That’s right, THIS ol’ wordpress blog is over and DONE!

No more bloody parochial bloody default bridge with autumn leaves header thing that I couldn’t be bothered changing either!

We’re off to http://www.romantech.co.nz/blog where I’m master of my domain – that’s where you’ll find my blog posts now – attached to my site so it’s easy to check out mp3’s and other goodies on hand.

Don’t forget other blogs are going up also:

http://www.soulscience.info - for items of interest related to drum’n bass events going on in Auckland

http://www.beatdungeon.info - My radio show alongside nsu featuring a mash up of liberal local new zealand beats and electronic music, classic dance music and electronica, and fresh selections from both here and abroad, lots of funky and deep drum and bass from me.

Just an update from me . . .

What’s been happening?

Going hard at work. The only interesting thing about that is basically looking to get a bit more financially secure in the short term before pushing on with the drum’n bass. Looking forward to when I can kick back working on some new tunes and planning some more decent parties.

New electro funky remix of North Shore’s Element’s “Forever” ft. Zeisha should be popping out about the place as a free download pretty soon.

Sonic confinement the beat dungeon compilation featuring 14 fresh nz tunes is in production, ready for release in May.

I’m still working on my next mix cd “Gentleman Caller” featuring a few new tracks from me and a mix

Short circuit 5 planned for september
Snapshot planned for Queens birthday weekend

niiiiice

I started a lens for liquid funk at

 http://www.squidoo.com/liquidfunk

I got a bit carried away doing my write up but yeah, this is what I put:  

After the frantic amen breakbeats of Jungle paved the way for Goldie’s hallmark release “Timeless” in 1995, the the two part “stepping” signature beat of the emerging Drum and Bass progression drew on the work of Jungle/Drum and Bass pioneer LTJ Bukem who had already begun infusing his breakbeats with dense and hypnotic Soul, funk and jazz flourishes ever since the 1993 anthem “Music”, echoed by producers such as Peshay with “The Piano Tune” and Roni Size’s break out tune “It’s a jazz thing” aka “It’s jazzy”.

While a distinctly “darkside” movement of heavy, bass driven beats was readying to emerge as “tech step”, led by labels No U Turn and Emotif featuring key artists Ed Rush, Trace and Nico, there was a brief era that could be mapped from “Timeless” to Roni Size / Reprazent’s “New Forms” where Jazz influenced Drum and Bass became very trendy and exclusive. This movement was labelled “Jazzstep”.

Key artists also included Alex Reece with the anthem “Pulp Fiction” in 1996 which signalled the ascendance of the signature 2 step break in Drum and bass and Adam F who made massive impact with his album featuring the anthem “Circles”. Other artists of prominence included EZ Rollers.

Drum’n bass toward the end of the 90’s was dominated by the darker Tech step sound, first championed by Ed Rush and carried forward by the group Bad Company, Drum’n Bass’s first “super group”.

But the return of Peshay to scene in 2001 with his anthem “Got me burning” smashing through the domination of dark drum’n bass with its energised filtered disco and tightly looped samples, coined the phrase “House’n Bass”.

J Majik also achieved a massive dancefloor hit with his remix of the anthem “Spaced Invaders” by Hatiras which also combined filtered house with heavy drum beats and basslines of tech step.

“Liquid Funk” was a term coined by DJ Fabio of radio 1 to describe the new wave of funk, soul and jazz influenced tunes that begun to come through.

The quintessential Liquid Funk track was a remix produced by a duo who had long been pushing the return of musical vibes to Drum’n Bass. This was originally a tune by tech step Drum’n Bass duo Future Cut, who had begun producing Jazz influenced drum’n bass as Uncut with singer Jenna G.

“Midnight” by Uncut ft. Jenna G (Marcus Intalex and ST files) represented the arrival of Liquid Funk proper.

unlike it’s predecessor Jazz Step, Liquid Funk embraced the heavier drum beats and bass lines that had been progressed by Tech Step, but used melodic and musical elements such as

Hits followed on giving rise to the new era of Liquid Stars: Jump up stalwart Shy FX collaborating with another jazz step pioneer, T-power produced the chart assaulting “Shake Ur Body”

DJ Marky had an international hit teamed up with MC Stamina “LK” aka “it’s the way”, while a teenage producer going by the name of High Contrast rocked the drum’n bass world with a series of soul heavy smashers starting with “return of forever” and “make it tonight”.

