It feels like it was only a couple of months ago that The Upbeats were awaiting the release of their second album, Nobody's Out There on Bad Taste.  

That was actually in 2007, and the intervening years have been a blur of activity for the Wellington drum and bass duo. No sooner than Nobody's Out There had hit the shelves, the pair had begun work on their next album - the first to be released this month on their own, Non Vogue imprint - Big Skeleton.

"When we finished the last album we felt really burnt out and didn't want to even consider doing another one," says one half of The Upbeats (an 'Upbeat'?), Jeremy Glenn.  

"So we decided to hire a house on the beach miles from anywhere. We packed up the studio and spent the week hiding out, surfing in the morning and writing beats through the afternoon and into the evening.

"We started three of the tracks from the album during that week; we found they had a vibe about them and were more suited to an album format, so we then started formulating Big Skeleton."

2007's Nobody's Out There, while not exactly a concept album, was heavily themed - something The Upbeats were keen to steer clear of when they set out to write Big Skeleton.

There has always been an eeriness to their sound and despite resolving to avoid following any one particular theme this time around, by their own admission they ended up getting caught up in a haunted house vibe and running with it.

The album's title, Big Skeleton was inspired by a Brazilian ghetto story related to them by a friend. The story of the Caveraos (English translation: Big Skeleton), a super-tank full of Navy Seal trained Brazilian gang members known to terrorise the favelas of Rio De Janeiro, or on good days, distribute Nike sneakers and free cable. No, me neither.

"With this album we really just wanted to have some fun," says Glenn. "The last album was quite moody, and even though it had a fairy tale theme we took it pretty seriously and went in very deep.

"With Big Skeleton we just wanted to come up with something that represented the true sound of Dylan and I. That wasn't over-thought or over-worked, something which still had that raw energy."

Big Skeleton doesn't shy away from having fun with the genre and really stretches the idea of what drum and bass is by defying the norms. In addition, the last album had a strong emphasis on female vocals, and although award-winning country singer, Jess Chambers makes the only female appearance on Big Skeleton, this time around the focus was shifted towards working with some pretty heavyweight male vocalists.

The sub-grinding, stream-of-consciousness narrative-driven breakbeat insanity of Carousel features MC Kemo, while the fantastic Ki Ki Kai Kai, featuring Japanese rapper, Cardz; or Planet Earth featuring fellow Kiwi drum and bass outfit, State Of Mind, are just two examples of The Upbeats' ability to maximise creativity through collaboration.  

"We had wanted to work with Kemo for a while," explains Glenn. "We'd really liked his early stuff with Lynx. And the last two shows we've played in Tokyo, we had the pleasure of playing with the legendary MC Cardz. We got along really well with him and loved his style, so thought it would be wicked to get him on board for the album, for something a bit different.  The track we did with him was one of my favourites."

"The collaboration with State of Mind was HEAPS of fun", Glenn continues. "We had Pat down from Auckland to stay with us, and had a really good session in the studio. We managed to get two tunes done in a week, which is pretty rare for us these days."

Be it the haunted click'n' bass soul of Bones, their speaker-rupturing foray into dubstep on Macabre (co-produced by the mysterious Crushington) or the drum'n'folk atmospherics of Through The Night, Big Skeleton strikes a rare and magnificent balance by managing to bridge the gap between headphone headspace and the dance floor.

The album came out in New Zealand this past September, so the tour has already kicked off and has seen the guys play a bunch of local dates at home.  They'll be back on the road next year playing shows throughout Australia, Asia, and then onto Europe and the UK where their first date this side of the equator will be at Hardware. Keep an eye out.

 

Words: Emily Hobbs

 

Planet Earth by NonVogue

 

• The Upbeats
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• Non Vogue

Related Links:

• Interview: MC Cardz
• Kemo Fundraiser & Releases
• Unique Artists Release Compilation
• Introducing: Teknik
• Dieselboy Unleashes New Studio Mix

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