Waxolutionists
| Waxolutionists | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Hip-hop , trip-hop |
| founding | 1997 |
| Website | www.waxos.com |
| Current occupation | |
| Andreas "dj zuzee" Zuza | |
Producer , DJ |
Christoph “dj buzz” Böck |
Producer, DJ |
Felix “bionic kid” mountain guide |
Waxolutionists is an Austrian hip-hop collective from Vienna . The first album by the three DJs, The Smart Blip Experience , was released on Deck8 in 1999 , where they caused a sensation with singles such as Nightshade . The waxos , as they are also called by fans, are considered Austria's most successful hip-hop export. In 2001 they received the Austrian Amadeus Award in the Best FM4 Alternative Act category . The spontaneous and unobtrusive way of combining music from different origins like collages has coined the name Waxolutionists. Until 1999 they played only three people on six turntables , then until the mid-2000s with an eight-man live combo, their rhythm section from " The Bionic Kid " and the " Twintowas " (aka The New Tower Generation , which meanwhile also play in Sidos and RAF Camoras live band).
style
The first musical works of the Waxos originated almost exclusively on turntables and multi-track cassette recorders. At that time there were the first strictly turntablism releases in the USA - the wave slowly began to spill over to Germany. Nevertheless, the Waxos were the first with an album that was created almost exclusively with turntables and turned out not to be an annoying scratch orgy - for normal listeners - but rather a musical, minimal and demanding trippy oeuvre. The single Nachtschattengewächs , produced by “the bionic kid” featuring “Manuva” from “Total Chaos”, a hip-hop duo from Innsbruck that was still active and successful at the time, became an underground cult hit. The Waxos sound has changed over the years, but has always retained its playfulness and typical characteristics:
Heavy beats, elaborate drum programming, cleverly hidden sample layering, minimally used scratches, a lot of vintage sound and always unusual guests at the microphone.
Band history
During the first big German rap boom at the end of the nineties, the Waxos released their debut album “The Smart Blip Experience” in February 2000 , album of the week on FM4 , Austria's largest youth and independent broadcaster. Partly "naive", partly well thought out, but not considering the technical average of comparable turntablism albums ... but with musicality and the ability to create complex - soundtrack-like structures is their debut album.
With sampler contributions for Sabotage Communications, the FM4 sound selections and the EP "3 sights" (feat. Thaistylee, killa kela, herr minute & m-tech) they prolonged the chain of publications in 2001. The feature with Killa Kela, the beatboxing genius England, by the way, was the first Kela song to be released on phonogram.
They were the first Austrian hip-hop band to receive an Amadeus Award (Austrian equivalent to "grammy").
At the beginning of 2002 the maxi-coupling “Supercity” from their second studio album “Plastic People” was released, with guests Dephjoe, Thaistylee & Manuva. The track landed at number one in the FM4 charts, at number 8 in the annual charts, and was one of the few for which a very elaborate video was shot.
On the album “Plastic People”, live instruments were used for the first time, analog production techniques were applied and experimented with walking along new musical paths. The guest list ranged from DJ colleagues such as B. Mr. Minute & Roger Rekless from Vierzueins from Munich to Mc's like Fiva MC , also from Munich, Schoolz of Thought from Philadelphia, and many others. Partly based on the “Mixtape Flavor” from “The Smart Blip Experience”, but already provided with more complex arrangements, straight rap productions and lots of live elements, it should initiate the first steps in the classic production operation.
In the summer of 2002, the Waxos performed together with the Supercity Soundsystem at dozens of festivals in and outside Austria, such as B. the Vienna Danube Island Festival, the Splash, the Alive Festival in Belgium, the Nuke Festival in Austria and many others. After a short break, he switched to Universal in autumn 2002, again in collaboration with Fabrique Records .
The start of the new release chain was made in early 2003 with the compilation contribution to "Eclectic Sounds of Vienna # 3" as an exclusive opener. June 2003 followed the Remix EP from Couch Records artist Cay Taylan. With the release of the album "RE: WAX", with remixes Stereotyp, Megablast, i-wolf , Urbs & Cutex, Mark B , Dj Chrome, Walkner.Hintenaus, UKO, Soulrunnaz and many others, the half year 2003 ended. At the beginning of November further remixes appeared of the trio, including for Hans Platzgummer and André Heller , with whom the Waxos also earned a gold record in early March 2004. Live the three thrilled with a new instrumental live show that was more in the area of free jazz meets turntalism. Together with the twin brothers and beatmakers “the Twintowas” on bass and drums and Andi Schreiber on the jazz violin, this time they sent the audience into other musical spheres.
