Friendly Flow

The Broken Tooth collective are frequent collaborators. But for the most part, the new Known Associates album was kept to the two MCs and DJ No Name Nathan, because as Chris Mercieca aka Ciecmate explains, creativity suffers in numbers.

“It may not work if we had a whole big group and have everyone rock up on one night and try to make an album. But, you know the saying 'Too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth?' So with too many people in the studio it will just [turn into a] party,” he laughs. “I've found the less amount of people in the studio the more creative you can be.”

Maggot Mouf, of the Alikeminds Crew from the ACT battle scene, moved to Melbourne in 2005 and hooked up with the Hospice Crew's Mercieca who has snapped off beats and bars with everyone on the Broken Tooth roster. Mercieca clicked early on with Mouf and produced his 2010 album You're All Ears, so to hear them tag-teaming like jacked-up jocks on their new LP shouldn't be a surprise.

“We worked together on my solo record and that started that back-and-forth style. I find that writing with someone is far better and it ends up feeling more like a song rather than just two people [trying] to make something,” says Mercieca. “So we'd write and record [at night] and sometime you'd be in there till 6am and Maggot would have to get up and go to work and he'd be dishevelled all day from being up all night. I think in general, each track was destined to that particular night and overall the energy of us being mates gave the album that consistent feel.”

Mercieca has always made his conscious efforts heard on his records, so it was natrual for him to drop knowledge on the track Beware of Bio Chips. “I'm really into conscious rap and I'm all about learning about the world and the things we're not being told. My missus says I make propaganda music but I'm giving you shit you haven't read yet,”

In contrast, the summer friendly Short Shorts celebrates a lighter slice of life. “That was a culmination of months and months of us joking about wanting to make a song about that. As we're out we'd see more and more short shorts everywhere and be like, 'God damn, we've gotta do this',” stresses Mercieca. “And I made the beat one day and it was just on! It was done about ten hours later.”

Maggot Mouf and Ciecmate will continue to work at their craft, but as Known Associates are they just one and done? “I hope not,” concludes Mercieca. “Maggot Mouf is about to have a kid so he's embarking on a whole new journey there. Hopefully we'll work on some music in the future but at this point we'll see how this album goes. As long as we link up and make tracks together it will be Known Associates, 100 per cent.”