Bliss n Eso

Bliss N Eso
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Obese Illusive
Website	http://www.blissneso.com/
Members
MC Bliss MC Eso DJ Izm

Bliss n Eso are an ARIA Award-winning Australian hip hop band based in Sydney, and were originally known as Bliss N' Esoterikizm for their debut EP The Arrival.^[1] Bliss N Eso are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gudinski.

History

The trio, American MC Bliss (Jonathan Notley), Australian MC Eso (Max MacKinnon) and DJ Izm (Tarik Ejjamai) of Moroccan heritage, have been friends (and have rapped together) since high school.^[2] Notley moved to Australia in 1992 when he was thirteen and met MacKinnon at the Glenaeon Steiner School in Sydney.

"When I got to Australia, I met Eso (MacKinnon) and he was the only guy at my school into hip-hop. It was so scarce you'd be lucky to find a hip-hop record in a store let alone a whole section." - Jonathan "Bliss" Notley^[3]

"Back then hip hop was basically non-existent; there was no urban or hip-hop section in the CD stores. You'd be lucky to find a couple of albums like a Public Enemy album or something if you went to the CD stores. So I guess that's one of the reasons why Max, who's Eso, and I kinda bonded at high school, I think, because he was really the only other guy in the school who was into hip-hop." - Jonathan "Bliss" Notley^[1]

MacKinnon later moved to Kuranda State High School, in Queensland, which is where he met Ejjamai.^[4] The group initially went by the name of 'Bliss N Esoterikizm', but that proved to be too much of a mouthful for most people.^[1]

In 2000 they issued their first release, the EP The Arrival, under the name 'Bliss N Esoterikizm',^[5] which was followed by a mixtape CD.^[6] They released their debut album, Flowers in the Pavement on Obese Records in 2004. Bliss N Eso were the winners in the Hip Hop category at the 2003 Music Oz Awards and nominees for Artist of the Year in 2004.^[2][7]

In December 2005 the trio performed as a support act for 50 Cent on his Get Rich or Die Trying tour together with G-Unit and Lil Jon.^[8]

The group then switched labels to Illusive Sounds and released their second official album, Day of the Dog, on 4 March 2006. The album features production from Bliss, Weapon X, Suffa, and MC Motley, among others. It also features guest spots from British emcees MC Motley and Mystro, as well as fellow Sydney MC, Hyjak.^[2][9] Day of the Dog debuted at #43 on the ARIA Albums Chart, making it the first Australian hip-hop release to debut in the top 50. The group undertook a national tour in March and April of that year to support the album.^[10] Day of the Dog was then entirely remixed by Gold Coast producer M-Phazes and released later that year as Day of the Dog: Phazed Out. The album was nominated for Best Urban Release at the 2007 ARIA Awards;^[11] the award was won by the Hilltop Hoods for The Hard Road: Restrung.

The group's third single, "Then Till Now", which contains remixed instrumental elements from the Hilltop Hoods song "Riding Under One Banner", received airplay on Triple J,^[12] rage^[13] and Video Hits.^{[citation needed]} "Mad Tight", their fourth single, was played on radio stations Triple J,^[14] 3RRR,^[15] PBS,^[16] and on FBi.^[17] The music video was shown on rage.^[18]

In 2007, Bliss N Eso travelled to North America, playing shows in the northwest of North America, including a performance at the Whistler 2007 Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival.

