Culture

She’s the most successful female drum and bass MC of all time and she’s coming to Dunedin next week to MC this year’s annual Outlook Festival Launch Party.

MC Tali is hitting Sammy’s on March 7th to MC for the dirrrrrrty drum ’n’ bass/dubstep that is the Outlook Festival Launch Party. It features New Zealand DJs Grubby, Civil, T-Bone, and Blackplanet. The festival’s big daddy acts are all from the UK: Kryptic Minds, Spectrasoul, Icicle, and Ulterior Motive, which Tali decribes as a “great line up – whoever put that line up together has really good taste. I think recently New Zealand festivals have had a lot of dubstep and a lot of jump-up drum and bass, and it’s nice to bring something … a bit deeper, a bit edgier, a bit techier, but not to the point where it’s really hard.”

The festival is a sample of the Real Deal Festival in Croatia. Tali said that the acts in Dunedin are a good variation, and a taster for what is going on internationally in terms of drum ’n’ bass, especially in Europe and the UK. “I think New Zealand is slightly behind,” she said, “we’re still riding that dubstep wave. I don’t think people realise that drum ’n’ bass is at a stage where it’s producing some really intelligent, well-thought-out and well-composed pieces of music. I’m hoping that’s what will be illustrated at this festival.”

The festival next Wednesday isn’t Tali’s first trip to Dunedin – her first ever MC-ing gig was at Bath St – but other than that it’s her first time at a festival here. She said she’s “excited to come and play in Dunedin and I’m excited to see what the scene’s like and how people represent.”

So if an evening of dirty drum ’n’ bass sounds like the best way to spend your Wednesday, head to Sammy’s on March 7 for the Outlook Festival Taster Tour.