Lotek

There's more to reggae than meets the eye, according to Wayne 'Lotek' Bennett.

THOSE who caught Wayne ''Lotek'' Bennett's ''reggaematization'' (his phrase) of Little Red's Rock It on Triple J's in March will know how adaptable reggae and ska music can be.

''Reggae is something that anybody can take and manipulate for their own good,'' says the loquacious Brit MC and producer, who moved to Melbourne in 2006 and now resides in Collingwood. ''That's how hip-hop came about - the Americans took reggae and turned it into rap music. I'm trying to promote that aspect of reggae … Reggae isn't this fixed, purist format.''

Bennett's sound has primarily revolved around a fusion of reggae and hip-hop, with their various strains - ska, dancehall, grime, rocksteady, electronica and dubstep - contributing to the mash.

Although his former band Lotek HiFi released two albums on Ninja Tune offshoot Big Dada Recordings before uprooting from Britain five years ago, Bennett is probably best known for his production work on celebrated British rapper Roots Manuva's first three albums for Big Dada.

''With Roots Manuva,'' he says, ''I very much played a backseat and when it came time for the credits I kept my mouth shut and didn't really care about being credited. In a smaller hip-hop scene in England it goes around and everybody knows that I'm intrinsic to the sound without it being written on the record sleeves. But I kind of came to Melbourne and almost had to start again as a nobody.''

In 2009, Brit rapper Speech Debelle's debut album, Speech Therapy, also issued on Big Dada, won Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize. Bennett's acoustic, jazz-inspired production flawlessly complemented Speech Debelle's unobtrusive South London flow. ''It felt like years and years and years of hard work was getting recognised,'' Bennett says of the prize. ''I do feel that the panel had it in their mind that Big Dada had never won it, that the award wasn't just for Speech Debelle. It was a nod to the label's hard work over 10 years and I felt we were all getting rewarded and getting recognition.''

Bennett's debut solo album proper, International Rudeboy, features old mucker Roots Manuva, as well as locals Ozi Batla, Dialectrix and Ru C.L. Bennett is currently preparing to launch it in Britain with live shows, is recording an album with Ru C.L, plotting a dub reversioning of International Rudeboy and negotiating with Little Red on a possible collaboration on Rock It.

''If, with the music I make,'' he says, ''I'm destined to sell just a few thousand copies of each album, but my goal is to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, then I'll just have to make hundreds of albums.''
- The Age - Melbourne

‘Mixed Blessings’ is a unique album, a condensation of decades of Jamaican and Caribbean music fast forwarded through the 90s and delivered via a 21st century filter in a way that tips its hat off to its roots and looks confidently at the future. It’s unique, it’s English and it’s done with such flair, talent and passion I defy anyone to resist even just one track in the multitude of styles and vibes on offer.

Lotek Hi-Fi have quite possibly delivered the album of 2005 as far as British black, modern, urban or whatever you wanna call it music goes, and it’s hopefully not going to stop there.

(For the full review, click here: http://www.ukhh.com/reviews/lp/2019.html) - UK Hiphop

One of Lotek's latest completed projects is the debut album of emerging artist, "Speech Debelle"

Below is an excerpt from Guardian's Reviews:

"The fearlessness comes out in the music. Debelle's songs are vulnerable, open, unafraid. The overall sound - created by Debelle, Roots Manuva producer Wayne Lotek and Big Dada founder Will Ashon - is full of light and air, acoustic guitars and pianos. There is a gracious, almost stately air to the record, yet the songs still sound entirely joyous.

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- Guardian.co.uk

http://extdev.bbc.co.uk/performingartsfund/latestnews/news_page4.shtml - BBC

"The production is mostly handled by Speech’s Big Dada label-mate, Wayne Lotek. An emcee in his own right, Lotek’s beats blend in well and accommodate Speech’s voice to a metronomic tee. He has the ability to drive assurance and adrenaline into quiet keys and soft trebles (“Searching”). Lotek’s biggest skill though, is in his pacing – he doesn’t just make a beat, he produces for an artist and you can tell in how the instrumentals never upstage the MC, but instead seem tailor-made for Debelle’s understated flow and miniature-rist approach to putting pen to pad. "

http://www.speakerbox.co.za/content/review.aspx?cat=Urban&id=276 - Speakerbox

LOTEK HIFI - Mixed Blessings 2LP
Big Dada Double LP
*BRAND NEW, UNPLAYED

It's characteristic of the open-mindedness, optimism and sheer drive of Lotek HiFi that they see the history of Black music as a series of blessings, ready to be blended by them into something fresh and unique. If ever an album was about timelessness and warmth as opposed to the fripperies of this weeks 'in ting on road' it's 'Mixed Blessings,' a record that manages to treat the Caribbean heritage of the group's members with reverence but also as a jumping off point for something uniquely English.

With production by long-time Roots Manuva collaborator Wayne 'Lotek' Bennett and a group of dedicated musicians in the wings, 'Mixed Blessings' manages to have a unified feel while ranging across styles and genres from bumping hip hop ('Ram Dancehall'), dancehall ('Diatribe'), soca, 'ragga-disco' ('Move Ya Ting'), cinematic meditation ('Time Has Come'), classical bounce ('Showdown') and roots reggae ('Sticks & Stones'). Throw in the voices and the mix becomes heady.
- Big Dada

Speech Debelle - 'Speech Therapy' (Big Dada 2009)


Speech Debelle’s debut album is an emotive wistful collection of passion-filled songs oozing with bittersweet triumph, knowing smiles and the kind of emotion usually absent from all-show hip-hop. This is a breath of fresh air for two reasons: one, it’s rare the largely male UK hip-hop scene opens its closed gates long enough for a female rapper to come through and get the props she deserves. Not for Speech Debelle. Also, this is the livest, most instrument-focussed record Big Dada has put out in years. It has become synonymous with electronic, dubby hip-hop. This album, recorded mostly in Australia with live musicians, including drummers, clarinets and mostly put together by the underrated Lotek, featuring moments by Tunng and Aussie, Plutonic Lab, this is fire on all cylinders.

http://geek-pie.blogspot.com/2009/04/speech-debelle-speech-therapy-big-dada.html - Geek Pie

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/may/29/speech-debelle-speech-therapy-review

There's something intriguing about Speech Debelle, with a voice both husky and sweet, and a back story that's emotive if unclear (she spent time living in south London hostels as a teen after a split with her family, perhaps over her refusal to get a job). What's more, the music on her debut, craftily produced in the main by Wayne Lotek, is acoustic, jazz-inspired and, on songs like Spinning, quite beautiful; not something that can be said too often about debut UK hip-hop albums. Consider Debelle's couplets for too long, however, and they can start to seem platitudinous: "Things must get better/Because after every storm comes good weather" on Live and Learn is a typical example. Musically, too, some of the weaker numbers (Go Then, Bye; Buddy Love) can pall, sounding as if they were composed over the course of a relaxing afternoon in the lobby of a boutique hotel. - Guardian (UK)