Itch-E and Scratch-E | |
---|---|
Also known as | Boo Boo & Mace!, Boo Boo Mace 'n' Nutcase |
Origin | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Genres | Techno, house, electronica |
Years active | 1991 | –2001 , 2010 –current
Labels | Second Nature/Volition, Hussy/Ministry of Sound |
Members | |
Past members |
|
Itch-E and Scratch-E are an Australian electronic music group formed in 1991 by Paul Mac (a.k.a. Itch-E, Mace) and Andy Rantzen (a.k.a. Scratch-E, Boo Boo), both playing keyboards and samples. The duo recorded as Boo Boo & Mace! during the late 1990s. At times they have included a third member, Sheriff Lindo (a.k.a. Nutcase), recording under the name Boo-Boo, Mace 'n' Nutcase. In 2001 they disbanded as Mac pursued his solo career. In 2010 the duo reunited as Itch-E and Scratch-E to release new material.
In 1991 Itch-E and Scratch-E were formed in Sydney by Paul Mac (as Itch-E) on keyboards and samples (ex-Smash Mac Mac, The Lab) and Andy Rantzen (as Scratch-E) also on keyboards and samples (ex-Pelican Daughters). [1] [2] Their name refers to United States carton show, The Simpsons ' characters, Itchy and Scratchy, as well as the drug, ecstasy or E. [2] According to Jody Macgregor of AllMusic the name "certainly suggests that the idea of forming a techno duo started as a laugh." [2] The duo were often joined for live shows by Sheriff "Dub Man" Lindo. [1]
They initially performed a techno sound which drew on early bleep techno as well as influenced by fellow Sydney-based, Severed Heads (Tom Ellard of that group had helped produce an album by Mac's earlier band, The Lab, which was never released). The melodic influence of Mac, trained in classical music, gave them a distinctive sound which eventually led to pop success. One of their demos led to the band signing with Volition Records' label, Second Nature. [1] Their debut mini-album, Irritable, was released in August 1992. [1]
The group released the album Itch-E Kitch-E Koo in October 1993. [1] It was recorded at two Sydney studios, The Lab and Masking Tapes, with Mac and Rantzen as producers. Kristian Hatton of Haarp Media, in July 2015, listed the album as one of his Top 100 Albums in Niche Electronic Music, and explained "[it] showed that electronic music in our country – although always influenced by America and Europe – could gain attention from a mainstream audience despite being from the underground." [3]
The lead single from the album, "Sweetness and Light", was released in May 1994, and was co-written with Justin Brandis (of Pelican Daughters). It became their best-known work, and peaked at #65 on the ARIA Singles Chart. [4] At that time grunge was more popular than rave music: "grunge was introspective and depressive, rave was quite the opposite. It was still gritty, but its core message was utopian: peace, love and unity." [5] The track was listed in twenty-first place on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1994. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1995 they won the inaugural Best Dance Release category. [6] When Mac accepted he declared "We'd like to thank all of Sydney's ecstasy dealers, without whom this award would not be possible." [7] Although this was bleeped out of the TV broadcast, a sponsor of the awards, the National Drug Offensive, withdrew their funding. [7] [8]
In January 1995 Itch-E and Scratch-E released the album Itch-E and Scratch-E... and Friends, which Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described as a "sprawling double album... which covered the gamut of electronic dance." [1] According to McFarlane the friends appearing on the album included Crackerjack, a "high energy house" duo (with Mac); Event Horizon (comprising Lindo and Rantzen) which provided "funky bleeps"; Alien Headspace's "electronic jazz"; and Lindo's "hypnotic dub". [1] They also released a single-only, "Howling Dog", which was nominated for Best Dance Release at the ARIA Music Awards of 1996. [6] By the end of that year they had to change their name to Boo Boo & Mace! due to international acts of similar names. [1]
As Boo Boo & Mace! the duo issued a studio album, Sublimely Pointless, in July 1998 on Prozaac Recordings. [1] More than a year earlier they had released a CD single, "Flowers in the Sky" in February. [1] At the ARIA Music Awards of 1997 it was nominated for Best Dance Release. [6] They also remixed several songs by Australian children's group The Wiggles for the soundtrack of The Wiggles Movie , as "Wigglemix." With Lindo aboard, as Boo Boo Mace 'n' Nutcase they issued a single, "Gotta Move On", in November 1997. [1] Additional singles by Boo Boo & Mace! followed in 1998. [1] By 2001 the duo had reverted to Itch-E and Scratch-E and released another studio album, It Is What It Isn't (1 May 2001), but they disbanded in that year with Mac pursuing his solo career. [2]
