Published: 17 Feb 2015

As we mentioned not so long ago, we’re going to be showcasing some of Melbourne’s most legitimate up and coming talent on here from time to time, hopefully you trust us enough by now to know when we’re onto a good thing. The latest good thing, happens to be releasing his first record on our upcoming VA ‘MDC Mates’, and shares an equal obsession for hardware and canines.

5K has been dropping the tempos from his north-side bedroom studio with more Rolands than dirty undies to create his signature slices of analogue heaven, and if you listen hard enough you can hear the years of hip hop influences shining through. He’s also been a long standing resident DJ for Melbourne’s notorious Favela Rock parties since their early beginnings, spinning his blend of hip hop, funk and disco like it ain’t a thang.

We’ll be hearing lots more of M5K soon with some pretty special unreleased bits on his soundcloud sure to find homes in the near future, one which features in this mix and some more we’ve included as free downloads (see below). We had a chat to the pooch loving Deejay to find out more..

We know you’ve discovered house through hip hop in a sense, and that is noticeable to an extent with the low slung production style you’ve got going on. Can you tell us about your background with hip hop and your current involvement in the scene here and where that all fits in with this M5K project..

I grew up listening to hip hop, it was only until i was about 17 i discovered house music. I remember going through my brothers records while he was out, listening to tracks like ‘Armand Van Helden – You Don’t Know Me’ for the first time, and being seriously blown away.

Nothing has really changed on the hip hop front for me, I still bump the stuff I listened to when I was a teenager; Wu Tang, Group Home, Big L, Biggie etc. Occasionally theres some impressive stuff that comes through but at the risk of sounding jaded, a lot of what the general public call ‘hip hop’ these days is straight up embarrassing. All of this ‘trap’ stuff is a joke, and i appreciate it for that reason…. it has a time and a place.

As for rap music influencing my production styles, it could be a subconscious thing. I like to get my drums sounding gritty and to pull right back on the tempo sometimes. I enjoy doing different things, experimenting and straying far from all this predictable boring house music being churned out to the masses.

Influences.. both in Melbourne and abroad, who are some that come to mind, both musically speaking and in terms of parties, experiences etc etc have gotten you to where you are right now?

Too many to name but to keep it brief; everyone featuring in this mix, all my mates, and my 3 dogs Polly, Marley and Lucy (RIP).

As far as influences for my own production, i’d have to say my producer mates. The guys who have been chipping away at this music shit for over 10 years plus and finally getting the world wide recognition they deserve. I think they’re the ones who have inadvertently helped me to get to this release, no ‘special experience’ or anything. Hard work pays the fuck off….

I know you had a relationship with the late Lewis Marnell, what can you tell about the kind of artist that he was, and what impact he had on you and the others who knew him?

Yes, Lewie was a dear friend of mine. I met him through mutual mates way back. We didn’t know him through skating or anything because we’re not skaters, we’ve all just been a super tight fam for like 13 years and Lewie was one of us. He had time for anyone, no matter who you were he was always down for a chat and a hang, and his passing has left a huge void in our crew, Melbourne, Australia and the world. We’re still hearing of stories like teenage skaters across the world getting tattoos done in his memory. I feel honoured that i could help him make his Boom Sound bike and call him a friend. Our love goes out to his beautiful wife Nami and his and her family. Rest In Piece Lewis Marnell, we’re always thinking of you.

What can you tell us about your production methods? I know you’ve got some hardware setup over there, can you give us some more info on that, and what gear you’ve currently got your eye on?

Haha, i’ve got my eye on everything. After much trial and error I realised that the sounds that i was after were from many of the classic synthesisers from way back when. After buying my first synth (Juno 106) i haven’t really gone back to software, it frankly just bores me and lacks substance, so it’s been a big learning curve. Each to their own, it has just snowballed from there and got a bit crazy. Everything I run now is completely outboard which has in turn forced me to live in a cube of a room with a single bed. Priorities though yeah? no?

Tell us about some of the music that features in this podcast, there’s some local music in there by the sounds, any shout outs you want to make?

These are just a bunch of artists / tracks i’m diggin at the moment, plenty of slow jams plus an unreleased track by yours truly which will hopefully have a home soon. Big props to Coober Pedy University band (CPUB), AKA the next big thang outta Melbs. My house mate (Tornado.W) showed me a bunch of these tracks almost a year ago and i was god damn stoked, so keep your ears peeled for the boys over the next couple of months (Ricky Zero from Otologic, and Tornado Wallace along with help from our bud Chet Faker on the vocals).

Shouts to CPUB, Tornzy, Chet, Animals Dancing, Andy Hart, Melbourne Deepcast, Northside Records, Wax Museum, Opulent crew, Favela Rock, Citizen Sex and Melbourne city, stay up.

Where and when can we see you playing next?

Every last Saturday of the month at Liberty Social Club for Favela Rock, 30th of March at Lucky Coq (Best of both sides), mid March at Northside Records for an in store release for MD005, and the odd sunday morning in Collingwood having a jam with 10 blokes crammed into my room.

Some free downloads courtesy of M5K:

Tracklist:

Tornado Wallace – Cloud Country (ESP institute)
Rhythm Odyssey and Dunks – Glow (Golf Channel)
Unknown – Untitled
Coober Pedy University Band – Oblong (Kinfolk)
KM Editions 4 – Synthesise
Max Essa – Metropolitan Scene (Nang)
Coober Pedy University Band – Moon Plain (Kinfolk)
Grooveman Spot – Goin on (Jazzy Sport)
M5K – Unreleased
Psychic Mirrors- The Witching Hour (Cosmic Chronic)
Grooveman Spot – Urbanize (Jazzy Sport)
Beautiful Swimmers- Swimmers Groove (Future Times)
Unknown – Untitled
Andy Hart – Unreleased
Rhythm Odyssey and Dunks – Fox (Golf Channel)
Uku Kuut – Vision of Estonia (PPU)
Madlib Interlude (Stonesthrow)