Akouo (meaning ‘to hear’, pronounced “ak-oo-oh”) is a hip hop / neo soul producer and DJ from Tasmania, Australia.
Admiring the sounds of his favorite musical artists from literally the other side of the map, Akouo heavily draws influence from the likes of Jurassic 5, Pete Rock, J Dilla, James Brown, and Otis Redding.
But geographic placement aside, this Tasmanian native still strongly embraces his passion of eclectic, soulful hip hop, sourcing samples almost exclusively from 70s vinyl records and merging them with his gritty, custom drum sounds, occasionally adding a synthesized groove to cap off his aural paintings.
In 2006, Akouo got his first taste of touring with former group Altrueism, opening for Australian hip hop powerhouse and Aria Award winning outfit Bliss n Eso on the Tasmanian leg of their Day of the Dog tour. He has since performed across Australia, from Falls Festival, Marion Bay to tour DJing for Phatchance, and has been billed alongside artists such as Beatnuts (US), Classified (Can), Ugly Duckling (US) DJ Premier (US), Marco Polo (Can), Masta Ace + Edo G (US), Koolism, Funkoars and DJ Dexter, to name a few.
Akouo’s debut hip hop production record, titled ‘Outwit the Muscle’ was released in 2008 and subsequently achieved the title of ‘Feature Album of the Week’ on Triple J’s Hip Hop Show. This opportunity gave Akouo his first taste of radio play with healthy rotation of single ‘Lazy Days’ (feat. Dunn D and Jonny Hack) on Triple J radio over the coming months.
Two years on, his collaboration EP with Californian rapper Javs dropped as a free download in early 2010 and was titled ‘JNA – Double Helix EP’, combining mellow backpack rap and soulful hip hop production, and featured Australian artists Rachael Berry, DVS and Phatchance.
Working with artists such as Phatchance, Loose Cannons, Class A, Javs, Julez, Hau (Koolism), Elf Transporter, among others, his collaboration work is ever building up, with brand new Akouo production set to expand and be heard across the world in the near future.
