The Bombay Royale - Monkey Fight Snake
This was a big moment in Hopestreet’s history. The first song on the first album we ever released, The Bombay Royale’s You Me Bullets Love. This was in 2012 and we’d been releasing 7 inch records and singles for a few years but this was the beginning of us really investing in a release and taking a risk. Thankfully, it went great. If it hadn’t we probably wouldn’t have a label. The album blew up and this song got pumped by DJs like The Herbalizer. This one was written by Andy Williamson and it’s a fantastic piece of Spaghetti Western via Bollywood psych soundtrack weirdness.
Zillanova - Suicide (feat. Cisco Tavares)
This one of my songs, and possibly a vanity inclusion - eek! Actually I’m super proud of it. It’s just another song about humans running headlong towards ecological annihilation and not pausing to think about it. I wrote it in 2010 or something but nothing has changed. The amazing Cisco Tavares on vocals and my old band Zillanova backing him. It’s pretty much the same rhythm section and horns as The Bombay Royale on this track, with the notable exception of Jake Savona, reggae kingpin on Hammond organ. There’s a man with a diverse skill set.
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks - My Goodness
All the songs written for Emma Donovan & The Putbacks' Dawn album were written and the night before tracking we had one final pre-production get together to fine tune all the arrangements. Instead of fine tuning anything, Putbacks guitarist Tom Martin bought a whole new song idea. My Goodness got written that night and recorded literally the next day and it’s a standout song on a standout album. Tom is one of the co-founders of Hopestreet, and a huge part of the label’s sound. His signature move is a last minute genius idea. There’s even a Cactus Channel song called Tom Has Ideas about this very phenomenon.
The Cactus Channel - Wooden Boy (Part 1)
The Cactus Channel started out with Hopestreet really young; playing exuberant, bouncy funk and soul. On Wooden Boy, their second album, they turned the sound in a much deeper and darker direction. It startled their audience a little but I loved the slowed down, spacey wu-funk cinema soundtrack vibe of it. Incredibly mature arrangements and playing considering the band were still literally teenagers. I think this might have been the first album me and label co-founder Tristan Ludowyk made at The Aviary in Abbotsford. Amazing studio - I still love working there.
The Bombay Royale - The River
This song was a rare moment in English language songwriting from retro Bolly badasses The Bombay Royale, it still has a couple of Hindi words in it though. This one was inspired by an Asha Bhosle song called Aaj Ki Raat from back in the day. The River got synched in Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4, and plays during the final showdown, so gamers worldwide went crazy for The Bombay Royale for a few years. Great boost for the band and the label, and The Island Of Dr Electrico album that this came from is still one of our most successful releases.
One Sixth - Cosmetic Love
Rapper One Sixth from The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra put this amazing vocal performance down in 2015 and it came out on a 7” record b/w The Public Opinion’s own flip of this rhythm Jappo. The beat however was kicking around for years before and was created from a Tom Martin idea at the very first Hopestreet jam session, long before we were even a label. Myself and Tristan Ludowyk (Hopestreet founder and boss of The Public Opinion) got together with Tom and Rory McDougal from The Putbacks and messed around with a 4-track Otari tape machine for a few hours. Out of that came this gem, though One Sixth didn’t put the vocals down years 'til years later. It’s not technically a Public Opinion track, but this is very much from that branch of the Hopestreet family tree.
The Putbacks - The Worm
An amazing performance by The Putbacks and a perfect production and mix job by Tristan Ludowyk. This heavy duty chunk of dancefloor funk was recorded at The Aviary and went down in a single take, no edits - no tricks, just a really fking good band killing it when the tape machine was rolling. Originally a b-side, this is one of the iconic Hopestreet tracks. We put out quite a few instrumental funk 45s but I don’t think we ever nailed it more than this. It’s never been a massive tune in terms of the general public’s awareness, but among the heads this is Hopestreet canon. It’s validating, and it’s deeply appreciated.
The Cactus Channel - The Colour of Don Don
We recorded the Cactus Channel’s Haptics album in the basement garage at Hopestreet when The Cactus Channel were all still students at Princes Hill High School. This song, in particular, stands up all these years later. This one was written by Darvid Thor, who started his journey with Hopestreet as a teenage guitar student who was learning from Tom, ended up managing the label not that many years later. It’s been amazing having him on board, he’s a great talent in business and in music and he’ll be missed when he leaves us at the end of this year. While moving on from the label as an employee, he’ll still be part of the family as a member of Karate Boogaloo.
The Meltdown - Sweetwater
This one is by The Meltdown, and features the amazing voice of Simon Burke. He was playing the organ while he put the vocal part down too. One take, no worries, Simon doesn’t mess around. Which is fortunate because this one was from a session at Soundpark, which was both one of the most difficult and blessed sessions in the label’s history. There was an overwhelming pile-up of technical failures and it took almost a whole day to get rolling. Then, in literally the last hour of the day The Meltdown put down three songs, two of which became some of the most successful tunes in the history of the label. This one and The Meltdown’s signature track Better Days both came out of that session and looking back I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks - Over Under Away
The title track and, I think, a song that really symbolises what we’re about and what the artists we love and work with are about. The Putbacks performance is understated perfection. Emma does her thing, and tells her story and I still get chills from this song. I don’t think we could have improved on anything about this one. Over Under Away is a story of struggle, perseverance and, above all else, patience; about growing from small beginnings to “sing and shout and talk up loud". I couldn’t think of a better way to sum up the last ten years.
Over Under Away is available for pre-order now. Head here for all the info.
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