The Story of How Hedflux Met Grouch

in #music7 years ago (edited)

I am over-the-moon with joy that one of my favourite musical artists Grouch is coming to the Audio Alchemy Retreat in May to share his music production knowledge! This guy has inspired me so much, I feel the need to tell the whole back story, with some creative embellishments for good measure ;)

15194423_10153932509900025_5151801939666922497_o.jpg
Taken by Caspian Kai at Envision Festival Costa Rica 2016

It was February 2011, I was a few weeks into my first ever Australasian tour, and had just flown into Nelson on the South Island of New Zealand at about 10pm. After a 2 hour drive up a steep winding mountain road in darkness, I arrived at Luminate Festival in the Canaan downs. It was tipping down with rain, I was wet and exhausted, but thrilled to finally be at my destination, 11,500 miles from my home in Scotland.

After getting shown to my tent and navigating my way through the dark fields to the source of the distant beats, I walked out from behind the speaker cabinets to see about 1000 ecstatic dancers going utterly wild in the downpour, bouncing, writhing in ecstasy, spending more time in the air than on the ground. Beams of light shimmered across their bodies and refracted through the raindrops, illuminating the ancient beech trees with shifting fractal patterns.

The music was the most refined, technically advanced, trippy, groovy, exotic beats and bass I’d ever heard. Deeply tribal, but also ultra-futuristic, dark but playful, highly charged but also relaxed, humorous yet mischievous, clever and cheeky. An ingenious unity of opposites that was irresistible to move to, managing to transcend every dance music cliche in the book and create a totally authentic experience from one moment to another.

sacred_discovery.jpg
Artwork by Ihti Anderson

I’ve had some peak dance floor moments in my life, but this was different, like a dream, like I’d unlocked a new level in this musical journey we call life. I felt like I was being musically upgraded, that some archaic codes were being activated in my DNA. These frequencies were unlike anything i'd ever heard and they were going in DEEP.

My mind was lighting up with symbols and patterns, new knowledge taking root in my brain with each passing beat. I felt like I was under a spell, magnetised to the dance floor, laughing and crying, tracing shapes through the aether, dancing like a lunatic. I was getting lucid geometric visions despite having had no plant-medicine assistance (rare!).

Who was this dreadlocked wizard on the stage? And what the f_ck was he doing to me?

It was of course Grouch - or Oscar Allison to his mum - the New Zealand born producer who has been excelling at psychedelic music in all of it’s forms for the best part of 2 decades, lighting up dance floors the world over with an unmistakable sound that is all his own.

305273_281054831917402_1394415231_n.jpg

Legend has it that he spent much of his youth in “hippy drum circles” on the paradisiacal beaches of New Zealand, hammering out tribal rhythms on his djembe for days on end, while the great nature spirits of the land gathered to watch and listen. Some say he has tapped out more beats than there are grains of sand on the Earth, and that his timing is tighter than a gnats nose.

One day, while dutifully attending to his work as a rhythmic ninja, the Gods decided to bestow a great musical secret on his impressionable young psyche, a secret so powerful, so psychedelic, so dubtastic, that it would alter the course of electronic music forever.

Like the Ring of Power or the Philosophers Stone, this secret wisdom would help him transform into the magical musical weapon he is today. But the Gods put one condition on this great gift: he must always stay humble, and pretend like he’s “just some regular kid” from New Zealand who likes to make beats.

Whatever he is, and whatever he knows, he has been one of the most influential musicians to me since then!

grouch and steve.jpg
Taken at Solasta Festival 2017 in Tenessee by me

I approached him shortly after this mind melting set, trying to suppress my inner fan-boy from spilling out in embarrassing ways, I wanted to get to know some of his production secrets, but I couldn’t really think of any good questions except “Hoooow????”

We both played Luminate and Alien Nation festivals and kept in touch throughout the year. He taught me some tricks via Skype and actually inspired me to start offering online tuition services myself (which led to the creation of @audioalchemy in 2016).

I made a remix of his track Reverse Entropy for Enig’matik Records, and in Feb 2012 when I returned to Australia, I met up with him in Melbourne and we spent a day making weird noises and beats together.

