A lot of water has passed under the bridge since two punters met in the front row of an Australian festival crowd in 2005 and decided to start making music together, but then again, Ryan Dickinson and Ollie Bowler are far from your average punters. With a shared background in classical instrumentation and electronic music production and influences crossing the entire music spectrum – electronic and otherwise – their union as Bitrok has had an impact on dancefloors from their home town of Brisbane to Britain and beyond.
The duo cut their teeth with residencies at respected clubs Family, Empire Hotel and the popular Breaks & Enter club nights, all the while working away in the studio. And they hit paydirt instantly, with the P.A.C.K. Music imprint signing ‘Groovin’ for release with a Drumattic Twins remix in 2006. Interest steamrolled from here, with 2007 seeing ‘The Real’ out through Dead Famous and respected Aussie label Title Fight snap up ‘Crazy’ and ‘Digital Ryhthm’, the latter also licensed by General MIDI for his Y4K compilation on Distinctive.
Global recognition ensued, with DJMag labeling them as a ‘Gotta Be Big’ act with a two-page article in 2007. ‘Digital Rhythm’ scored the maximum five star rating in Mixmag upon its release, while their remix of cult Australian act Gotye’s song ‘Thanks For Your Time’ featured on the ARIA award winning Mixed Blood album. And DJ support flowed in, with The Crystal Method, Elite Force and Meat Katie all card-carrying members of the Bitrok fan club.
Their dex’n’fx DJ sets bring all of their production skills into the live arena, utilising tempo changes, mash-ups, key matching and heavily re-edited versions of classic tracks (often done on the fly) into a dancefloor smashing brew. 2008 was a busy year for the boys on the gigging front, taking their sound all the way to London to the Breakspoll Afterparty, across Australia from Sydney to Perth to Tasmania, and rocking massive festivals like Good Vibrations, Future Music Festival, BBQ Breaks and Parklife – an event at which they delivered one of the standout sets of the entire event, international or otherwise.
Now Ryan and Ollie are bunkered down in their Brisbane studio to work on their debut artist album, the first taste of which – the half-time breakbeat stomp of ‘Satellite Disco’ featuring respected Aussie MC N’Fa – saw them added to Triple J national radio through their Unearthed competition. The record is set to incorporate a large cast of guest vocalists and live instrumentation at every turn, with tracks ranging from deep and sexy electro throb to gorgeous down-tempo and horns-up stadium guitar smackdowns built around the sort of choruses summer festival anthems are made of. It’s a project which is already impossible to pigeonhole, an evolution which has seen the genre and tempo rule book thrown out the window.
Not that Bitrok have ever played by the rules anyway – if they’d obeyed that eternal childhood rule of never talking to strangers, chances are that random guy next to them on the festival dancefloor all those years ago would have stayed a stranger forever. And the dancefloors of the world would be a poorer place for it.
RELEASES
Digital Rhythm [Title Fight] May 08
Crazy w/ Klaus Heavyweight Hill RMX [Title Fight] September 07
The Real w/ Robosapiens RMX [Dead Famous Records] June 07
Slipping Through [Erase Records] July 07
My Frequency w/ Dom Kane RMX [Erase Records] May 07
Groovin' w/ Drummatic Twins RMX [PACK Music] November 06
REMIXES
Introspective - Submit (Bitrok RMX) [Sinister Recordings] April 08
Gotye - Thanks For Your Time (Bitrok RMX) [Mixed Blood Remix Album] July 07
Beta - Come Again (Bitrok RMX) [Digi:Pack Music] September 06
I reckon Soz will be able to hook you up some door love.. maybe text him on the day and tell him I told you to.. ;) Cause now I've checked this, he might not see it, and I know I'll forget and I don't think you have my number.. ;)
You know it!! Gonna be a mad day... With our sets out of the way early I shudder to think of the state Ollie and Jimi will be in by the time Crookers are in full swing haha
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