Finally, an irish drummer with unrivalled ear for classically warm and organic sounding beats who had already gained critical acclaim within the Drum’n Bass scene began to produce some of the best Drum’n Bass – Calibre.

The rise of the Hospital recordings label in the early 2000’s as the flagship Liquid Funk label cemented the position of the sub genre.

Recent high profile Liquid Funk artists have included Makoto (japan), Bungle (brazil), Commix as well as a strong movement coming up now in Scandinavian regions.

Here’s a list of recently liquid funk artists.

Calibre, High Contrast, MIST, Commix, Makoto, Bungle, SArtificial Intelligence, Greg Packer, DJ Suv, DJ A-Sides, Craggz & Parallel Forces, MJ Cole, Cyantific, DJ Marky, ShyFX & T power, Peshay, Aquasky, EZ Rollers, Danny Byrd, Hospital Records, Klute, John B, LTJ Bukem, Kubiks, Lomax, Alix Perez, Mutt, Logistics, Nu:tone, DJ Patife, Insiders, Donny Dubson, Dan Marshall, Phynkfiction Recordings, Fokuz Recordings, L.A.O.S. Concord Dawn, Trei, Syncopix, Red Eyes, Ram Trilogy, Klute, Ben Westbeech, Submorphics, Sabre, Eveson, Blu Mar Ten, MC Fats, Incident, Metrik, Contour, Naibu, Zero Tolerance, Stunna, Influx Datum, Influx UK, Matrix & Futurebound, Holdtight, Defunked records, Mathematics, Atlantic Connection, Invaderz, Insiders, D.kay + Epsilon

From wikipedia

Liquid funk is a style of drum and bass. While it uses similar basslines and bar layouts to other styles, it contains fewer bar-oriented samples and more instrumental layers (both synthesized and natural), harmonies, and ambience, producing a calmer atmosphere directed at both home listeners and nightclub audiences.

In 2000, Fabio began championing a new form of drum and bass he called “Liquid funk”, with a compilation release of the same name on his Creative Source label. This was characterised by influences from disco and house, and widespread use of vocals. Although slow to catch on at first, the style grew massively in popularity around 2003-2004, and by 2005 it was established as one of the biggest-selling subgenres in drum and bass, with labels like Good Looking Records (although this label is strongly cross-genred with atmospheric drum and bass), Hospital Records, Liquid V, Rubik Records, Fokuz Recordings, State of the Art Recordings and artists like Calibre, High Contrast, Logistics, London Elektricity, Nu:Tone and Solid State among its main proponents.

Liquid funk is very similar to intelligent drum and bass, but has subtle differences. Liquid funk has stronger influences from soca, latin, disco, jazz, and funk music, while IDB creates a calmer yet more synthetic sound, using smooth synth lines and samples in place of the organic element achieved by use of real instruments.

- safe
Soul Science

Okay I had a bad run of luck recently, basically a lot of sitting around – so I been updating my music online.

I have been agonizing over a new bio!!!! because since I decided to give all my songs away free now, I decided I needed update my online profiles, and go with a new official bio for all my online music distributors.My old bio was a little bit to casual, y’know I had this piss take thing about my grandma saying I could sell my CD in local shops, and how I’d still be making beats if was under a bridge banging on an empty beer bottle with a used fit. (hypodermic needle)That’s imagery, I guess.

But yeah it wasn’t that big. I don’t want to create the impression that just because I’m not interested in selling my music, it’s no good, and I’m just some dude who’s got some loops going on his PC.

Then I try and get all deep and meaningful and seriously it just sounds – yknow – I mean I’m good at that stuff but you know me it starts sounding more like my little pony than drum’n bass and what is it . . .

