Melbourne’s in the heart of a long touted soul/R&B boom, which seems to be the result of every VCA student, J Dilla freak and jazz head in the city joining an instrumental hip hop group. Whatever you want to call it, this surge of interest is producing some of the most inspiring and original music around. The Leaps and Bounds festival’s Soul by the Pound night at the Evelyn was a testament to the vitality of the scene, showcasing the collaborative spirit and originality it’s become famous for.
After a slow start smoothed over by DJ Paul Gorrie, the night opened with local collective The Foreign Brothers, playing in their CoreTet configuration, throwing down a series of banging hip hop standards for their talented crew of MCs to work over. By the time they’d launched into their version of Black Star’s Brown Skin Lady, the bass player was strutting through the crowd and the Evelyn band room was hyped.
They were followed by the soul/funk stylings of Billy Davis, a new group on the scene that made a strong case for being the most danceable act of the night. These guys were raw talent, incorporating a wide range of vocalists and soloists into an eclectic set of material drawn from their debut, breakup themed EP BADENDING.
The night was headlined by 30/70, a group having built up a sizeable following in recent months. The band room was packed by the time they took the stage and it became easy to see why. These guys blew through a seamless hour long set that went from free jazz to dub to R&B, all underscored by an undeniable head nodding groove. Comparisons to Hiatus Kaiyote are inevitable but insufficient; these guys take the future soul sound and bring it to its cosmic outer reaches. Theirs is a wholly original synthesis of influences grounded in an unbelievable amount of talent.
If you’re somehow not convinced that Melbourne’s hip hop/soul scene is making some of the best music in the city, you could see any one of these groups and leave thinking otherwise.
BY TIERNAN MORRISON
Loved: The audience’s awkward head bopping.
Hated: Almost getting hit in the head by a bass headstock.
Drank: Mulled cider. It was cold.
