Visual Artist: Cass Jones

Cass Jones is a cheese lovin’, tomboy from Perth now livin’ on the East Coast. AND she paints with ALL of the magical colours, at the same time! I was lucky enough to meet this sweet soul at a legendary Bulwer Street kick-on early in 2014.

Cass Jones has always been "artsy" creating super cute cartoon characters in high school which lead her on to studying Visual Art at TAFE. It wasn’t until she moved to the art hub of Australia, Melbourne that she was inspired to pick up her paintbrush’s again. Her success has escalated quickly, with her eye catching vibrant designs being featured on Magnus Collective. The exposure has opened up many exciting opportunities including the purchasing of her work by bachelorette Sam Frost and also Head of Channel 10 Russel Howcroft.

“I would love to be able to have the ability to travel regularly between my hometown of Perth & Melbourne, with my income as an artist. Most importantly for family time, but secondly to become involved in the WA arts community. I really love the vibrant coastal style of a lot of the art which comes out of Perth, and would love to be able to contribute to some projects back in my hometown!” explained Cass. I totally know where she’s coming from. Recently I’ve been assisting Perth Mural Artist Jerome Davenport with the planning of his work in USA trip in 2015. Perth really is becoming such a supportive hub for all kinds of art!

In the coming months she has quite a few commissioned pieces in the works as well as launching her collaboration with a new Melbourne brand, Koda. Together they're working on a 'Art Series' homewares products, using her artwork for their branding.

Cass draws inspo from DEB, a San Fran street artist originally from Australia who is killin’ it. “I've been following her for a few years now & she just goes from strength to strength, she's super inspiring and her art is really distinctive & different.” Aswell as Anya Brock, a household name in the P-town. Having such drive, determination and talent HUGE things are destined to develop in the coming months for Cass. Keep on kicking on sick bitch, you got this in the bag!

You can purchase Cass’s work here & follow her on FB or Insty

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Breakfest Beats

5 reasons why I’m fucking excited for this year's Breakfest!

Just say I was one of those retarded girls that ask's the DJ’s for a request this would be my #1 choice! One of my all time favourite electronic tracks, sadly it doesnt get played out enough. Though I sure do make up for at kicks on’s. Really looking forward to both hearing this and 'Buffalo' hopefully in the Breakfest Bowl!

Jesse Slayter & Wuki - That’s Right

Hands down this was one of my favourite singles dropped in 2014. “Imagine Claude Vonstroke and the Disclosure brothers having a baby and that baby grew to be a dj, this would be a tune that never left his space crate” Mad Decent. After slaying Ambar in 2014 with Shockone for Force Majeure there is plenty of hype around Wuki returning to Perth.

Spenda C - Badman

It's no secret the Perth punters have a growing love for Spenda C! Touring back to our Golden state several times a year, I’m stoked to see this lord finally added to a Festival Line-up in P-town. Spenda’s Badman released on Klub Kids earlier this yeah takes the listener on a tour of bass, house, wubs and classic rude boy rhythms all in the space of 3 minutes something!

Stanton Warriors - Loving Me Wrong

Stanton’s have pushed through the career shattering “breakbeat” genre label to establishing themselves a solid fixture in the Bass Music Community. “Loving Me Wrong” is the lead single off the 7th Studio Album (which dropped in September) and doesn't fail to disappoint, neither does the rest of the release!

Hydraulix & Oski - Let's Play

One of the most popular tracks I’ve heard play out locally over the last year is Hydraulix & Oski  Let’s Play! Like Spenda, Hydraulix is becoming a frequent traveller to the West n with his mad bass vibes and trap bangers he's a vibrant addition to the boutique

festival's line-up.

In case you didn't know Breakfast is a broken beat and bass boutique masterpiece held every Boxing Day in the same exquisite surrounds since the first Breakfest 15 years ago; Belvoir Amphitheatre. This years full line-up: 

STANTON WARRIORS | DANNY BYRD | A SKILLZ

DEEKLINE | DJ MARKY | MAFIA KISS | WUKI | DUB PHIZIX

STICKYBUDS | SPENDA C | HYDRAULIX 

SLEEPY TOM | K+LAB | BLACK & BLUNT

Tickets | Facebook Event | Instagram

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Duane Pike: Mad Dawg

  

Duane Pike is a Mad Dawg. Why? He’s a Patron drinking, Vodka Pong (Vodka Beer Pong for those of you who haven’t made it to the Northern Beaches mid kick-on) and an extreme funneling enthusiast. Growing up surrounded by sound equipment he started DJ’ing in school n entered the music industry at Ambar Nightclub’s Sound Guy! Now living in London he’s joined forces with Dave Gee, Greg Whyte, Jamie Ross-Hulme, Nicky Dsilva and Liam Hicks to 
launch their label Reach LDN.