But y’know especially with drum’n bass – it’s not all about me. Where I grew up and what I’m about doesn’t really matter, it’s about you, you’re going to download the music and enjoy it for a while and get something new again later.
No one cares about my life, or my “achievements” or whether I’ve paid my dues - they just want to find and download good music, so basically I just wanted to recognize that. So it’s just music, links and keywords. 

If people wanna find out more about me personally, they can check out my website or follow my blog. Otherwise yeah – it’s deep drum’n bass, download and enjoy.
MY NEW BIO

Deep Drum’n Bass. Deep deep funky sweet feel good deep rolling vibing sweet soulful bass driven beats, deep beat driven melodies, rich bass driven vibes, deep sweet rolling bass, breaks, beats, Deep sweet DEEP DRUM’N BASS AND DEEP BEATS !

DRUM AND BASS, LIQUID FUNK, ATMOSPHERIC TECH STEP, BREAKBEATS, BASSLINES, ELECTRO, DOWNBEAT, CHILL OUT, BEATS FUSED WITH DUB, SOUL, JAZZ, FUNK, DISCO.DOWNLOAD EVERYTHING FOR FREE @ www.romantech.co.nz.

http://www.romantech.co.nz
http://www.myspace.com/romantech
http://www.youtube.com/user/djromantech
http://cdbaby.com/cd/djromantech – purchase my 23 track downbeat compilation here.
http://www.last.fm/music/Romantech
http://www.ilike.com/artist/Romantech
http://www.squidoo.com/romantech
http://romantech.wordpress.com
http://romantech.blogspot.com
http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/7718/
http://www.reverbnation.com/romantech

Romantech: Auckland, New Zealand based provider of deep Drum’n Bass and break beat driven downloads, info and events.

Romantech: 10 years in it. Clubs, gigs, parties, tours, internationals, crews, beef, bullshit, failure, breakdowns, drops, hope, determination, beats, bass, turntables, vinyls, mp3’s, downloads and vibes.

Download the tunes, download mixes, download goodness, download vibrations. It’s for you. It’s meant to be. Enjoy the music.

Has supported: Artificial Intelligence, A-Sides, Suv, Greg Packer.

Also Sounds like: Calibre, High Contrast, MIST, Commix, Makoto, Bungle, Shapeshifter NZ, Craggz & Parallel Forces, MJ Cole, Cyantific, DJ Marky, ShyFX & T power, Peshay, Aquasky, EZ Rollers, Danny Byrd, Hospital Records, Klute, John B, LTJ Bukem, Kubiks, Lomax, Alix Perez, Mutt, Logistics, Nu:tone, DJ Patife, Insiders, Donny Dubson, Dan Marshall, Phunkfiction Recordings, Fokuz Recordings, L.A.O.S. Concord Dawn, Trei, Syncopix, Red Eyes, Ram Trilogy, Klute, Ben Westbeech, Submorphics, Sabre, Eveson, Blu Mar Ten, MC Fats, Incident, Metrik, Contour, Naibu, Zero Tolerance, Stunna, Influx Datum, Influx UK, Matrix & Futurebound, Holdtight, Defunked records, Mathmatics, Atlantic Connection, Invaderz, D.kay, DJ Shadow, Thievery Corporation, Coldcut, International Observer, Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss.        

Romantech is represented by
Kurb Online Music Promotions and artist management
Kurb Myspace
Official Kurb Blog – click through to subscribe
Kurb – best value CD and DVD duplication
Check out kurb digital coaching – online promotion and income generating packages for artists 

So I been around the net . . . 

and Reverb nation is sweet! check this out -

I got my facebook widget: (I am so only on facebook for work so dont get hiffy if I dont add you for like til months. I think facebook is rude, myspace is way more deviant)

And check out this mean widget where I can do all my stuff from.

theres a mailing list as well which pretty much makes it a pretty sweet site for bands. It’s not as popular as Ilike and last.fm which ive got plenty of free tunes on now as well, but all this cool stuff is pretty well, cool
I’m not gonna be doing any mail outs any time soon so I wouldn’t worry about joining my mailing list.

