Sydney electronic duo The Goods have delivered just that with a debut double EP that features some brilliant, soulful highlights like Bruce Hathcock’s killer vocals on the single ‘Nightlife’, or a guitar solo from Sampa the Great producer/axe man Dave Godriguez, mixed in with all sorts of off-kilter fun.
The record is split into halves titled after the group’s amusingly-named members – Rosario D’Awesome and Boris Bangaltar – as they each delve into different sounds, from the hip hop, boogie and house of the first half, to the deep funk and dancehall of the second.
Give the EP a spin below, and read what the guys have to say about each track. The Goods is out now through Personal Best Records.
Side A – Rosario D’Awesome
Enjoy Yoselves
This felt like the intro track as soon as it was done. The sample has a kind of dreamy vibe and I built on this with some ambient synths and percussion. Then came the idea for the spoken word intro – we’ve always loved sketches and interludes and there’s a bunch of them on the record. Shout out to Touch Sensitive for the use of his synth den to record a lot of the extra synths on the record!
Only One
I listen to a lot of boogie and wanted to pay homage to that but add my own twist. I came up with the hook of the song one night singing into the laptop microphone and then we enlisted the main man unKLe H to sing it and write the verses. He’s got that vibe reminiscent of Luther Vandross, which we knew would be perfect for this track.
Pit Stop
Here we introduce ‘Boris Bangaltar’, who you’ll hear more of on the second half of the record, he’s one crazy.
You’re A Star
Yours truly on the vocals here, I was kind of hearing Madlib meets Hendrix when I was making the beat and got the one and only Dave Godriguez in (who you may know as producer for Sampa The Great) to lay down a guitar solo, then I completely chopped it up, sorry Dave!
Hackey Sacked
Just a usual night out in another planet.
Nightlife
This track started its life as a slow jam but then I flipped it and programmed a 4 on the floor beat underneath. Bruce Hathcock came up with the vocals off the cuff at a gig one day, we loved what he was doing on it so had to get him into the studio to lay it down!
Side B – Boris Bangaltar
Strong Man
Originally an acoustic soul number by Sydney funksters – Lo Five. After first hearing the original, I knew I had to get involved with that vocal. Commissioned or not, it was going to happen! Luckily they were down for the collab. Look out for the original, to be released on Lo Five’s upcoming EP.
Sucker Dry
Is the result of one night with an SP-303 and a one bar bass line sample. Both are unrelenting throughout the track. The vocals are a bit of homage to Moodymann and Seven Davis Jr. – two cats we hold in high regard.
Motel Funk
A prelude to a collab we did with Sampa The Great.
Ninja Trolls
The beat came about during a late night soirée at REC Studios – gems that were squeezed out that night. For the vocal, we enlisted the help of Blacktree, an old friend and collaborator who we hadn’t worked with in about 10 years. Great having this cat back in the fold, got some exciting stuff in the works!. The track also features Jake McDougal on gat, Patricia Alvarez bringing the synth flute.
Natchural
We’d just come out of a ‘wonky haze’, writing a bunch of Dilla inspired hip-hop beats, messing with swing feels a lot. Heaps of it was with our main man Godriguez for our project, GeeOhDee. Natchural is the anti-wonk, of sorts. Born of the need to boogie. Honourable mention to Gold Fang from The Delta Riggs for the guidance on the rap verse. Mah man.
Brakes
Beatmaking is therapeutic. Made a beat just cause I needed the therapy! I was working on something at the studio one night. Getting frustrated with it, I put it aside and started chopping a break. No more work got done that night. An ode to doing shit that feels good.