"We did a small run of the northwest states, around Portland area and then went up to Whistler in Canada and we did a sold out show in Whistler, which was unreal, to go all the way across the world and have a whole bunch of Aussies screaming at you" - Jonathan Notley^[19]

In October 2007 they released the first single of their album "Bullet and a Target", featuring the Connections Zulu Choir (a 21 piece African Choir from South Africa),^[20] which was recorded at Jimmy Barnes' home studio in Sydney and reached #46 on the ARIA Singles Chart.^[21] The track features a remixed version of Citizen Cope's song by the same title. 100% of all profits from the sale of the song goes to The Oaktree Foundation, Australia's only youth-run international aid and development organisation.^[22]

Following up on their collaboration with the choir, Bliss N Eso embarked on a journey in June 2007 with MTV and the Oaktree Foundation to some of the poorest regions in South Africa to complete the track and shoot the video clip for "Bullet and a Target". Bliss N Eso also shot a documentary with Evermore produced by MTV, aimed at creating awareness about the challenges faced by developing communities in Africa. The film clip and 30 minute documentary aired exclusively on MTV and received attention from the media and the public. Recently the group have been nominated for the 'Good Karma Award' for these efforts at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.^[23]

Bliss N Eso were one of the Australian hip hop artists featured in the documentary Words from the City, which aired on ABC Television in late 2007.^[24]

The group's third album, Flying Colours, was released on 26 April 2008 - coinciding with a national tour by the group, along with True Live, Funkoars and The Winnie Coopers.^[25] The album debuted a week later at #10 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart,^[26] and it remained in the ARIA Top 100 for the following 12 weeks. The album was nominated for a J Award in August 2008,^[27] and also nominated for an ARIA award for Best Urban Release.^[28]

In August 2008 Bliss N Eso performed at the Splendour in the Grass festival^[4] and at the Trackside Festival in Canberra. In September they went on the road for their most successful national tour to date, with sell out performances across the country, concluding with a sold out home coming show at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney to a capacity crowd of 2500 patrons. They will be touring Canada at the end of the year and are planning to re-release Flying Colours in early 2009, with a bonus DVD. The DVD will contain a live performance that the band plan to film and record at the Metro Theatre in Sydney.^[19]

Bliss N Eso appeared for the first time in a Triple J Hottest 100 with three entries in the 2008 countdown; "Eye of the Storm" at number 40, "The Sea is Rising" at number 61 and "Woodstock 2008" at number 94.^[29][30] "Happy in My Hoody" failed to make the Hottest 100 but did come in at number 136.^[31]

In 2009 the success of Bliss N Eso continued with their Flying Colours album, which remained in the official ARIA charts for over a year. They also performed at the Sound Relief concert in front of 82,000 people at Melbourne's MCG on 14 March 2009. They were the only hip-hop act to perform at the concert, which raised over 8 million dollars for Victoria's bushfire victims.^[32][33]

In April 2009 Bliss N Eso announced a major city Australian tour which includes two shows at Melbourne's iconic festival hall as well as the largest venues they have played to date across the country. Their first show at Festival Hall sold out in four days making it the fastest selling Australian hip hop show of all time selling to a capacity of 5,100 patrons. The early sales of the 'Flying Colours Live Tour' cement Bliss N Eso as one of the best and strongest live acts in the Country.

On Sunday 26 April 2009, Bliss N Eso became the first Australian hip hop act to perform on Rove, where they performed "Woodstock 2008" and "The Sea Is Rising" to a live television audience broadcast nationally on the Ten Network.^[34]

In May 2009 Bliss N Eso received two APRA award nominations in the category, 'Best Urban Works' for "The Sea is Rising" and "Woodstock 2008".^[35] On 14 June "Flying Colours" became only the second Australian hip hop album to be certified gold, after being in the ARIA Charts for 58 weeks.^[34] The group's song "Field of Dreams" has also been included on EA Sports boxing video game Fight Night Round 4.^[34]

"Basically, EA Australia can submit one track that's Australian for an international game. There hadn't been an Australian track on a release for a while actually and the 'Fight Night' opportunity came about and EA Australia really liked "Field of Dreams" and thought it worked well with the theme of the game, so they put it forward to the International EA and it got accepted! The fact that it's out there and a million people are going to be playing this thing - it's obviously a big game and the fact that our song's on there, we're stoked. It's pretty awesome, man!" - Jonathan Notley^[36]

