJs.

Together we ran four workshops over two weeks with the girls at Juniperina; writing lyrics, making beats and recording raps. You’ll hear some finished products soon!

Levins will be a guest on tonight’s Jailbreak on Sydney...

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:21:24 -0400

Levins will be a guest on tonight’s Jailbreak on Sydney radio station 2ser.

Jailbreak gives a voice to prison inmates, their families and friends, providing information on criminal, prison and health issues as well as connecting prisoners to the community through their music, poetry, views and health messages.

Levins will be sharing stories from Heaps Decent’s Juvenile Justice Workshops over that last 3 years and playing some songs created in the workshops over the half hour program.

You can tune in from 6:30 - 7:00pm on 2ser 107.3 FM or stream it on the 2ser website. We’ll try to make the show available for download later in the week.

The good folks at Gadigal Music have some great new releases on...

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:55:20 -0400

The good folks at Gadigal Music have some great new releases on the way - our friends Stunna Set’s debut EP Against All Odds and Trindoe of the Dreamtime Brothas new EP Black Boi.

Come see both acts play alongside a killer lineup featuring The Last Kinection, MC Munki Muk, DJ The Black President and guests at the Oxford Art Factory on Thursday the 8th of July. Tickets are available through Moshtix.

NEW MUSIC FROM HEAPS DECENT: ANYWHERE BUT HERE In September last...

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:58:00 -0400

NEW MUSIC FROM HEAPS DECENT: ANYWHERE BUT HERE

In September last year, A-Trak came to Australia with the Parklife tour. While he was here he joined Heaps Decent in Wagga Wagga, NSW where we took him to Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre for a day of music making with the young artists inside the centre.

Nina and Levins had spent the week beforehand running workshops at the centre, writing lyrics and practising flow and mic control. When A-Trak arrived at Shepherd’s Park, the school within Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre, everyone was ready to make something awesome.

‘Anywhere But Here’ is the product of our day spent recording with A-Trak. The four boys you can hear on the track wrote their own raps, as did MC Huz, a volunteer from Riverina Community College who joined us on the day. Some of the other boys played didgeridoo and made wild noises, which A-Trak sampled and used as the base for the beat.

We’re very proud of this song, and super thankful of A-Trak for giving up his time to join us for the session and for making ‘Anywhere But Here’ as amazing as it is! You can read A-Trak’s fantastic recount of the recording experience on his blog post from last year.

So here it is, after such a long wait, for you to download for free!

Heaps Decent feat MC Huz & The Riverina Crew - Anywhere But Here (Produced by A-Trak)

While we are offering this for free and encourage you to spread the word by sharing the song, we please ask that you consider making a donation to Heaps Decent so that we can continue running great workshops like this one. Click here to make a donation, it’s really easy and we really appreciate any amount you can afford!

Thanks again to A-Trak, to the boys and staff from Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre, to MC Huz, Thom Paton and all at Riverina Community College and to everyone at Fuzzy. Thanks also to Georgia Perry for the artwork you see above!

*As Heaps Decent is a charity with a Deductible Gift Recipient Status (DGR), any donation over $2 is tax deductible - please contact us for a receipt.

We were stoked to hear the news that one of our favourite rap...

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:24:00 -0400

We were stoked to hear the news that one of our favourite rap groups The Last Kinection just signed to the awesome Sydney label Elefant Traks. We look forward to the next album!

Our good friend James Winter from Queen Street Studio (who also...

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:31:00 -0400

Our good friend James Winter from Queen Street Studio (who also works with kids from Key College) is directing Skanques - The Musical. It’s a new show about growing up and trying to be someone you’re not and it will be on at the Ashfield Youth Theatre. The lyrics and the dialogue have been written by the kids. This is a show not to be missed!

Dates

8pm JUNE 11 & 12: Strathfield Town Hall – Homebush Rd, Strathfield

8pm JUNE 18 & 19: Leichhardt Town Hall – cnr Norton & Marion St, Leichhardt

8pm JUNE 25 & 26: Canada Bay Civic Hall – Marlborough St, Drummoyne

Entry by donation

The Parklife lineup has been announced! Go to the Parklife...

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:38:00 -0400

The Parklife lineup has been announced! Go to the Parklife website to see what our benefactors Fuzzy have to offer you with their amazing festival!

Last year, A-Trak joined us for some ultra productive workshops, who from the lineup would you like to see us work with this year???