Just get my RSS for my blog @

http://romantech.wordpress.com

I have been agonizing over my new bio!!!!since I decided to give all my songs away free now, I decided to update my web presence, and go with a new bio for all my online music distributors.My old bio was a little bit to casual, y’know I had this piss take thing about my grandma saying I could sell my CD in local shops, and how I’d still be making beats if was under a bridge banging on an empty beer bottle with a used fit.

That’s imagery, I guess.

But yeah it wasn’t that big. I don’t want to create the impression that just because I’m not interested in selling my music, it’s no good, and I’m just some dude who’s got some loops going on his PC.

Then I try and get all deep and meaningful and seriously it just sounds – yknow – I mean I’m good at that stuff but you know me it starts sounding more like my little pony than drum’n bass and what is it . . .

But y’know especially with drum’n bass – it’s not all about me. Where I grew up and what I’m about doesn’t really matter, it’s about you, you’re going to download the music and enjoy it for a while and get something new again later.

No one cares about my “achievements”, they want to find and download good music, so basically I just wanted to recognize that. If people wanna find out more about me personally, they can check out my website or follow my blog. Otherwise yeah – it’s deep drum’n bass, download and enjoy.

 NEW OFFICIAL BIO/ABOUT ME THING

Deep Drum’n Bass. Deep deep funky sweet feel good deep rolling vibing sweet soulful bass driven beats, deep beat driven melodies, rich bass driven vibes, deep sweet rolling bass, breaks, beats, Deep sweet DEEP DRUM’N BASS AND DEEP BEATS !

DRUM AND BASS, LIQUID FUNK, ATMOSPHERIC TECH STEP, BREAKBEATS, BASSLINES, ELECTRO, DOWNBEAT, CHILL OUT, BEATS FUSED WITH DUB, SOUL, JAZZ, FUNK, DISCO.DOWNLOAD EVERYTHING FOR FREE @ http://www.romantech.co.nz http://www.myspace.com/romantech
http://www.youtube.com/user/djromantechhttp://cdbaby.com/cd/djromantech - links to purchase my 23 track downbeat compilation here.http://www.last.fm/music/Romantech
http://www.ilike.com/artist/Romantech
http://www.squidoo.com/romantech
http://romantech.wordpress.com
http://romantech.blogspot.com
http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/7718/
http://www.reverbnation.com/romantech

Romantech: Auckland, New Zealand based provider of deep Drum’n Bass and break beat driven downloads, info and events.

Romantech is the deal. 10 years in it. Clubs, gigs, parties, tours, internationals, crews, beef, bullshit, failure, breakdowns, drops, hope, determination, beats, bass, turntables, vinyls, mp3’s, downloads and vibes.

Download the tunes, download mixes, download goodness, download vibrations. It’s for you. It’s meant to be. Enjoy the music.

  Has supported: Artificial Intelligence, A-Sides, Suv, Greg Packer.

Also Sounds like: Calibre, High Contrast, MIST, Commix, Makoto, Bungle, Shapeshifter NZ, Craggz & Parallel Forces, MJ Cole, Cyantific, DJ Marky, ShyFX & T power, Peshay, Aquasky, EZ Rollers, Danny Byrd, Hospital Records, Klute, John B, LTJ Bukem, Kubiks, Lomax, Alix Perez, Mutt, Logistics, Nu:tone, DJ Patife, Insiders, Donny Dubson, Dan Marshall, Phynkfiction Recordings, Fokuz Recordings, L.A.O.S. Concord Dawn, Trei, Syncopix, Red Eyes, Ram Trilogy, Klute, Ben Westbeech, Submorphics, Sabre, Eveson, Blu Mar Ten, MC Fats, Incident, Metrik, Contour, Naibu, Zero Tolerance, Stunna, Influx Datum, Influx UK, Matrix & Futurebound, Holdtight, Defunked records, Mathmatics, Atlantic Connection, Invaderz, D.kay, DJ Shadow, Thievery Corporation, Coldcut, INternational Observer, Boards of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss.        