Bliss N Eso released their live album Flying Colours Live in June 2009 to coincide with another national tour of Australia. The album features a bonus track, "On Tour", which has received significant airplay from Triple J and includes a DVD, featuring their MTV nominated documentary, 'Out of Africa', and the group's live performance at Sydney's Metro Theatre.^[37] Following their national tour they will be working in the recording studio on their fourth studio album, with producers M-Phazes and Hattori Hanzo.^[19]

In October 2009 Bliss N Eso became the first Australian hip-hop act to tour the USA. Bliss N Eso embarked on a twenty-one date tour with Canadian hip-hop group, Swollen Members, together with Las Vegas MC BIG B and DJ Klaw. Their tour bus dubbed 'The Black Pearl' was later hit by a train and destroyed while on its way back to California at the end of the tour. Three people were on board but no one was injured.

On 17 May 2010, Bliss N Eso released "Down by the River", the first single off their upcoming fourth studio album, Running on Air. The single premiered on Triple J's "2010" new music show with Richard Kingsmill the night before. "Down by the River" was the fourth most added track to Australian radio on the weekend of 14 May, which included across the board airplay on Triple J nationally, Nova FM, Hot30 and many other community and commercial radio networks. In July 2010 Bliss N Eso released a free track called "Golden Years", also from Running on Air. Following the release of the single the band embarked on the "Down by the River" tour of Australia with sold out shows in major cities across the country.

On 30 July 2010 Bliss N Eso released their fourth studio album Running on Air. The album went straight to number one on the Australian iTunes album chart within minutes of its release. Triple J and Nova FM both featured several tracks from the album in the lead up to its release. The album garnered near perfect reviews across the board, with some even stating that "it may be the genre's finest release" (Time Off).

On 8 August 2010 Bliss N Eso's fourth studio album Running on Air debuted on the Australian ARIA charts at number one. It was the first album to knock Eminem off the top spot in 6 weeks and received significant acclaim for this feat. Bliss N Eso also had 2 albums and 3 singles in the Urban charts during this week. Less than 2 weeks after its release, Running on Air was certified Gold in Australia with sales in excess of 35,000. Shortly afterwards, Bliss N Eso embarked their sold-out Down by the River Australian tour, and before long the trio had their first platinum album in Running on Air. The Album went on to receive multiple awards nominations including the Triple J Album of the Year award, Channel V Australian Artist of the Year award, Independent Music Award, Multiple APRA Awards & two ARIA awards.

In late August Bliss n Eso announced they would be heading back over to America. The band teamed up with the legendary Kottonmouth Kings for a 26 date run across the USA. This was the bands 2nd US tour. Bliss n Eso have recently played and been announced for various Australian summer festivals including The Big Day Out, Fat as Butter, Southbound, Full Noise, Another World, Time Out, Groovin The Moo Festival and more.

In June & July 2011 Bliss n Eso set out in the record breaking Running On Air Tour, Performing in front of over 50,000 people including 8,000 fans at their sold Brisbane Riverstage show which was recorded as the highest selling local hip-hop show of all time.

Performances and appearances

Headline tours

• Back to the Top Snow Tour - Falls/Hotham/Jindabyne/Buller (AUS 2005/2006/2007/2008)
• Flowers in the Pavement Tour - National (AUS 2004)
• Day of the Dog Tour - National (AUS 2006)
• Get Loose Tour - National (AUS2006)
• Unified Tour - National Uni Campuses (AUS 2008)
• Flying Colours Tour - National (AUS 2008)
• Flying Colours Live Tour - National (AUS 2009) - Highest selling Australian hip-hop tour, including 2 sold out shows at Melbourne's iconic Festival Hall.
• Armed to the Teeth USA/Canada Tour (2009)
• Down by the River Tour - National (AUS 2010)
• Running On Air Tour - National (AUS 2011)

