Top 5 decent Heaps Decent Tracks with DJ Levins
To celebrate ten years of Heaps Decent and the upcoming Diplo Q&A, the formidable DJ Levins has gathered his top 5 Heaps Decent tracks of all time.
How do you explain DJ LEVINS? You can only explain an impossible man with an impossible sentence from the one and only JUSTIN BIEBER.
Levins has been playing in clubs all over the world for over 12 years along side acts such as A-trak, Diplo and The Gossip. He’s a part of Sydney’s Ro Sham Bo. He’s DJ’d for live acts such as Muscles, Catcall and, most recently, America’s Yo! Majesty. He’s an all-rounder in the dance music scene and he truly commits to all facets of it – not just having fun and getting down, but as an actual industry in which livelihood’s depend on it.
In 2007, Nina Las Vegas, Levins and Diplo set up Heaps Decent, the sister label to the notorious Mad Decent. Heaps Decent is a dynamic arts organisation working with young people and emerging artists from diverse communities, providing role models and a means by which they can tell their story in their own way. Heaps Decent have successfully enlisted the passion and talent of renowned guest musical facilitators, including: Aloe Blacc, T.E.E.D, AC Slater, Lykke Li, M.I.A., Sinden, A-Trak, Brodinski, Tiga, and more. Since the inception of Heaps Decent over 1000 unique tracks have been crafted by many, from Aboriginal girls in the Marrickville streets to 4 year olds in Wilcannia. Heaps Decent seeks to provide the opportunity to utilise storytelling through music as the unique life-changing experience that it is.
Following their goal to provide access to the infrastructure of the Dance Music Industry, on March 12th, super-producer and co-founder of Heaps Decent, Diplo will be speaking with fellow co-founder Nina Las Vegas about what it is like to raise an empire of major proportions and how collaboration is the key.
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To celebrate Heaps Decent’s ten years and Diplo’s upcoming Q&A, Levins has put together his top 5 Most Decent Heaps Decent Tracks of All Time, check em out below.
TOP 5 MOST DECENT HEAPS DECENT TRACKS OF ALL TIME
Anywhere But Here (produced by A-Trak)
A-Trak came with us to a workshop at a Juvenile Justice Centre in Wagga Wagga and after three days he’d produced and recorded this incredible track about how boring being in juvie is. Even though it was one of the first songs we created as Heaps Decent, it’s still one of my all time favourites.
Miimali Gang Stars (Toni Toni Lee Remix)
Created during a massive project called Detours and Destinations, we recorded a song with some young students who attended an Indigenous youth program called Miimali in Blacktown. The original song had a West Coast feel to it so our pal Toni Toni Lee (now a member of The Posse) did a full blown g-funk remix.
Dinnertime
Dinnertime from Georgia Perry on Vimeo.
We made this song in Wilcannia in 2012 with the youngest group we’d ever worked with - the year one class at St Therese’s Mission School. Adam Bozzetto made the beat out of looping the kids playing different percussion instruments while Charlie Chux, KLP and I helped write the lyrics. We knew this track was special after we finished it so we asked our friend Georgia Perry to make this incredible animated video for it.
Big H - Domestic Violence
Big H - Domestic Violence from Heaps Decent on Vimeo.
Big H has been working with Heaps Decent since the first year we started. He was in a group called Stunna Set that I used to DJ for and went on to make some solo tracks with us - he still pops in to our workshops to record these days too. This track got some decent radio play so was the subject of our first proper music video. You can hear it featured on this awesome Heaps Decent All Stars mixtape from a few years ago.
Ravin - Pure Mind
From the first ever official Heaps Decent release! Ravin’s EP Soul Food was recorded at Home Base, our weekly workshops at Redfern Community Centre. The whole EP was produced by star facilitator Adam Bozzetto, he and Ravin really put together a really polished EP that I listen to regularly. If you like this EP definitely check out our second release, Rassel Cool’s 2:35AM EP as well.
Diplo: Discovering, Collaboration and Creating
Q&A with Nina Las Vegas
"Throughout the space of an hour, Diplo’s insight into building a global empire will be broken down. How collaboration, learning and persistence is key to his career success and why he’s not slowing down. Also why social impact is important to his story."
Date: Sunday 12th March
Time: 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start
Cost: $25 pre-sale, $30 on the door.
All profits to go towards Heaps Decent.
Tix: http://giantdwarf.com.au/events/diplo/
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