Tim Levinson, better known by the stage name Urthboy, is an Australian hip hop MC and producer from New South Wales. He is widely known for his solo music under the moniker Urthboy, as a founding member of the hip-hop group The Herd, and for co-founding and managing the Elefant Traks record label. Levinson has released five solo albums: Distant Sense of Random Menace (2004), The Signal (2007), Spitshine (2009), Smokey's Haunt (2012) and The Past Beats Inside Me Like a Second Heartbeat (2016); as well as five studio albums with The Herd.
Early life
With origins in Wentworth Falls, a town in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, Levinson's interest in music began at an early age, when he was exposed to a broad range of musical styles, many of which were introduced to him by his older brother, Matthew. The Run DMC album Tougher Than Leather was the first influential hip-hop record for Levinson[1]
Music career
Explanetary
In 1998, Levinson co-formed Explanetary in Wentworth Falls with local friends Realistix, Elgusto and Luke Dubs, who played keys and drums respectively, while Levinson delivered the vocals. The band also included Realistix on vocals and production, No Mumbles (a.k.a. Nugs) on vocals, Aja Stuart on bass and DJ Alf.[2] Explanetary released the In on the DealEP through Elefant Traks in July 2001.[2] The EP was one of the label's first releases, but was the band's only recording before the act disbanded.[1] Despite the end of Explanetary, many subsequent collaborations have occurred, including "Fallen Giants", from 2005's Tales of the Drift.
By the time he completed high school, Levinson relocated to New South Wales' capital city, Sydney. While in his new environment, Levinson proceeded to form the Australian hip-hop band The Herd, alongside eight other artists, while Elgusto and Luke Dubs formed Hermitude and later joined the Elefant Traks label. Levinson also developed his solo hip-hop production and MC work, created under his moniker in the Herd, "Urthboy".[1]
Alongside Kenny Sabir, Levinson is one of the key co-founding members of The Herd, an Australian hip hop outfit. Levinson is one of the group's two MCs—the other is Shannon Kennedy, who uses the moniker "Ozi Batla". Unusual for a hip-hop group, the Herd consists of a full live band as well as MCs: in addition to Levinson and Kennedy, Unkle Ho (beats), Sabir/Traksewt (accordion, clarinet and beats), Sulo (beats and guitar), Byron/Toe-Fu (guitar), Dale/Rok Poshtya (bass), and singer Jane Tyrrell complete the line-up. Their songs often feature politically oriented lyrics.[3]
2004–2006: Solo career and Distant Sense of Random Menace
In 2004, Levinson released his first Urthboy solo album, Distant Sense of Random Menace. The album was a success and featured songs such as "Come Around" and "No Rider". Urthboy toured the album nationally with Elgusto as DJ and Ozi Batla as co-MC. The music video for "No Rider", directed by Broken Yellow, won the Sunscreen Music Video Award at the Festival of the Sun Music Festival (FOTSUN) in 2005.[4][5]
After the success of his debut album, Urthboy headed into the studio in 2007 to record his sophomore release, The Signal, with Pip Norman/Count Bounce (TZU) and Elgusto (Hermitude). The album was released in July 2007 to much critical praise and cemented Urthboy's place in the growing Australian hip-hop scene.
The first single, "We Get Around", was hailed as "a classic" by Rolling Stone and reached No. 25 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2007. The album received two nominations at the AIR Awards of 2007,[6] a nomination at the J Awards of 2007 and was shortlisted in the prestigious Australian Music Prize (Best Album 2007).[7] The album was licensed to Motivo Records, and was released internationally in late 2007. Urthboy toured Malaysia and Japan in 2008 before resuming work with The Herd in Australia.