Festivals

• Groovin' the Moo - National (2011)
• MS Fest - Tasmania (2011)
• The Big Day Out - National (2011)
• Southbound Festival - Bussleton (2011)
• Full Noise Festival - Townsville (2010)
• Another World U18's Festival - Melbourne (2010)
• MTV Snow Jam Festival - Thredbo (2010)
• Newton's Nation Festival - Bathurst (2010)
• Stonefest - Canberra (2010)
• Fat as Butter Festival - Newcastle (2010)
• Time Out Festival - Cairns (2010)
• Solar Festival - Melbourne (2010)
• MS Fest - Tasmania (2010)
• Origin Festival - Perth (2010)
• Fresh Fest - Gold Coast(2009)
• Coaster Festival - Central Coast (2009)
• Come Together Festival - Sydney (2009)
• RIPE Noosa - Sunshine Coast (2009)
• Sound Relief - MCG Melbourne (2009)
• Bass in the Grass - Darwin (2009)
• Quicksilver Pro - Duranbah Beach QLD (2009)
• Homebake - The Domain Sydney (2008)
• Trackside - Canberra (2008)
• Southbound - Busselton WA (2008)
• Splendour in the Grass - Byron Bay (2008)
• Dusty Days Festival - Wagga Wagga (2008)
• Oddyssey Festival - Goldcoast (2008)
• Bass in the Dust - Alice Springs (2008)
• Stylewars - Falls Creek (2008)
• Telus World Festival - Whistler Canada (2007)
• Make Poverty History - National (2007)
• The Great Escape - The Barracks Sydney (2007)
• MS Fest - Tasmania (2007)
• Summadayze - Perth (2007)
• Pyramid Rock Festival - Phillip Island Victoria (2007)
• Dusty Days Festival - Wagga Wagga (2007)
• Stylewars - Falls Creek (2007)
• Coastal Vibes (2007)
• Sonic Bloom - Sydney (2007)
• Pushover - Melbourne (2007)
• Narana Festival - Torquay Victoria (2007)
• MS Fest - Tasmania (2006)
• We Love Sounds - Sydney (2006)
• Pyramid Rock Festival - Phillip Island Victoria (2005)
• The Big Day Out - National (2005)

Television

• Angry Boys - music & video usage: episode 3 (2011)
• Hey Hey It's Saturday - album review (2010)
• Dew Tour/Foxtel - music usage (2010)
• Underbelly - music usage episode 8 (2010)
• Rove Live - performance/interview (2009)
• Blokesworld - interview/FMX (2009)
• 9AM show - interview (2008)
• Fuel TV - interview + video game review (2008/2009)
• Channel V - Interview/performance (2006/2008/2009/2010)
• MTV - Interview/performance (2006/2007/2008/2009/2010)
• JTV - Interview/performance (2006/2008)
• Ballistyx Snowboard Show - interview (2008)
• Rage - guest programming (2008)
• Video Hits - interview/snowboarding (2007)

DVDs

• Rhythm and Poetry - Performance/Interview (2007)
• Words from the City - Performance/Interview (2007)
• Flying Colours Live Deluxe Edition - Performance (2009)
• Out of Africa - The MTV Feature Documentary (2008)

Discography

Albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions	Certifications (sales threshold)
		AUS
2004	Flowers in the Pavement First studio album Release date: August 23, 2004 Label: Obese	—
2006	Day of the Dog Second studio album Release date: March 4, 2006 Label: Illusive Sounds	45
2008	Flying Colours Third studio album Release date: April 26, 2008 Label: Illusive Sounds/Liberation Music	10	AUS: Gold[38]
2010	Running on Air Fourth studio album Release date: July 30, 2010 Label: Illusive Sounds/Liberation Music	1	AUS: Platinum[39]
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

EPs

• The Arrival - Independent (2000)

Singles

Year	Song	AUS	Album
2006	"Up Jumped the Boogie" (featuring Kye)	—	Day of the Dog
	"Party at My Place" (featuring Motley)	—
	"Then Till Now"	—
2007	"Bullet and a Target" (featuring Zulu Connection Choir)	43	Flying Colours
2008	"Woodstock 2008"	—
	"The Sea Is Rising" (featuring John Butler Trio)	—
2010	"Down By the River"	45	Flying Colours
	"Addicted"	38
"—" denotes releases that did not receive certification.

