Latest news with #Pressure
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘One of our most honest records': How middle age is helping the Hilltop Hoods
No.2. Just south of INXS. It's 22 years since The Nosebleed Section made headlines about Aussie hip-hop coming of age. But one week before their ninth album – drumroll for the most anticipated local release of the year – that Hottest 100 Australian Songs result felt pretty good to the Hilltop Hoods. 'It's a little bit surreal to be up there with some of the songs that shaped my childhood, artists that I consider the biggest things ever,' says Dan Smith, aka Pressure, who began rhyming and recording with school friend Matt Lambert (Suffa) in the early '90s. Barry Francis (DJ Debris) joined them in '99. 'To be put in the same category with them' – Crowded House, Cold Chisel and Paul Kelly also hit the Top 10 in last week's Triple J poll – 'is an absolute honour,' he says. 'But I don't know what it is about that song. Time and place? Nostalgia? If I knew the answer, then we could make every song a Nosebleed Section.' He's joking. Moving forward, he knows, is the real test. So to Fall from the Light, dropping Friday, six years after the Adelaide trio's last album, The Great Expanse. That was the sixth No.1 for the group that smashed the outlying margins of hip-hop to occupy the top league of the Australian mainstream. Their arena tour of next February/March is nearly sold out. Expectations are high. Loading So what's it like? Older. Not as in tired – though Rage Against the Fatigue is a brilliant snapshot of socially induced insomnia – but in the emotionally literate sense. It's the sound of three guys deep into their 40s negotiating fame, grief, gratitude, depression, family, home and the road, with their usual linguistic precision and a more refined toolkit. 'I like to think it's one of our most honest records,' says Pressure. 'Hip-hop is so literal. We've matured in our songwriting and just as human beings as well. We're very comfortable in our own skin. I think that's one of the things that's helped us connect to our listeners over the years.'
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘One of our most honest records': How middle age is helping the Hilltop Hoods
No.2. Just south of INXS. It's 22 years since The Nosebleed Section made headlines about Aussie hip-hop coming of age. But one week before their ninth album – drumroll for the most anticipated local release of the year – that Hottest 100 Australian Songs result felt pretty good to the Hilltop Hoods. 'It's a little bit surreal to be up there with some of the songs that shaped my childhood, artists that I consider the biggest things ever,' says Dan Smith, aka Pressure, who began rhyming and recording with school friend Matt Lambert (Suffa) in the early '90s. Barry Francis (DJ Debris) joined them in '99. 'To be put in the same category with them' – Crowded House, Cold Chisel and Paul Kelly also hit the Top 10 in last week's Triple J poll – 'is an absolute honour,' he says. 'But I don't know what it is about that song. Time and place? Nostalgia? If I knew the answer, then we could make every song a Nosebleed Section.' He's joking. Moving forward, he knows, is the real test. So to Fall from the Light, dropping Friday, six years after the Adelaide trio's last album, The Great Expanse. That was the sixth No.1 for the group that smashed the outlying margins of hip-hop to occupy the top league of the Australian mainstream. Their arena tour of next February/March is nearly sold out. Expectations are high. Loading So what's it like? Older. Not as in tired – though Rage Against the Fatigue is a brilliant snapshot of socially induced insomnia – but in the emotionally literate sense. It's the sound of three guys deep into their 40s negotiating fame, grief, gratitude, depression, family, home and the road, with their usual linguistic precision and a more refined toolkit. 'I like to think it's one of our most honest records,' says Pressure. 'Hip-hop is so literal. We've matured in our songwriting and just as human beings as well. We're very comfortable in our own skin. I think that's one of the things that's helped us connect to our listeners over the years.'
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Midweek - starvation in Gaza, announcements, polling on a whim
Pressure goes on The Platform over a tweet from its founder, gaza starvation hits home for media, announcements of an announcement and a polling company chief puts out a question on a whim - with interesting results. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
IOL News
2 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Minister initiates lifestyle audits to tackle corruption within Public Works
The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson briefs the media on the outcomes of the final forensic investigation conducted by PwC into the over R800 million Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plant tender awarded by the Independent Development Trust (IDT). Image: Picture: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers Banele Ginidza Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, has announced a comprehensive lifestyle audit for 400 high-risk individuals—approximately 10% of the workforce within his department. This unprecedented initiative comes in the wake of a detailed forensic investigation by PwC into the award of a controversial tender, valued at over R800 million, for the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plant by the Independent Development Trust (IDT). Highlighting the anomalies within the department, Macpherson on Tuesday pointed out that many who engaged in multi-million-rand construction projects had been found driving luxury cars, including R3 million Porsche models, without clear financial justification. "That is a red flag. It's not targeting anyone, it's ensuring that we have people that put the country first as opposed to own bank accounts first. So we introduced two things: the first one is about ghost employee audits," Macpherson said. "We required every single employee of the department to arrive at work and identify themselves or do so through a virtual platform. They had to put camera on and have their ID next to their face. We then said who are the high risk individuals. "We have 400 high risk individuals, that's roughly 10% of our workforce [that] is classified as high risk and we do nothing about it. We had to act with speed, of course these things take time. The ghost audit will be released in the next three months." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Director-General Sifiso Mdakane shared that the first layer of high-risk individuals has been identified, which includes deputy director-generals and chief directors. "The next level of high risk are those people who work in Supply Chain Management (SCM ) which is quite the people that interact with suppliers, people in ICT and many other areas of SCM related governance as well as legal because they interact with contracts," Mdakane said. "These are part of our reforms that we are trying to implement around SCM particularly though this is about IDT, I have said in another platform that we are really pushing this e-programming system as Public Works to eliminate the issue of human contact so that the processes are seamless." Supporting the audit's implementation, Deputy Director General for Governance, Risk and Compliance, Lwazi Mahlangu, articulated the structured process of the investigation. He said it started with a lifestyle reviews, which looked at assets and lifestyle disclosures and was escalated to lifestyle investigations if there were issues raised and grew further into a full-blown lifestyle audits if the investigation also brought up issues. "Now that's different because the reviews and investigations are okay because there are processes that are built into our systems that can be done internally, but with an audit it becomes a different approach because now we have to look at external parties that can assist, in this case the SIU," Mahlangu said. He said the department had also assisted the IDT to start discussions with the SIU and had also helped to develop the terms of reference for that lifestyle audit. "Then you need an Ethics Officer, that's a discussion we are having with the IDT to deal with the issues of Ethics Officer in line with the Department of Public Service and Administration regulations." Meanwhile, Macpherson revealed that financial transfers for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) have been temporarily suspended pending an investigation into potential misappropriations. He said the investigation started from a tip-off that high-ranking officials pocketed funds from the EPWP programme under the pretext of paying workers. "We are conducting an investigation. It will not be long, a week or two maximum. And then once we have isolated the full suite of people that are involved, we will resume those transfers. I am not convinced its just those individuals identified. There may be more," he said. BUSINESS REPORT
eNCA
2 days ago
- Business
- eNCA
Public Works Minister releases corruption report
JOHANNESBURG - Forensic investigation by Accounting PwC found that there was no relations between contractors and IDT officials. Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Dean Macpherson, revealed the outcomes of a forensic investigation into the Pressure Swing Adsorption Oxygen Plant tender. PricewaterhouseCoopers investigated the over R800-million deal.
