[ Techno trucking with Voiteck ]

[ t e x t . o n l y . v e r s i o n ]

by Anna Swoboda

With props coming from the likes of Canadian tech auteur Richie Hawtin, aka Plastikman, Melbourne's Voiteck is well on his way to being internationally recognised as the leading light of Australia's techno scene.

Voiteck Andersen is every bit the self-made man. This DJ, producer and recording artist knows how to get his hustle on. He looks after the recording, artwork, manufacturing and export of every release on his self-financed Truck label -- one of the first of its kind in this country. Oh, and he also DJs and plays live gigs. A lot. 'It's music around the clock,' says the 24-year-old.

His label is eliciting strong reactions in unlikely quarters. Just the other week Voiteck was contacted by a kid looking for work experience. 'I told him I can't let him into my bedroom for a couple of weeks,' he jokes. After almost five years in the business, kids aren't the only ones on his case. Ask anyone in techno -- from either here or abroad -- to cite hot Aussie talent and, inevitably, Voiteck's name comes up.

Andersen arrived in Australia from southern Poland as a pre-teen. His dad, having already settled in the country, arranged for him to go straight to primary school. Oddly enough, it was hip-hop culture which provided Voiteck with familiar images of Western life. 'I actually saw the Rocksteady Crew and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" on TV when I was in Poland,' he recollects. 'And the first thing I saw at school was kids put out mats and start breakdancing.' And so, Voiteck nurtured a new identity for himself in the burgeoning hip-hop scene.

Growing up in the Melbourne suburb of Bentleigh, he later befriended another novice DJ, Ransom. The two hip-hoppers did shows on community stations and conducted work-shops in Housing Commission blocks (back then Voiteck also rapped). Today, while their music has taken them in different directions, in many aspects the two share the same values -- with self-sufficiency, versatility and non-compromise high on the agenda.

Although he hasn't necessarily abandoned hip-hop, Voiteck found himself exploring techno after old skool culture had peaked in the late 80s. This electronics student spent more of his time at home, mastering his new analogue equipment. 'I'm still a big hip-hop fanatic,' Voiteck qualifies. 'I never leave or drop anything, I just collect new things.' It's true. Voiteck's b-boying phase pervades his music in more ways than one -- as his latest set, "Live At Your Mama's", testifies, he's got da funk in his bones (graf-ix legend Perks did the cover art to boot).

At any rate, Voiteck feels that there are other more general affinities between hip-hop and techno -- starting with the ethics. He's not the first to switch allegiance, by any means. One of his heroes, Jeff Mills, started off as a turntablist, which, Voiteck suggests, accounts for much of Mills' raw aggression on the decks.

It turns out that Andersen started his own underground label, Truck Musik, in 1995 out of sheer frustration (his Truck concept, he says, derives from the need to 'keep on the road'). Basically, he was looking for a way to put out his vinyl. At the time, Voiteck reckons he'd amassed some fifty hours of unreleased material. He'd sent off countless tapes to international labels. But, while their responses were affirmative, their offers failed to morph into anything tangible. Andersen is still issuing the best of his backlog under his td5 monicker. This material, he feels, tends to be rougher and more experimental. Voiteck also arranges distribution of his own product both here and overseas (his releases have come out on the UK's Primate, Germany's Harthouse, San Francisco's Plug Research, together with others).

In the future, he wants to turn Truck into a fully functional entity, with more releases from both himself and other artists. In addition, Voiteck intends to collaborate further with Ransom once he gets his second label, Electro Truck, up and running. Ransom will lend his precision scratching techniques to Voiteck's funky tech backbone. Andersen imagines that these recordings (released under the banner Voiteck VS Ransom) will be 'slower, hip-hop grooves and electro-oriented breakbeat'.

Voiteck's new live set, which follows the "Round Square" and "Dedroid" CDs, contains combustible spots from the last three years. 'Most of the sets are hard, rockin' techno,' he says, 'it's driving material, Truck-style.' Ransom and MC Raph crop up on 1996's "Who Stole The Sole". And, at a more recent gig, Voiteck spews out some acid with Melbourne sound junkie, Honeysmack.

Since 1994, such live slots have enabled Voiteck to consolidate his own local legend. He's played everything from exhibitions to raves. And he has jammed alongside an eclectic array of contemporary international talent: Mills, Aphex, Claude Young, Luke Slater, Derrick May, Speedy J, Prodigy and the Propellerheads.

To date, Voiteck has both recorded and performed primarily on his beloved analogue equipment (following his techno heroes) but he is starting to look further afield. Setting up all those synths can prove tiresome for live gigs -- especially when he's on the same bill as rock acts like the Prodigy, whose sound engineers tend to be notoriously inconsiderate of supports. But, then again, this could be where the work experience crew come in handy.

"Live At Your Mama's" is distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Mushroom Distribution Services. Email: mds@mushroom.com

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