Compilation appearances

• Culture Of Kings (song: "Lyrical Wilderness") (2002) (Australia) Obese Records
• Empirical Records Present... 'Straight from the Art' (2003), Warner Music (Australia) (song: "Greenhouse")
• Triple J Hip Hop Show (2005), ABC Music (song: "This Is for You")
• Triple J Home and Hosed—Bangin' n Breedin' (2006), ABC Music (song: "Then Till Now")^[40]
• Triple J Hottest 100 Vol. 16 (2009) ABC Music (song: "Eye Of The Storm")
• Good Gracious (song: "Walk On Clouds") Obese Records (2010)

Awards and nominations

Nominations

• 2006 ARIA Award - Best Urban Release - Day of the Dog
• 2007 ARIA Award - Best Urban Release - Day of the Dog: Phazed Out
• 2008 MTV Video Music Awards - Good Karma Award
• 2008 J Award - Flying Colours
• 2008 Channel V Oz Artist of the Year
• 2009 MTV Video Music Awards - Best Independent
• 2009 APRA Awards - Best Urban Work - "Woodstock 2008"
• 2009 APRA Awards - Best Urban Work - "Sea is Rising"
• 2010 APRA AWARDS - Best Urban Work - "On Tour"
• 2010 ARIA Awards - Best Urban Release - Running on Air
• 2010 ARIA Awards - Best DVD - Flying Colours
• 2010 AIR Awards - Best Single - "Down by the River"
• 2010 Triple J Awards - Album of the Year - Running on Air
• 2010 Channel V Oz Artist of the Year (Top 4)
• 2011 APRA Awards - Best Urban Work

Awards

• 2003 Musicoz Awards - Best Urban Artist
• 2004 Musicoz Awards - Best Urban Artist
• 2008 ARIA Award - Best Urban Release - Flying Colours
• 2008 Desktop Create Award - Best Packaging Design - Flying Colours
• 2010 EG Award - Best Band

