TF Archives

beXta

Author: Alias
Sunday, January 1, 1995
Rebecca Poulsen is beXta, and as her name suggests she is indeed female. Not that there should be any problem with that, but some people have real trouble getting their head around the fact. Rebecca elaborates. "The first question I always get asked by journalists who don't really have much of a clue about what I am doing is 'are you a singer-' They always assume someone else is playing the music. And I'm like 'ah...no...It's just me."

Dancefloor diva or sassy front woman beXta is not. She has been writing dance music since 1993, with material under the beXta handle being released as far back as 1995 on small Brisbane based label Sirius Music. Now beXta is signed to Sony dance based offshoot Dance Pool, home to Australian artists such as Evac, Code Warrior and Pee Wee Ferris. "You really get the opportunity to work on what you are doing," she says of her relationship with Sony, "and they have got their major acts like Mariah Carey who sell lots of records and allow them to give money to Dance Pool so they can have a little label and invest in the local artists."

Rebecca has recently returned from touring nationally with the Big Day Out throughout January. "The Big Day Out was really good," she enthuses. "You don't get much of an opportunity to play like 7000 plus venues and parties, so its good having the numbers and a cross section of people who wouldn't normally come out to clubs or dance parties." During these shows Rebecca had the opportunity to play to audiences of 8,000 and over. Whilst most performances went by without a hitch, one gig in Melbourne proved to be a bit of a handful. "In Melbourne a few tracks into my set the power generator, the PA, and everything blew up, so everything went quiet," she says with a laugh. "It took about ten minutes for everything to get back to normal and the sound to come back, but apart from that it was good. Everyone seemed to be into it, enjoying what I was doing live."

The live environment is the perfect forum for Rebecca's music. From fast and funky house to ripping breakbeat, the beXta sound system can really rock a crowd. This is documented in her latest release, the live ep Skirmish, which was recorded live at Plastic in Sydney. Apart from showing that beXta is capable of producing first class hard house styled tunes, it also demonstrates how quickly she can adapt her live performances to cater for the vibe on the dancefloor. "When I write I focus more on what would work on the dancefloor. I'm always thinking in the back of my mind 'would this work in a club-' I think the natural habitat for my music is in a club and on the dancefloor, and I was tossing up on whether to do an album or whether to do a live sort of thing. The live thing just seemed like the natural thing to do."When performing live Rebecca aims to give the audience just a little bit more than the head down, knob twiddling of most live appearances. "It always depends on the type of place that I am playing," she asserts. "At the Big Day Out I had a couple of dancers and that was all choreographed, and I had a camera attached to my head that was being broadcast to the screens, and then we had all the animations also being mixed into the cameras. Because I had all those facilities there already it seemed silly not to use them. That is my ultimate show, to be involving all the other mediums because you don't get much of a chance to do that in a club. In an underground club I most definitely wouldn't have dancers or anything because the people there would look at it as y'know, (pause) kind of cheesy! However, I do like to entertain people." The visual aspect of performance is an element Rebecca likes to focus on, offering the audience an exciting and dynamic environment. Yet, in her hometown of Sydney the live electronic music scene is anything but strong, and since moving their from Brisbane, Rebecca h

Tags