EK
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Biografía
- Raised in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, where Hip Hop is a staple diet of most teenagers, Eddie often found himself hanging around his brother and his break dancing crew Digital Rock, watching them battle ala “Rock Steady crew”. It was 1988 –..EK is Eddie Rasguido. Raised in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, where Hip Hop is a staple diet of most teenagers, Eddie often found himself hanging around his brother and his break dancing crew Digital Rock, watching them battle ala “Rock Steady crew”. It was 1988 – the dress code was High Top Converse, the word of the day was “DEF” and Run DMC were rocking the world. Hip Hop was making an indelible impression on him. Like most kids, his first entry point into the culture was via a graffiti crew called Rocksonics him and his high school friends formed. However they soon realized that trying to tag Rocksonics up in a hurry was almost impossible without being caught. A rethink was on the cards and it soon became apparent their real interests laid in the music behind the scene. The crew’s name was shortened to RKS -Rhyming, Kuttin and Scratching and by now, Eddie had become quiet established in the skills of home turntablism and his two pals Lupo and Raid were turned loose as MC’s. By 91 RKS had performed at the usual local underage jams, a small amount of club shows culminating in a Second Place in the DMC Competitions (entered in the group category). By the end of his High School years Eddie was sold on music as a career and so after completing Year 12 he enrolled in the Melbourne School of Audio Engineering and a year later graduated. It was around this time that Eddie soon read an article on the revival of the old analog gear that help craft the sounds of his hip hop favorites like Afrika Bambatta and Grand Master Flash. Like a true musician, EK saved up as much of his unemployment benefits as he could and brought his first analog keyboard and explored what this new sound of “techno” was doing. “I started to listen to techno initially to listen to what they were doing with analog synths and to study how they achieved their sounds. However the music soon began to rub off on me and influence me. I was still making hip hop and had formed a production team called Rebel Base with DJ Excel. Through this we had recorded and produced a number of local rappers including Dedli Cii and Curse Ov Dialect, amongst others. But I grew restless with Hip Hop and started writing my own tracks.” Looking beyond the boom chakka boom chakka boom of hip hip EK started meshing these beats with the sound of Miami Booty Bass alongside trance lines. He was soon crafting a hybrid of breaks and beats sounds, that still had the hook of Hip Hop behind him. After a few inclusions on local compilations, Eddie scored a deal with the independent label Angels Trumpet, which eventually lead the release of his debut CD, Decoder. “Future Nation” , Decoder’s lead track, was instantly picked up by JJJ on rotation and lead to the inclusion of 3 tracks on JJJ’s Mix Up Tweak compilation. In his spare time he was often asked to provide cuts and scratches for sonicanimation’s recordings and was also a fixture when the sonic boys expanded their line up for special shows, like Live At The Wireless and the supports to the Chemical Bros. After a brief hiatus, EK is now back into the studio working on his follow up album. A mixture of nu skool breaks, bleeps and bloops, and plenty of thumping bass sounds, you can be sure to expect a diverse production.