Due to time constraints, we each took these sonic seeds away and planted them in our studios, growing them into what became Lumination (Hedflux Mix) and (Grouch Mix). I’ve since had the pleasure of performing along side him at various locations in Australia, the USA and Costa Rica as well as releasing our Collaborations EP in 2015.

collaborations ep.jpg
Artwork by Hakan Hisim

Before taking the psychedelic trance world by storm, he was producing dub, hip-hop, breaks and drum & bass, and these early influences are now coming back around in his latest project Grouch in Dub which fuses broken beats and psychedelic sorcery with stunning live instrumentation, vocals and mind bending bass manipulation.

The seminal track Soul Provider is a timeless gem that really embodies the Grouch in Dub sound. I witnessed his dub set at the Oregon Eclipse festival in 2017, and it was absolutely the NEW peak dance floor experience of my life!! I’m sure many who were there will attest to it - it was WILD!

So as the world patiently awaits the release of his new album, he is busy forming a full live band to take on the road, we can only imagine how ridiculously awesome it’s going to be.

I am super-stoked - no really, actually stoked-to-pieces, stoked HEAPS - that he is coming to our retreat in just 3 months time to put on his teacher-hat and give us the download on his secret frequency science.

21078429_1606512892700544_5564673815803997652_n.jpg

This is a rare opportunity to learn from one of the best in the game. The Audio Alchemy Retreat is on the Big Island of Hawaii from May 2-13th. 7 days of workshops, 3 days of adventures, and a celebratory festival to let loose on the last day.

To learn more about retreat experience itself, check this post from my man @opulence

Get on board

Sort:  

yesss! two of my favorite sonic alchemists. . .
so wish I was gonna be there to obtain the knowledge this year!!
stoked to hear of y'all meeting and how it all came about :-)

I love this story. Growing up I would always dig through music magazine piles to read articles about my favorite bands - Reading about the Chili Peppers jamming in a LA squat and discovering their sound or an 80's Hardcore punk band fighting angry parents on the road. Those stories built a world of legend around those artists in my mind, making me into a diehard fan. It also led me down the rabbithole of THEIR favorite artists and influences, tracing the musical lineage tree back..

These days my favorite artists exist on an accessible level. I can contact them on facebook or soundcloud to ask when their next release is dropping. But I miss the mystique! So many times all I know is ''Yo my name is ____ from ____, I make beats''
Tell me more!! Tell me about the world that your amazing sound comes from!

So I really, really love posts like this. And will be endeavouring to do them myself. Keep em' coming Steve!

I agree 111% bro! So much potential with the art of storytelling. Stoked that Steemit is inspiring this type of sharing to resurface ;)

Nicely written Steve!

Thanks Tom, great to have you on steemit my man! Looking forward to seeing what you create! :)

Oh Luminate! That is a very dear festival to my heart. It was my first ever festival experience in 2009, and I revisited it as a "break" from my long distance hike across both islands on NZ. It wasn't much of a break though since I danced big blisters into my toes! It was also wet and very muddy when I went, but that came with an ecstatic throng of naked dancers that was something to remember.

Brother that is huge news! Damn I wish the stars were aligning for me and I could make it. Grouch was at one of the first parties I went to as a grommet. One of my first experiences with LSD was carried to awesome heights thanks to this dude! Memories..... 👌

Don't think I've ever heard such a beautifully articulate description of Grouch's music! Absolutely on point, really enjoyed reading this and heartbroken that I probably can't be at the retreat but I hope it goes great, I'm sure all involved will have their minds blown to smithereens! 😁

thanks man, i could have said so much more! His music has invoked so much feeling, and I've been in so many situations with it - it resonates a lot!

Aww should have! I love reading about people's experiences with psychedelic music. I'm planning on doing a couple of album reviews myself.

I can only imagine the synergy he'll bring to the retreat. Your gigs b2b in Costa Rice 2016 were amazing and my first time witnessing Grouch live. The Groove Muse had me! Have relentless fun guys... :)

aweosome! is this grouch the rapper or another grouch? Love the video :)
Is there a way to get d.tube videos in the actual post like your utube one?

I have only seen people post links to them, which is obviously not as visually appealing...

This is a different Grouch ;)

As for DTube vids, no you can't embed them quite yet. Though I know they are working on it, so it should happen soon. We need that and DSound embeds too :)

Hedflux! It's so great to see you on Steem!

I teach people how to use Ableton Live, my profile here is dedicated to Ableton Education and Positive Mind Sets!

Looking forward to supporting your future content and having a serious think about attending Audio Alchemy either this year, or maybe more realistically next ;)

Love from New Zealand

Andrew - Collective Intelligence