On March 1st, 2004 the first harbinger of the album “Counterfight” appeared: “A Strangers World” - also included on the compilation “Vienna Scientists 04”. In addition to the original version, “A Strangers World” contained remixes by Drum & Bass Breakthrough Artists Illskillz and a bonus megamix by DJ DSL . The long player “Counterfight” was released shortly afterwards on May 17th, 2004, with a range of features: in addition to England's rap legend “Blade”, worldwide show chart topper “Ty”, Nujazz vocalist “LyricL” and others, the jazz virtuosos Oliver Steger and Martin Reiter from Vienna and a joint production with Dj Vadim .
Since “Counterfight” 2004, the Waxos solo project has been something of a problem: Dj Buzz completed his “Buzzment Studios” after almost two years, Dj Zuzee toured and worked with the jazz trio “ Café Drechsler ”. Bionic Kid played concerts with the Viennese jazz combo " Forms of Plasticity " (including a 10-day Mexico tour), as well as with " 60 Minits Of Funk ", and produced the Broken Beat together with the Twintowas (the live musicians of the waxolutionists) Project " Circus ", worked on stylistically different projects such as B. " 7 Citizens " and brought momentum to the sleepy house scene of Vienna with the " Praterei " in 2009.
Live the Waxos were all around and still present in Austria, especially the Mexico tour with Christopher Just is worth mentioning.
November 2009 the fifth studio album was released with collaborations by Dave Ghetto (USA), Hygher Baby (Sweden), Blu (USA), Frank Nitty (USA), Mudkids (USA), Rich Medina (USA), Dj Vadim (UK), Manuva , Flowin Immo & Roger from Blumentopf . Stylistically, as always idiosyncratic and loving to detail, this long player plunged a few steps deeper into other sub-genres and shows the sound of the three groove and sample specialists in a new direction.
After another long break, the three met in June 2014 for a one-week recording session in the Styrian Alps. After 2 years of studio work, 2 long players were completed in spring 2016. The first "The Big Butter, Part 1" was published at the end of January 2017. The second part should appear in mid-2017, when the 20th anniversary will also be celebrated.
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Albums
- 2000: The Smart Blip Experience (Debut, Deck 8 Germany)
- 2002: Plastic People (Emi / Automatique)
- 2003: RE: WAX (Universal / Fabrique Records)
- 2004: Counterfight (Universal)
- 2009: We Paint Colors (Sunshine)
- 2017: The Big Butter, Part 1 (Duzz Down San)
- 2018: The Big Butter, Part 2 (Duzz Down San)
Singles and EPs
- 1999: Nudist Essentials (Deck8)
- 1999: Nachtschattengewächs feat. Manuva, Remix by Bubbles ( Doppelkopf ) (Deck8)
- 2000: 3 Sights feat. Killa Kela, Thaistylee u. a. (Deck8)
- 2001: Focus # 3 with remixes by Kava & Dkay (Emi)
- 2001: Supercity feat. Manuva, Thaistylee & Dephjoe (Emi)
- 2002: Rare Form feat. Dephjoe & Syntax from Schoolz of Thought. (Emi)
- 2003: RE: WAX Instrumental Ep (Universal)
- 2004: A Stranger's World with remix by DJ DSL (Universal)
- 2004: Roll with the Punches feat. Ty, with remixes of Stereotype & I-Wolf (Universal)
- 2008: Feet Don´t Fail Me feat. Dave Ghetto, Mystic & Hezekiah (Sunshine)
- 2008: Flashlight feat. Hygher Baby (Sunshine)
- 2009: Dance With Me feat. Dave Ghetto, Mystic & Hezekiah (Sunshine)
Remixes
- 2000: Waxolutionists Remix of " DCS - Hirnsturm " (Deck8)
- 2002: Waxolutionists Remix of " MUM - L´energie Irriadaire " (Klein Records)
- 2003: Waxolutionists Remix of " Cay Taylan - Ference Pushkash " (Couch Records)
- 2003: Waxolutionists Remix of " Hans Platzgummer - Your Pull Is Gone " (Fabrique Records)
- 2004: Waxolutionists remix of " Andre Heller - Die Wahren Abenteuer " (Universal) - gold status!
- 2007: Waxolutionists Remix of " Ray Cokes - Sleepwalking " (Fabrique Records)
- 2007: Waxos vs Circus remix of " Dj Vadim - Kill, Kill, Kill ft. Big Red " (BBE)
- 2007: Waxos vs Circus Remix of " Dj Vadim - Talk To Me ft. Sena " (BBE)
- 2009: Waxolutionists Remix of " Hygher Baby - Wont Get That / Intergalactic Love " (Raw Fusion)
- 2010: Waxolutionists Remix of " JR & PH7 - Dreams feat. Kaze & Edgar Allen Floe " (Supercity)
- 2010: Waxolutionists Remix of " Swede: art - Embrace The Chill " (Tokyo Dawn Records)