BOOM! is the sound that International Rudeboy Lotek makes when he takes to the stage and throws down his hip hop inflected ska reggae. Known as an outstanding producer in London for his work with hip hop superstar Roots Manuva and 2009 Mercury Prize winner Speech Debelle’s album Speech Therapy, he has been mixing up a storm in his now Melbourne based studio Counter Clockwise, remixing and tweaking local artists and releasing his new album International Rudeboy.
From studying Sound Engineering in London, honing his craft first at the UK Motown Studios and working at West London’s Rollover Studios, he collaborated with the likes of Seal, Leftfield and Take That before moving on and becoming a regular at the Big Dada and Ninja Tunes label with his own work. He moved on to write the music for the Playstation game Getaway 2- Black Monday and went on to win a BBC Urban Music Bursary Award and used part of the prize money to travel to Eastern Europe and Australia touring writing and recording.
Between his busy life of touring Glastonbury and gigging in London, playing out in Melbourne and doing production duties with Plutonic Lab and Astronomy Class, he somehow managed to mix in time to contribute to Triple J “Like a Version” with his killer version of Little Red’s ‘Rock It’ and continues to support the local scene.
British born with Jamaican lineage, the music is in his DNA and, Lotek is known as the “Ska Revivalist”. He brings a fast paced skank and a big horn sound to the mix and with his 5 piece band dominating the stage dancing is assured. His grime and hip hop MCing talent cuts across the rhythms and eggs on the crowd, and with his encyclopaedic knowledge of reggae and hip hop he clearly knows how the music can intersect. After all, hip hop comes from reggae. He’s cutting out the middle man. This is new reggae at its best, fresh, fun and uncompromising.
Reviews
“It is impossible to stand still at a Lotek gig Between the thundering bass, wicked horns and fast paced chatting, he brings a new sound to the reggae massive. Big Up the Lotek sound” – Systa bb RRR FM
