Amplifier

13.07.07

Neil Sparkes, Renaissance dubster, poet and painter…does not stop moving. His restless journey started the moment he found himself onstage poeticising over the dub alongside Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jalal and Jean Binta Breeze. Since then there's been Real World Recording Weeks, Transglobal Underground, the Temple of Sound project with his co-conspirator Count Dubulah of the mighty bass, solo albums like the resplendent Cuban dub vision of 'Burning Mask'… and that's not even most of it.

He first came to NZ in 2003 as part of the WOMAD festival, and now returns to produce the debut album for local brazilian/hiphop outfit Batucada Sound Machine.

Batucada Sound Machine (BSM) are a favourite of festival crowds throughout NZ. Their trademark mix of brazilian rhythms with hiphop and afrobeat has earned them a wide following and on the strength of their live shows they have played major events in NZ, Australia and the UK (incl WOMAD UK, Byron Bay Blues Fest, Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Sydney Festival).

Sparkes met the BSM crew when they played WOMAD Rivermead in the UK and was instantly impressed. They remained in touch and when the opportunity arose, the band contacted Neil and asked if he was interested in being part of the project. He accepted and over the next 3 weeks they'll be entrenched in The Lab Studios laying down the tracks for what Neil says will be "a ground-breaking album, presenting a contemporary NZ hiphop and soul vibe mixed with the raw latin percussion that really stood out for me at WOMAD".

Sparkes and band leader James Hughes plan to take the raw tracks to New York for final mixing at a studio he has worked at in the past, and take the opportunity to showcase the tracks to some labels and other artists who may be interested in future collaborations.

"This album is going to be about capturing the band live and also combining the raw with the technological," declares Sparkes.

He and fellow Temple of Sound traveller Count Dubulah first combined their considerable talents as producers and songwriters in the early heyday of Transglobal Underground when they were responsible for writing and producing large chunks of the seminal 'Dream of 100 Nations' LP including the hit 'International Times'.

What still drives Sparkes' music is a broad obsession with all sorts of musical styles: Latin, reggae, African, Arabic, Asian, house, pop, hip-hop and a love of deep and depth-charged dub bass. Temple of Sound collaborated with Rizwan Muazzam Qawwali from Pakistan on the Real World album 'People's Colony No.1' and with legendary bass player Jah Wobble on the CD 'Shout At the Devil', before recently releasing their own debut 'First Edition' on the French label Wagram. Temple of Sound have recently released their new album, entitled 'Globalhead' on the US label Koch Records.

They have also remixed tracks for Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Fun-da-mental and Fatback Band amongst others. Other production and writing partners have included Natasha Atlas, Peter Gabriel, The Last Poets, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Los de Abajo ("LDA v The Lunatics" for Peter Gabriel's Real World Records). In fact Temple of Sound's CV positively buzzes with exciting names and intriguing episodes of daredevil music adventurism.

Sparkes, who is a poet and a painter as well as a vocalist, percussionist and songwriter, revels in wide open horizons and seemingly impossible creative challenges. But however far his imagination roams , his music is always anchored by that raw technology and dub wise groove.
The debut studio album from Batucada Sound Machine is due for release in NZ in September 2007.