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Bliss N Eso:Flying back in full colour". In The Mix. 20 May 2008. http://www.inthemix.com.au/features/37888/Bliss_n_Eso_Flying_back_in_full_colour. Retrieved 9 October 2008. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Bio at the band's website
3. ^ Murffet, Andrew (4 September 2008). "Bliss n Eso". Melbourne: The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/gig-previews--reviews/bliss-n-eso/2008/09/04/1220121416657.html. Retrieved 8 October 2008. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Splendour in the Grass - 2008 lineup". Splendour in the Grass. Archived from the original on 5 August 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080805041619/http://www.splendourinthegrass.com/artist.php?ArtistId=42. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 
5. ^ "Bliss N' Esoterikizm - The Arrival". Discogs. http://www.discogs.com/release/422567. Retrieved 9 October 2008. 
6. ^ "Blss N Eso". VH1. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/bliss_n_eso/bio.jhtml. Retrieved 9 October 2008. 
7. ^ "Bliss N Eso - Musicoz Award Winners in 2003,2004". MusicOz Awards. http://www.musicoz.org/about/success_stories/blissneso/. Retrieved 23 April 2008. 
8. ^ 50 Cent Australian tour
9. ^ Day of the Dog at Herald Sun HiT online store.
10. ^ Bliss N Eso - 'Day of the Dog' National Tour
11. ^ 2007 ARIA Award Nominations
12. ^ "Then Till Now" at J Play
13. ^ rage playlist
14. ^ "Mad Tight" at J Play
15. ^ Triple R playlist
16. ^ PBS playlist
17. ^ FBi playlist
18. ^ Playlist, rage, 9 February 2007.
19. ^ ^{a b c} Hayes, Joshua (9 October 2008). "Pass with Flying Colours". X-Press magazine (Columbia Press Pty Ltd). http://www.xpressmag.com. Retrieved 9 October 2008. 
20. ^ "Bullet and a Target" at Herald Sun HiT online store.
21. ^ Australian Chart listing (2007)
22. ^ Skuff TV
23. ^ "Announcing the nominees for the MTV Australia Awards 2008". music.net.nz. 13 March 2008. http://www.muzic.net.nz/news/1268/announcing-the-nominees-for-the-mtv-australia-awards-2008.html. 
24. ^ ABC TV guide December 2007
25. ^ Let's Get Unified in 2008 - FasterLouder.com
26. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Album Charts". ARIA. 5 May 2008. http://www.ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_album.asp?chart=1G50. Retrieved 6 May 2008. 
27. ^ "2008 J Award Nominations". Triple J. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/jawards/bliss_n_eso_flying_colours.htm. Retrieved 1 September 2008. ^{[dead link]}
28. ^ "Major ARIA award nominations". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 September 2008. http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/major-aria-award-nominations/2008/09/10/1220857602578.html. Retrieved 10 September 2008. 
29. ^ "Triple J Hottest 100". Triple J. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/popup.htm. Retrieved 23 February 2009. 
30. ^ Porter, Tom (27 January 2009). "The Hottest 100 songs in Australia right now are…". Music Radar. http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/the-hottest-100-songs-in-australia-right-now-are-193621. Retrieved 23 February 2009. 
31. ^ Kingsmill, Richard (27 January 2009). "Hottest 100 (#101-200)". Triple J. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/kingsmill/playlist/s2475563.htm. Retrieved 23 February 2009. 
32. ^ Fever, Veronca (6 March 2009). "Live Review: Bliss N Eso". MTV Australia. http://www.mtv.com.au/news/live-review-bliss-n-eso/. Retrieved 21 May 2009. 
33. ^ Eliezer, Christie. "A word or two about Sound Relief". The Music.com.au. http://www.themusic.com.au/imm_display.php?s=christie&id=1060&d=2009-03-17. Retrieved 21 May 2009. 
34. ^ ^{a b c} Hayes, Joshua (18 June 2009). "Bliss N Eso - Victory lap". X-Press magazine (Columbia Press Pty Ltd). 
35. ^ "Urban Work of the Year - 2009". APRA/AMCOS. http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/MusicAwards/Nominations/UrbanWorkoftheYear2009.aspx. Retrieved 22 June 2009. 
36. ^ Shea, Matt (17 June 2009). "Bliss N Eso". Scene magazine. Hyrda Media Pty Ltd. http://scenemagazine.com.au/index.php/section-table/58-cover-stories/293-blissneso. Retrieved 22 June 2009. 
37. ^ "Bliss N Eso/Flying Colours Live: Deluxe Edition (CD/DVD)". Sanity Music. http://www.sanity.com.au/product/product.asp?sku=2127350. Retrieved 22 June 2009. ^{[dead link]}
38. ^ "2009 Albums Accrediations". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.aupagesARIACharts-Accreditations-2009Albums.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-07. 
39. ^ "2011 Albums Accrediations". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.aupageshttpwww.aria.com.aupageshttpwww.aria.com.auALBUMaccreds2011.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-07. 
40. ^ Triple J Home and Hosed—Bangin' n Breedin track listing - ABC Shop

External links

• Official website
• Rapcella Artist Profile - Bliss n Eso
• Bliss n Eso Interview on Alchemy SBS Radio 2008
• Bliss n Eso Interview on Style43 (June 2007)
• Breezy Music News - Flying Colours Review 2008