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You want hip-hop? Rock? Funk? Soul? Breakbeats? Mad rhymes? Why choose one, when on 1200 Techniques' debut album, you can have it all?
1200 Techniques' boundary-breaking debut Choose One has been in the making for some time, since three Melbourne-based musicians - hip-hop original DJ Peril, his genre-jumping guitarist brother Kemstar, and the impossible-to-ignore MC Nfamas - got fed up with treading water in countless other bands, and decided to make a go of it together. (Fact: 1200 Techniques originally comprised two sets of siblings - Nfamas' brother Kabba now lives in the UK, but can be heard on several Choose One tracks.)
"I was sick of being everyone's scratchy-boy," says Peril of the time before 1200 Techniques. "Everyone would go, 'Come in our band, do some scratching, it'll look cool.' No one cared, I was cool for hire. So I made my decision. I've been around too long, I know what I want, I know how to do it... 1200 Techniques comes into play."
Peril - a mainstay on the Melbourne hip-hop scene since his early days as a graffiti artist - was soon jamming with talented vocalists Nfamas and Kabba, who he had spotted on stage at a Melbourne pub. These two had been writing and recording their own rhymes since Nfamas was an ambitious 10-year-old. Together, they dabbled in everything from world music to drum'n'bass. Peril, meanwhile, hadn't considered making music with his brother, Kemstar, who had been busy writing his own songs with promising band Quarter2Nine. "My brother's a very alternative dude. He's very eclectic," says Peril. "He grew up on the stuff that I grew up on, but he's got a different twist altogether. I'm more traditional, he's more like, 'Nah man, let's do something different.'"
When Kemstar turned up with the incredible riff that would become 1200 Techniques' first indie single Hard As Hell, Peril's instant reaction was: "Stuff this, maybe we should have my brother in the band more often. He adds such a different sound."
Different sound? There's an understatement. Since conception, 1200 Techniques have developed into the most energised, eclectic, yet supremely focused band in Australia. Not to mention one of the most in-your-face live acts you're ever likely to experience. Kemstar puts the wild array of sounds on Choose One down to the grab bag of ingredients in the 1200 Techniques kitchen. "We haven't got a basic ingredient, it can change each time. Every song is really a sound unto its own, that's probably what I'm most proud of with the album."
The lead single from Choose One is Karma, a track packed full of fresh beats, cold cuts & a magic Kemstar rift. In keeping with 1200's unique style a fully animated clip accompanies the track - produced by the creative team behind Moulin Rouge.
Choose One rocks, dances, dishes out downright funky basslines, and serves up the best electro this side of Afrika Bambaataa. Don't bother trying to label it, just feel the groove Choose One serves up again and again. "You can't put a finger on exactly what it is," offers Peril. "But the one thing I always say: it's always about the groove."
"1200 Techniques embodies individualism," Peril concludes. "We're not about being the best, we're not about being the hardest, we're about being us. As simple as that."
So, what are you waiting for? Choose One.
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