Romantech is represented by
Kurb Online Music Promotions and artist management
Kurb Myspace
Official Kurb Blog – click through to subscribe
Kurb – best value CD and DVD duplication
Check out kurb digital coaching – online promotion and income generating packages for artists
Electroclash Media Group Reality Compound

 http://cdbaby.com/cd/djromantech

Stuff Re: Oceanic Chill  - My downbeat album compilation project released August 2006.

notes

“Oceanic Chill” is a new compilation of chill out, downbeat, trip hop, dub, ambient and all round mellow grooves featuring 23 fresh artists brought together as proof that the underground is alive, well, and very relaxed about the whole thing. A sumptuous selection is presented from artists all hailing from Pacific nations to create a rich aural repository lovingly compiled by DJ Romantech head of Data:bass, the Auckland, NZ based DJ/Producer collective.

“The underground electronic music scene is just soaked with undiscovered talent. We cant wait around for a record company to decide that deep, thoughtful music will sell, because we’re putting our souls into saying something with sound and we want people to hear it. I didn’t want to put together another compilation unless it was special, that I had a CD of artists who’s passion and integrity resonates in the soul and beauty of the music.”

And from the sheer depth and capacity of sites such as myspace, the Oceanic release feeds the best elements accessible together into a potent brew of soothing rhythms and melodic beats.

Check out the dense, dreamy ripples of Exstus, Canartic, Hazam, Monta and DJ Manik drifting vocals afloat on tracks from Virginifalame ,Plus Nueva, the groovy currents of Billy Dragon, Photoplay Prosecutor, Mercy Dirt Scheme and Antiquity the trickling melodies of Monodrama, Junk Shop Star, Sonic Stylus and Elements, plus the dubwise marinations of J Harry Long and Emu, as well as remixes and collaborations from Romantech himself, this is truly a solid collection of rich melodic downtempo beats straight off the top shelf.

This CD is perfect for meditative and relaxing non intrusive listening – perfect for cafes, resraurants, lobbies, I even sold copies to the local church and funeral directors!

www.myspace.com/romantech // New Zealand
www.myspace.com/exstus // Austin, US
www.myspace.com/photoplayprosecutor // NYC, US
www.myspace.com/jharrylong // New Zealand
www.myspace.com/monta // Kansas City, US
www.myspace.com/themonodrama // Malaysia
www.myspace.com/sonicstylus // Cali, US
www.myspace.com/plusnueva // Singapore
www.myspace.com/hazam // New Zealand
www.myspace.com/Canartic // Austin, US
www.myspace.com/antiquity1 // N. Dakota, US
www.myspace.com/virginiaflame // NSW, Australia
www.myspace.com/ourelements // Arizona, US
www.myspace.com/catguts // New Zealand
www.myspace.com/junkshopstar // New Zealand
www.myspace.com/wyvil // New Zealand
www.myspace.com/manikdj // New Zealand
www.blueamp.net.nz/emu // New Zealand
 

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

• solid work. great compilation with cool sounds and professional execution.

  author: A. PASK

  hey dj romantech! solid compilation man, you’ve got a great ear for sound, and each track fits well on the cd and is an awesome song in its own right. professional execution of the mix and great choice of artists make this one of my fvourite compilations of the year so far. much kudos to you! pask ;P

Sweet hook ups from my profile over at reverb nation. Sweet!

http://www.reverbnation.com/romantech

CYANTIFIC + NU:TONE @ FU BAR, AUCKLAND // MARCH 6 2008

Big fan of both these artists but was aware of Cyantifics skills on the decks. Nu:Tone it was fair to say didn’t shine, it didn’t help that he tended toward the more intellectual minimal tech style rather than more melodic numbers. Cyantific on the other hand was a real performer and one of the most exciting DJ’s I’d seen in awhile.

It might be said it was almost a bit much and though his skill and performance quality made it a pleasure to be there – to be critical you could say there was perhaps room for a little more sophistication and elegance.

A few of the tunes I’ve bought in the last few weeks which i’ve been really enjoying are:

Metrik – Your World
L.A.O.S. – 1990’s
Commix – Scarlet
Spectrasoul – Shades of Blue

Don’t forget the beat dungeon 4pm NZ time on http://upfm.dj

new remix action – retouching rapper Element’s “Forever” featuring the lovely Zeisha just finished up today