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| Phil Ransom | ||||
The name Ransom is synonymous with break beat in Australia. From humble beginnings in the early to mid ‘eighties where he played at house parties and made mix tapes, he forged an identity for himself within Melbourne’s growing hip hop scene. However, it was not until the late ‘eighties that he was finally rewarded with his first nightclub booking. This coincided with him creating Australia’s first Hip Hop label, the seminal ‘Straitup’. “The label was a platform because after its inception we had lots of kids rapping in Australian accents and making demos/releases whereas beforehand not a lot of either was taking place,” Ransom recalls. However, it seemed that the label hindered rather than helped his DJing career at the time. “I had to underplay my association with Hip Hop if I wanted to work at all,” he says with a laugh. “When working in clubs I've always played a wide variety of sounds.” His ability to adapt and display a knack of being able to DJ in many different environments has never been so apparent as in his current residency at Melbourne club Revolver. “There are 2 rooms, with the front having more sound, and the back has loads of couches,” Ransom explains. “Musically the club is all over the shop, everything from Drum & Bass to spoken word, rock, you name it. My night is after 2 am on Saturdays [The Late Show] and I play the breakbeat spectrum. If I play out back it’s Hip Hop, disco/boogie, soul and r&b.” However, his heart still lies with Hip Hop, “…but in a traditional way, not in a ‘new releases’ only way” is how he describes his first love. As a purveyor of break beat he believes that even within the scene it has become segregated into sub-genres. “It’s already fragmented,” states Ransom. “For example, nu skool types might not like garage/2 step and a lot of people don’t like the funk loop type stuff anymore which you can blame big beat for. It’s a rare crowd who will let you mix up labels like Main Squeeze with labels like Pulse.” A veteran of a number of festivals and high profile tours, Ransom has toured with The Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass and Livid. Of special note is that in the late ‘nineties he toured nationally in support of all Grand Royal acts at the request of the Beastie Boys. However, when asked which was his favourite, he enthusiastically states with no hesitation, “Vibes on A Summer’s Day in Perth when the Offworld crew did it. I had a crap slot but just hanging out and partying was excellent. Ashley Beedle played the full eleven odd minutes of Gil Scott Heron’s live version of The Bottle and to see 2000 to 3000 odd people losing it was quite special.” Aside from DJing, production is another feather in Ransom’s cap. Currently his main project is Crackpot, a three piece live act who are on the same label that originally spawned Groove Armada. “We are a band signed to Tummy Touch records in the UK,” Ransom clarifies. “We've had about four releases so far and our LP is out in April. The sound is a mish-mash of beats, but the emphasis is on good songs. One of our tracks is on the CD that comes with October’s Muzik magazine.” A track of Ransom’s can also be found on the recent nu skool breaks CD entitled ‘If It Aint Broken, Don’t Fix It’. His track 7 of 9 was recorded with Echoic. “I know Frank (label boss of Artists Known As who compiled and released the album) and he had a hankerin' for me and Echoic's track so I let him have it,” explains Ransom. With the increasing popularity of Breaks expanding in the Australian electronic music scene, ‘If It Ain’t Broken don’t Fix It’ showcases the broad range of styles, sounds and artists that the Australian Break scene has to offer, including high quality tracks from some of this country’s most talented producers such as Nu Breed, Pure Tone (Josh Abrahams), EK, Lo-Step (Phil K), Basskelph, Brewster B, Keltec Vs Dan Mangan, Kay Bee and Sound Lab. There is also a competition running for people who buy the album whereby they can submit a DJ mix of the compilation and the winner will have their entry released throughout Australia as a mix CD. However, Ransom has no desire to enter the competition saying with a smile, “I think the idea is for someone to come out of the woodwork and burn all us oldies.” Terry Goldfain
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