In January 2010 the duo announced on their MySpace page that they had reformed as Itch-E and Scratch-E. During that year they released another studio album, Hooray for Everything!!! (6 August 2010), and four singles, "Other Planets" (March), "r.E.f.r.E.s.h" (May), "Electric" (October) and "Back 2 the Jack" (December). Hooray for Everything!!! peaked at No. 23 on the ARIA Dance Albums chart. [9]
In 2015, "Sweetness and Light" was listed at number 1 in In the Mix's '100 Greatest Australian Dance Tracks of All Time' with Nick Jarvis saying "Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen's greatest track symbolises the turning point when the previously underground rave scene suddenly stepped into the mainstream consciousness." [10]
Title | Album details |
---|---|
Irritable |
|
Itch-E Kitch-E Koo |
|
Itch-E and Scratch-E... and Friends |
|
Credited as Boo Boo & Mace! | |
Sublimely Pointless |
|
Credited as Itch-E and Scratch-E | |
It Is What It Isn't |
|
Hooray for Everything |
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
AUS [4] | ||
"Sweetness and Light" | 1994 | 65 |
"Bouncing Chamber" | 1995 | - |
"Howling Dog" | 1996 | - |
Credited as Boo Boo & Mace! | ||
"Flowers in the Sky" | 1997 | - |
"Gotta Move On" | - | |
"Seven Days" (featuring Jo Maskell) | 1998 | - |
"Heartstrings" | - | |
Credited as Itch-E and Scratch-E | ||
"Other Planets" (featuring MDNA) | 2010 | - |
"r.E.f.r.E.s.h" (featuring Scribe) | - | |
"Electric" (featuring Kiss Reid of the Scare) | - | |
"Back 2 the Jack" | - | |
"Imperial Rockets" | 2011 | - |
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Itch-E and Scratch-E have won one award from three nominations. [12]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | "Sweetness and Light" | Best Dance Release | Won |
1996 | "Howling Dog" | Best Dance Release | Nominated |
1997 | "Flowers in the Sky" | Best Dance Release | Nominated |
Severed Heads were an Australian electronic music group founded in 1979 as Mr and Mrs No Smoking Sign. The original members were Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright, who were soon joined by Tom Ellard. Fielding and Wright had both left the band by mid-1981 with Ellard remaining the sole consistent member for the rest of the band's existence. Throughout the next decade, several musicians joined Severed Heads' ranks, including Garry Bradbury, Simon Knuckey, Stephen Jones and Paul Deering.
Paul Francis McDermott, who performs as Paul Mac, is an Australian electropop musician, singer-songwriter, producer and music re-mixer. He was classically trained at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Mac has formed various bands including Smash Mac Mac (1986–88), The Lab (1989–1998), Itch-E and Scratch-E (1991–present), Boo Boo Mace & Nutcase (1996–98), and The Dissociatives (2003–2005). Mac has released two solo albums, 3000 Feet High and Panic Room – both appeared in the top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
The Dissociatives were an Australian alternative rock band consisting of Daniel Johns of Silverchair and dance producer and DJ Paul Mac, which formed in mid-2003. They were supported by touring members, Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes, and James Haselwood. Their first single "Somewhere Down the Barrel" peaked at No. 25 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The duo's debut album The Dissociatives reached No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004 they won two trophies; Best Cover Art for James Hackett's work on The Dissociatives and Best Video for Hackett's direction of "Somewhere Down the Barrel".
Volition Records was a Sydney, Australia-based record label specialising in electronic music styles such as house, techno, synthpop, and trance. It was founded by Andrew Penhallow and was active 1988-1997.
Gerling were an Australian electronica, alternative rock trio formed in 1993. From early 1997 the members were Darren Cross on guitar and lead vocals, Presser on drums and Burke Reid on guitar and vocals. Their second album, When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun, reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 50. It provided a top 50 single, "Dust Me Selecta". The group disbanded in 2007.
Andrew Rantzen is a Sydney-based lo-fi electronic recording artist and writer. Trained as a psychologist, he has been lecturer and tutor at the University of Sydney. He is most well known as part of the duo Itch-E and Scratch-E along with Paul Mac . He has produced remixes for Severed Heads, INXS and The Wiggles, and has done soundtrack work for the film Sample People. He also records with the Pelican Daughters. In 2001 he released his first solo LP, The Blue Hour.
Wendy Joan Matthews is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in the 1990s including "Token Angels", "Let's Kiss ", "The Day You Went Away" and "Friday's Child" with Top 20 albums, You've Always Got The Blues, Émigré, Lily, The Witness Tree and her compilation, Stepping Stones. She has won six Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane she provides "extraordinary, crystal-clear vocals [...] a soulfulness that was the mark of a truly gifted singer".
