West Coast Article: No Such Thing As Luck

Together, LuckyMe are one of the most exciting movements on the Scottish map and are on the rise to national and international acclaim. The meeting of minds took place at an open mic night running at Stereo in Glasgow in 2002. DJ and producer Hudson Mohawke hooked up with an MC called Sum, and together the two went to work on a six-track EP called Lucky Me under the moniker of Surface Empire. The EP was a successful release, selling all 500 that were pressed, but still it was lost amongst the plethora of top-notch artists producing Scottish hip-hop.

Back in the lab, Surface Empire dislocated themselves from their beloved hip-hop and expanded their palette to a whole new spectrum of influences, taking in grime, electronica, dubstep, B-more and Math rock.

Hudson Mohawke suddenly emerged from his chrysalis when his future beats started to leak out into the scene and people began to freak. This year he released the banger Freemo on California's Ubiquity label and Trace on the Beat Dimensions label. Requests for gigs in Europe and a spot on London's infamous Plastic People poured in, Gilles Peterson and Mary Anne Hobbes are spinning him and he's fresh back from representing his skills at The Red Bull Music Academy in October. XLR8R Magazine suggests that we shouldn't be surprised if "cats like Bloc Party and Radiohead start requesting his remixing skills shortly".

Stretching his musical arm across the water to Dublin, Hudson hooked up with Mike Slott of All City Records. Under the guise of Heralds of Change they started a frenzy of remixes and released a string of vinyls. Together they have collaborated with Maryland's Oddisee and Low B (one half of Hollertronix). Their new material features Oliver DaySoul – a neo singer who seems to be possessed by Rick James on track Bopgunn.

Recently a 24-year-old producer from Glasgow joined the ranks of LuckyMe: Rustie, the man who has been causing a whole lot of fuss on the scene. When he dropped, and we mean dropped, his debut EP Rustie: Jagz the Smack on Glasgow's Stuff Records, it caused a buzz nearly as loud as his beats. The Skinny even gave it five out of five. Impresarios such as Flying Lotus (Warp's new signing and John Coltrane's nephew), Modeselektor, Plastician and DJ Ayres all give Rustie the nod for knowhow.

Boomkat - the music connoisseurs' online record store - are positively salivating over Jagz the Smack, hailing it as one of the hottest releases of the year. He's now impressively 'Out of Stock', perhaps not so impressive if you didn't get a copy.

The artist eye of LuckyMe has been appointed to the talented Dominic Flannigan (aka Sum of Surface Empire). Since his first efforts on The Heralds of Change EP he has been unstoppable, laying out twenty cover designs for four independent labels. With a MySpace Top Eight pointing to influences such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, Dominic is shaping up as a force to be reckoned with in design circles.

To get a taste of how the crew get down, make sure you get to their new night Baller$ 5ocial Club in Glasgow, an eclectic night of unadulterated sounds from southern hip-hop to Parisian hyphy. Expect to hear and see more of LuckyMe across radio waves, dancefloors, and T-shirts!