Duane’s role at the label in Distribution, Contractual Agreements and Finances. With the labels first release only weeks there is more than just the ‘Happiness’ - the 2^nd release by D’Silva on the label, to be happy about! “We’re striving to be a music collective not in competition. The most exciting part is there is so much talent out there, so much amazing music being produced by so many people. For us this is an opportunity to provide emerging artists with a platform to get their music heard and to be supported by the Reach community we’re growing”. The label only came into fruition 3 months ago, which is surprising when you look at how much the label has archives thus far. With interest from Spain n Ibiza for label parties, more launch parties and releases on the way it seems the label has a very colourful 12 months ahead of them.

Over the coming weeks Duane can be found pumping Cyantific podcast (an artist he would love to collaborate with some day) in Star Studios London (another Perth Boy Liam Hick’s joint venture with Tobi Saich). The Studio is fast becoming a motivations, magical musical hub. Already hosting Xtrahn(DnB Lord)and they haven’t even being declared officially open yet! 

When I asked Duane who his favourite mad dawgs are he  replied “Liam Neilson in 'Taken', because he is a general baddass saving his daughter and Jay-Z. Because of his success and innovation with-in the music industry. "I’ve been reading a lot about his involvement in his business ventures, running his labels, music publishing, talent consulting and management services. Very Inspiring!” 

Link up with Reach LDN by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or via their Website. 

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The Dance Music Guide to Writing a Bio

By Cyclone

Every music act needs a good bio. Bios are useful sources of info – and resources – for industry-types (including prospective agents, bookers and promoters), the media and, of course, consumers and fans. Often event and tour publicists 'sample' artists' bios for press releases – and that's exactly what they're for. There's no copyright on bios, as such. Some acts' bios even mysteriously appear as Wikipedia entries… It's all about sharing the info you want to share about your music. You should upload your bio onto your Website, Facebook, SoundCloud – anywhere people go to find out about, or listen to, you. If you don't want journos to ask the same ol' questions in interviews ("How did you start?"), pre-empting them in a bio can save you a lot of zzz regurgitation. But where to begin?

1. There are two bio templates. The traditional record label bio reads a bit like a feature article with interview quotes. The obvious advantage is that you can leave out parts of your story that you don't wish to publicise – such as any dodgy tracks issued under old handles or that studio moonlighting gig for a Z-grade Katy Perry wannabe. The second model is a summary of your career and achievements – without quotes. Many DJ/producers prefer the latter because of the TLDR ('too long, didn't read') factor. The standard bio for an album act is around 800 words. The longest bio this writer has ever seen was Gilles Peterson's – it was like a Tolkien book, but he's kinda earned that right (and, yo, he attracts über-geeks).

2. Keep your bio flossy, and descriptive, but it should still cover the basic facts. Those 'Five Ws' commonly used in journalism. Nah, we don't mean your top five Wu-Tang Clan members, but 'Who/What/Where/When/Why' (and maybe 'How'). If you're making cheesy bandwagon-hopping shit, the 'Why' is gonna be especially important, LOL!

3. Most acts claim that they don't want their music labelled or 'pigeonholed' – understandable. But it's good to offer clues to people – or anchorage. If you're worried about being attached to the latest buzz sub-genre, then go for something broad: 'house', 'techno', 'progressive', 'garage', 'bass', etc. Alternatively, you can be creative and invent a genre – like, say, metrowave (= futuristic urban music). A few of today's genre names originated with the producers. Detroit's Belleville Three (Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson) adapted the term 'techno' from Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave (as in 'Techno Rebels'). It kinda stuck. Down the line, Porter Robinson conceived 'complextro'. AC Slater coined 'night bass' to denote his post-EDM style, and it's also become a cool countercultural brand. At the very least, your bio should mention relevant, contextual influences (if you're producing trap, lauding Fleetwood Mac is just gonna confuse peepz).

4. Electronic dance music is also big on the anti-bio – info that is either formulated or non-existent. Indeed, there is a long tradition of acts revelling in mystique: Kraftwerk, The KLF, Underground Resistance, Drexciya, Daft Punk, Burial… The most compelling create a narrative or generate their own mythology. What's more, they have some kind of rationale, rather than it being an obvious marketing novelty – or digital conceit. Seasoned acts have used mystique to cleverly reinvent themselves. Theo Keating of The Wiseguys brilliantly did this with the viral Fake Blood. Today's anonymous acts include Slow Magic, Claptone and Shiba San. If you choose this path, be clever, imaginative and/or subversive – not half-assed. Introducing yourself as merely "Tom from [insert suburb here]" is wack. Same with something like, "Masked alien robot SpaceChild fell to earth from Mars with his asteroids of bass-thump." That's kinda played-out, dawg. Above all, consistency is key.

5. If all this sounds too hard, commission a music journo to write your bio for you. Fees vary, but most will work with your budget. Crucially, make sure you know what you want first. Think about your music, art, how you want to position yourself and what you want to convey. It saves a lot of second-guessing – and revisions.

From Evie: Cyclone Wehner has written bios for the Detroit label Transmat (Aril Brikha), Kelis, Jessica Mauboy and Hiatus Kaiyote. We've teamed together not only to bring you this guide but to also offer you the opportunity to get a bio written by Cyc, for a very nice price! EMAIL me for deets; yvettelavers@gmail.com

Join Cyclone in the World of Twitter @therealcyclone n Facey here!

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