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The event has been held annually since 1987 and encompasses the general genre-specific and popular awards as well as Fine Arts Awards and Artisan Awards, Achievement Awards and ARIA Hall of Fame – the latter were held separately from 2005 to 2010 but returned to the general ceremony in 2011. For 2010, ARIA introduced public voted awards for the first time.
Boxcar were an Australian electronic dance pop group formed in Brisbane in 1986. Their founding mainstay was David Smith on vocals, guitar and keyboards. Three of their singles appeared on the Billboard dance chart top 20, "Freemason ", "Insect" and "Gas Stop ". They released two albums on Volition Records/Sony Music Australia, Vertigo (1990) and Algorhythm (1994), before disbanding in 1997. They briefly reformed in 2010 and in 2014.
The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs in advance of their debut album, Beams, released in 2005 to positive critical response. After two years of touring, including as the Australian support for Daft Punk, the band's 2008 release, Apocalypso, debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart, and went on to win six awards at ARIA Awards 2008, including Album of the Year.
Underground Lovers are an Australian pop-rock band whose sound encompasses elements of indie rock, electronic music, and shoegaze. Founding members Glenn Bennie and Vincent Giarrusso formed the group GBVG in 1988, and by May 1990, they had changed the name of the group to Underground Lovers and were joined by Richard Andrew (drums), Maurice Argiro, and Philippa Nihill.
Vika and Linda, also known as Vika and Linda Bull, are an Australian vocal duo consisting of Vika Susan Bull and her younger sister, Linda Rose Bull. They came to prominence after singing backing vocals in Joe Camilleri's band The Black Sorrows from 1988. They left that group early in 1994 to start their duo with a self-titled album appearing in June that year. The duo scored their first number 1 album in 2020, with their retrospective 'Akilotoa: Anthology (1994-2006).
The Lab were an Australian electronic band formed by keyboardist Paul McDermott, vocalist Yolanda Podolski and bass guitarist and vocalist Warwick Factor. They issued two extended plays, Ultra (1992) and Terminal (1994), and a studio album, Labyrinth before disbanding in 1998. McDermott, as Paul Mac, also performed in a techno-dance duo Itch-E and Scratch-E from 1991. Factor, as Warwick Hornby, joined the Whitlams in 1999, while Podolski undertook an operatic career.
Wrong Kind of Stone Age was an Australian post-punk band formed in 1983 in inner-city Sydney by Gavin Williams and Miriam Williamson. The early Wrong Kind of Stone Age sound was a unique and wild fusion of post-punk attitude and bottom-heavy sonic distortion with strong dub and tribal influences, using Miriam's vocal range. They used occasional tape montage, didgeridoo, clarinet, or electronic noise.
The Ninth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 20 October 1995 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. There had been a 18-month gap since the previous award ceremony which was moved to be "closer to the business end of the music industry's year" and so reflect that year's works. Presenters distributed 28 awards from 1060 eligible submissions. Big winners for the year were Silverchair with five awards and Tina Arena with four, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year – both first time they were won by a female.
The 10th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 30 September 1996 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Presenters distributed 28 awards with the big winner for the year was You Am I gaining six awards.
Savage Garden were an Australian pop duo consisting of Darren Hayes on vocals and Daniel Jones on guitar, keyboards, and vocals; they formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1993. They were signed to John Woodruff's talent agency and achieved international success with their No. 1 hit singles "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply" (1997), and "I Knew I Loved You" (1999).
Single Gun Theory was an Australian electronic dance music band formed in 1986. Founding mainstay members were Jacqui Hunt on lead vocals; Kath Power on vocal melodies and synthesiser; and Peter Rivett-Carnac on guitar, synthesiser and sampling. They released three studio albums, Exorcise This Wasteland (1987), Millions, Like Stars in My Hands, The Daggers in My Heart Wage War (1991) and Flow, River of My Soul (1994) for Canadian label Nettwerk and Australia's Volition Records. The band’s music combined elements of downtempo electronic music with introspective, ethereal vocals and samples of dialogue. It also released a soundtrack album for Samantha Lang's film The Monkey's Mask in 2000.
The ARIA Music Award for Best Dance Release, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), an organisation whose aim is "to advance the interests of the Australian record industry." To be eligible, the recording must have been commercially released. The award is presented to an artist within the dance genre. The accolade is voted for by a judging school, which comprises between 40 and 100 members of representatives experienced in this genre, and is given to a solo artist, group, production team or various artist compilation, who is either from Australia or an Australian resident.
"Sweetness and Light" is a song recorded by Australian electronic music group Itch-E and Scratch-E. The song was released in May 1994 and peaked at number 65 on the Australian singles chart.