Kilotone
About Kilotone from Auckland
April 2004, over a crowded kitchen bench, ice cubes and vodka, a chance encounter brought together two gentlemen whose love for drum n bass would cement a production partnership that would sail the seven seas. Initially forming Auckland based dnb duo Substatic the next few years were spent crafting their sound and developing their vision. Given light between 2006 and 2008, Substatic were regular features on the Drum n Bass Addict and Cynik audio bill.
Having the pleasure of playing beside some of New Zealands rising players (riddle, cern, blackadder, snax, evil, full code, bugsy, KSM, Machinist, A.lista, future one, nato, blazem, native, Kritical...) It wasn't long before the inevitable European excursion split the production team between continents. The production continued in earnest.
After establishing a strong production relationship with long time friend and New York residing MC, Maitreya, the duo received an inspirational email that would spark their production into overdrive. Late 2007, Maitreya was almost finished the production of his debut solo album "close to Home" when the first cut of the vocals to "Waitaha" arrived in the inbox. The vocal intensity had set the bar high, and the production due instantly set about enveloping it in a heavy cloak of percussion and stabbing bass lines. Within three short weeks the team had finalised the track for inclusion on the debut album.
A quick stock-take was prompted to ensure all was in order. The result gave birth to a new production name and cemented the commitment between the group. Early 2008 announced the arrival of Kilotone.
one part London
one part Auckland
one part New york
With production complete, Waitaha joined the rest of the album for mastering by Vlado Meller - Universal Studios, New York - and plans were put in place for the Waitaha Winter Tour of New Zealand, London, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
Receiving airplay across student radio, the release of Waitaha placed Maitreya and Kilotone on the radio 1 top ten for a consecutive 9 weeks and culminated in the song being nominated for the 2008 APRA silver scrolls Maioha award. A prestigious nomination indeed for the three Pakeha lads.
In the interim, Kilotone.com was born and Volume 1 of the Throwing Hammers series was released to wet the appetites of the hungry listeners. The Throwing Hammers series is a fresh look at the traditional album. Rather then release one piece of work containing 10 odd tracks Kilotone has adopted a different approach. "Due to the flexibility of the Internet as a distribution medium, we are able to release a new package every 3-4 months. This means fans can get fresh Kilotone audio with out having to wait a year or so for us to go through the rigors of making a full length album." In the interest of giving something back to the dnb community every release is up for grabs totally free via the Kilotone website.
With the return of Maitreya to New Zealand, you should expect to see big things from these lads in the near future...
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