Live Review: Daily Meds, MC Koolta, Speekup

Daily Meds are touring nationally in support of their new record, Sour Milk, the follow-up to their 2012 debut, Happy Daze.

Last night’s performance at Ancient World allowed a strong contingent of Adelaide hip hop heads to experience part of an impressive underground showcase that continued to spike sporadically at different levels of atmosphere that built towards a culminating performance that created an example of just how cutting edge a collective Daily Meds are. Fusing tight-winged lyrical dynamics and engaging bass-driven beats with an undeniable party vibe, each member holds a strong lynch pin position within the group, and they thrive on feeding off each other and the audience, bouncing verses effortlessly like nobody’s business.

Ancient World was a great locale to house the event. The naturalistic décor and secretive, underground feel created a unique sense of exclusive elitism, as many people do not even know the venue exists let alone where to find it. Young MC Edukate left a buzz within the crowd as a talented up-and-comer with stacks of untapped potential to burn, leaving some of the older crew talking about where he might end up.

Speekup unleashed some fierce and passion-fuelled rhymes. A veteran of the scene, he lifted tracks from his debut EP, The Lost City Of Secrets, which was written on a pilgrimage from Nepal to Poland via Holland, where he worked with producer Amos the Ancient to capture his musical vision. The slick rhymes and focus on positivity went down a treat, with some special guest verses from Shaebutters. MC Koolta exemplified his ability as a strong performer too, using a sample pad to create his beats, whilst also taking advantage of humour and a likeable personality to keep the crowd engaged.

Daily Meds saw the bustling group of fans present dancing and grooving to their progressive sound, performing tracks laden with tight drops, funky bass hooks and influences from trap and dub that spans their current discography. Their sound has an excellent foundation cultivated by producer and DJ Roleo’s knowledge and command of electronica. This is then engorged quite extraneously by the hard-hitting rhymes from the different MCs respectively.

There are some traditionally Aussie rap-sounding elements incorporated, but the cream of their crop has this Sydney group sounding like a British import act, presenting styles characteristic of UK giants Slamboree. It’s a hard-hitting and invigorating new wave sound and had the entire crowd moving. Riding this wave of supercharged energy the collective brought things to an epic conclusion with their respective strong suits Insane and Everybody Get Pumped. As Daily Meds experiment and push the boundaries of their sound, they could reach into the more avant-garde territory of heavyweights Die Antwoord.