Freq Nasty @ Republic - New Orleans

Born in Fiji, raised in New Zealand and formed musically in the dance music revolution of London in the 90’s, FreQ Nasty now splits his time between Los Angeles and London. He started his career on the seminal UK label Botchit & Scarper in the late nineties, moving to SKINT records in 2003. He has gone on to release a slew of cutting-edge records collaborating and remixing a diverse range of artists including Fatboy Slim, Kelis, KRS One, Roots Manuva, Rodney P, and Reggae legend Junior Delgado. He co-founded the www.Giveback.net site in 2007 to help musicians and artists support causes they’re passionate about, and in the past year his collaboration with MIA producer Switch and NYC hipster Santogold ‘Creator’ has been an unavoidable crossover hit. His ground breaking FABRICLIVE 42 mix CD is out now on London super club Fabric’s own imprint, and he has a new artist album in the pipeline for 2009. Santogold producer and collaborator, breakbeat innovator, and international DJ FreQ Nasty established himself as one of the UK dance music scene’s pioneers early on by producing many of breakbeat’s defining moments. Not content with rehashing his genre-defining debut album FreQ’s Geeks and Mutilations (1999), he dropped his “Bring Me The Head Of Freq Nasty’ album in 2003 for SKINT records, creating the template for the ‘ragga breaks’ movement and simultaneously kicking off the breakbeat garage scene with signature tracks ‘Goose’ and ‘Amped’ effortlessly traversing genres, earning plaudits from breakbeat and garage DJ’s, as well as house and techno jocks internationally. ‘04 and ‘05 saw FreQ touring the world with his ‘Video Nasty Experience’ live show, an eye-melting DJ/VJ fusion of animation, graphics and live Vjing perpetrated by a hit squad of crack artists including fellow New Zealanders ‘Brother’s Mogg’ (Lord of the Rings/King Kong animators), and ‘Gorrillaz’ artist Jamie Hewlett’s company Zombie Flesh Eaters.

In 2006 FreQ took time out in California to avoid the perennial UK winter and ended up semi relocating to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles. As the Web 2.0 phenomenon exploded in part out of LA, home to Yahoo, Google, Myspace etc, he connected with music oriented tech renegades from Yahoo and Shopzilla and a cell of underground code junkies out of San Francisco and spent a good portion of his down time creating www.Giveback.net, a website dedicated to enabling artists to use their musical clout to help make the world a better place. It launched in early ‘08 and he has since donated music for several campaigns exclusive to the Giveback site supporting freedom for the Tibetan people (with US artist Bassnectar), an irrigation system for a village in Ethiopia (with Damien Marley), and a music studio for kids in an economically deprived area of San Francisco (with Michael Franti).

As anticipation for the next album grew, 2007 found FreQ back in the studio working on prototypes for fresh new sounds that would take him in a new and exciting direction. In collaborating with MIA producer Switch they re-invented the idea of what dance music could be with the uncategorizable 2008 crossover hit ‘Creator’ featuring the vocals of the now ubiquitous Santogold, launching her career as an artist in the process.

The latest instalment of FreQ flavour dropped in the form of the FABRICLIVE 42 mix CD for legendary UK super club Fabric. Fabric described it as “Bridging the gaps between the most current sounds in the UK’s bass culture, FreQ rumbles with underground thunder in a staggering showcase of some of the rawest bass led beats around. Evading the pitfalls of a genre controlled mix yet at the same time avoiding the stop-start feel of a mash-up mix, on FabricLive42 he imaginatively arranges a tightly connected blend of FreQy tracks. From the bass heavy stomp of L-Viz 1990’s UK take on Baltimore club music, the blistering shatter of TRG’s ‘Oi Killa’, to a bunch of his own new productions including his hit with Switch and Santogold ‘Creator’, this mix is a terror to bass speakers worldwide.” Along with other rave reviews, it was picked as DJ Magazine’s compilation of the month.