Rhombus: Get Ready to Rhombus

"We're pretty creative really, we can do just about anything with some band-aids and some bubblegum," reckons producer/MC Imon Starr, one part of the multi-faceted musical smorgasbord known as Rhombus who have just released their debut album 'Bass Player'.

The 12 track album was recorded over a two-year period at a combination of three different Wellington studios (Durham Street basement, Galaxy Bus and Marmalade Audio), and Thomas Voyce's home studio in Japan.

With three producers and any number of guest MCs, Rhombus are a truly unique aural experience. The producers are Thomas Voyce, Simon Rycroft and Ahmen Mahal (aka MC Imon Starr). Imon is also the mainstay MC in Rhombus alongside guests such as MC Mana and MC Rizzla (also known as Tiki - from fellow dub outfit Salmonella Dub).

Their first single, the ludicrously catchy Clav Dub, has playlisted on a remarkable range of radio stations and boasts an outstanding video by noted director Chris Graham that pays homage to one of New Zealand's best loved films 'Goodbye Pork Pie', featuring a bass-heavy yellow Mini driving wildly through the streets of Wellington. In July's NZ Music Video Awards it was runner up for the Best Video Of The Year award.

More recently Rhombus took home a b.Net 2002 Music Award for being voted 'Most Promising New Act' and after a rumoured nationwide tour over Christmas will be touring Australia with the Big Day Out entourage early in 2003.

Their willingness to think laterally extends them across the Pacific to Japan where Thomas, one of the original Rhombus members, is currently living and teaching English. Operating out of a small town near Okayama he makes tracks on an MPC2000 and sends the sound files to NZ through the post on zip disks.

"Tom's got his own studio in Japan," says Simon. "He's been writing a lot of material there. We've got our own spaces to work in and we send each other stuff pretty erratically."

Thomas has been back to NZ only once since he left for Japan a year ago. This has obviously proved no hindrance for Rhombus who continue to perform live, improvising with guest MCs.

"When we perform live it's pretty much anything goes," laughs Imon as Simon explains the live dynamic.

"I do the mix, dub-style production. The mixer has individual channels that have the different elements of the track and I can drop them in and out using faders, delays and all that, then dub them using old skool tape echoes. Plus I'm playing auxiliary percussion and I even sing a bit.

"Ahmen (Imon) spends a lot of time on the mic then also jumps on the MPC doing some production stuff live and then Thomas will be playing some keyboards and we're all chopping and changing. Then someone will jump on the drums - so our show is very much unpredictable. We're always changing instruments, keepin' it live, keeping the audience involved. We seem to get quite a good response from those techniques. I think people come away with quite a fulfilling experience.

"When you go and see a Rhombus concert you're actually hearing brand new tunes which you may hear later as a finished product," he continues. "Who knows where it'll take us because it's all about improvisation and something fresh. Every time it's going to be different."

Japan has a vibrant and heady musical underground which Thomas is busily working his way into, making contacts and networking within the scene. Rhombus have plans to release 'Bass Player' in Japan followed by a nationwide tour.