Third3ye ‘Levitate’

Following on from 2 earlier EPs, Third3eye have just released their first full length album titled ON3NESS. “On3ness to us is a concept that describes the circle of infinite connections, binding all things. Our expression of this philosophy is what you will hear right here – the best way we can through musical vibrations.”

There’s plenty of worthy tracks on the album worth considering for tune of the week, but we decided to go with ‘Levitate’, which revisits a previously featured beat: Wayvee’s ‘Black Magic’ (October 2013). Read on for more info on the Third3ye crew…

The followng excerpt from redbullsoundselect.com by MARTYN PEPPERELL

Active since 2012, Third3ye came together when rapper Eddie Numbers invited Angelo and MeloDownz up to freestyle on a radio show he was hosting on Base FM. Vaguely familiar with each other from the wider Auckland hip-hop scene, the two connected almost instantly. “We vibed on the content of each other’s rhymes,” Angelo recalls. The third time the two hung out, they were writing raps to a Pete Rock instrumental when MeloDownz friend Walter dropped past. “We had a little freestyle with him and he started chanting “We represent the Third3ye, the Third3ye,” Angelo laughs. “We looked at each other and MeloDownz was like, shall we call our group Third3ye? It was that simple.”

Teaming up with Angelo’s DJ friend DJTORU, they started playing shows around town before recording their debut EP Earth Raps with beat maker SwervinMervin and executive producer Edward Waaka. “I knew we had something special and people would feel it, but the pickup it got blew me away,” Angelo continues. Sixth months later they followed up Earth Raps with the Ajna EP. “After the release of Ajna Ben Jamin” came onboard and became our main producer,” he recalls. “When Ben came onboard the vibe really felt right. The man is a guru and world class at what he does.”

Meeting Ben Jamin” through mutual friends, they locked in and began recording at Ben’s place on the North Shore. “We put a few demos down and thought, man, we could do an album,” Angelo says. After being invited to join Tom Scott’s respected Young, Gifted and Broke artist collective, they started gigging more, saved up their show money, and went on a national tour. At the end of the tour they hired out a decaying villa in Queenstown and spent a week there writing. “We were in a weird lucid space,” he continues. “We wrote five or six tracks.” Back in Auckland they hired a house in Piha for a week.

Juxtaposing daytime forest walks with evening writing, they came home with the skeleton of On3ness and an understanding of what they needed to do. A day away from releasing On3ness, for Angelo and Third3ye, the eleventh hour moment is a surreal one. “It’s pretty crazy man,” he admits. “There is a real sense that we have done something amazing here. Being so close is unreal. I can’t really fathom what it’s going to be like to release it.

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Turn It Up is a feature on Base FM where we showcase a new track from Aotearoa every week. Tune in weekdays at 10am and 4pm to hear this weeks top local pick.

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