The song featured Levinson, Carmody and Kelly, Tyrrell and Kennedy, Missy Higgins, Mia Dyson, Radical Son, Dan Sultan, and Joel Wenitong. It peaked at number 4 on the ARIA singles chart,[11] number 2 on both the Australian Chart and the Digital Track Chart,[12] and raised almost A$100,000 for Indigenous health and education programs.[citation needed]
In August 2009, Urthboy's released his third solo album, Spitshine. The first single from the album, "Hellsong", was the most downloaded track on Australian radio station Triple J that year.[citation needed] The music video for "Hellsong" was directed by Broken Yellow and consisted of an animation composed of more than 7000 hand-drawn images that were animated in Sydney, Christchurch, London, Hungary and Oslo.[citation needed]
The release of Spitshine was followed by two popular tours in 2009 and 2010, involving crowds of over 20,000 people.[citation needed] Once again, Urthboy was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize—at the time, he was one of the only artists to ever be nominated twice.[citation needed] In 2010, Urthboy embarked on his first European tour, which included the prominent hip-hop festivals Splash, in Germany, and the Open-Air Festival in Switzerland. The tour also included club shows in Germany with Brother Ali and his first sold-out headline show in London.[citation needed]
Spitshine won the award for Best Independent Hip Hop/Urban Album at the AIR Awards of 2010.[13]
Levinson's fourth album under the Urthboy moniker, released on the Elefant Traks label, was made available to the public on 12 October 2012. Produced by fellow Australian hip hop colleagues, Count Bounce (TZU) and Hermitude, the album was selected as a "Feature Album" on Triple J.[14] Musical artists Jimblah, Solo and Alex Burnett (Sparkadia) feature as guests on the album: Jimblah and Solo appear on a song entitled "On Your Shoulders" (Jimblah also appears on the song "Glimpses"), and Burnett features on the song "The Big Sleep".[15][16]Smokey's Haunt achieved a number 14 debut position on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Album Chart.[17]
In late February 2013, a national Australian tour in support of the fourth Urthboy album was confirmed, and a live band, featuring drums and keyboard(s)/piano(s), was also announced.[17] Tyrell was also named as a member of the touring group, while the support acts were identified as Jimblah and One Sixth, the latter an artist from Melbourne, Australia.[18]
In 2013 Urthboy was announced as the national support for Paul Kelly's 'Spring & Fall' Tour—the announcement followed multiple previous collaborations, including Urthboy's 2008 cover of "From Little Things Big Things Grow", and a combined cover of the Hunters and Collectors song "Tears of Joy" in early 2013.[19] Then, in early December 2013, Levinson was announced as the support artist for the late December 2013 Australian tour by the Roots.[20]
2014–2022: The Past Beats Inside of Me Like a Second Heartbeat
On 22 July 2014, Levinson posted a video clip in which he announces the "Make Me a Mixtape" concept. Based on the mixtape cassette tapes that were popular during the 1980s, Levinson created a live performance in collaboration with other artists based on the themes that would sometimes guide the creation of mixtapes; for example, a mixtape would be given to a friend who was travelling overseas. The first "Make Me a Mixtape" show is based on the theme of Levinson's first overseas trip to Southeast Asia and will consist rap, remix, song and spoken word.[21] Performances are scheduled for both the Brisbane[22] and Melbourne Festivals,[23] with Patience Hodgson (The Grates), Rival MC (Impossible Odds and Black Arm Band) and Bobby Flynn announced as collaborators for the Brisbane show.[24][25][26]
The Past Beats Inside of Me Like a Second Heartbeat is Urthboy's 5th studio album, released on 4 March 2016.
2023: Savour
In January 2023, Urthboy announced the forthcoming release of his 7th studio album, Savour and final headline tour.[27]
Political activism
Australian refugee policy
In response to the 2013 Abbott government's refugee policy, titled "Operation Sovereign Borders", whereby asylum seekers arriving by boat are turned back by naval officers and an offshore processing centre—built on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea in 2001—was reopened for offshore processing of asylum seekers, Levinson released a protest song in early March 2014.[28] In the week following the completion of the song, a 23-year-old Iranian national, Reza Berati, was killed at the processing centre. Levinson explained to the media:
I'd been writing a song about the extreme mismatch of our navy facing off against asylum seekers in ramshackle boats. The official silence and militaristic language. The paranoid obsession Australia has with asylum seekers. The billions we spend so we can turn our back. Then Manus Island happened and it clarified the purpose of the song, giving us a tragic consequence to a hopeless situation. Somewhere along the way we mangled our perception of success to be measured by how many boats have landed. This is hysteria. So many miles from the myth of the 'fair go'.[29]
Called "Don't Let It Go", the song was released with an accompanying online music video, directed by Australian filmmaker Dan Ilic, on 6 March 2014. The video uses news footage edited with footage of Levinson rapping with a set of headphones on his head, taking music from the song "Let It Go" by fellow Elefant Traks artist Sietta. Following the release of the material, Levinson stated: "We are talking about quite a popular policy, so a lot of these artists are worried about the bottom line and what their audience are going to think about them. A lot of the time there is this fear of standing up, and I wanted this song to be part of a call to get out there and speak more … We need artists to come out there and break ranks and stop the double speak."[28]
Palestine
Levinson posted a photograph of himself and daughter Jetta Joanie marching in a Sydney protest against the Gaza bombings of mid-2014 on 3 August 2014. Levinson wrote: "Jetta representing for Palestine in Sydney today".[30]
Discography
Studio albums
List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
"No Matter What Man" by Chasm on Beyond The Beat Tape (2008)
"Commercial Radio" by The Last Kinection on Nutches (2008)
"Your Call" by Hermitude on Threads (2008)
"Dead Em" by Mantra on Speaking Volumes (2011)
"Doctor's Orders" by Horrorshow on King Amongst Many (2013)
Awards and nominations
AIR Awards
The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.
The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The commenced in 2005.
