Comprised of MC Hau and DJ Danielsan, Koolism are quickly establishing themselves as one of Australia's premier hip hop acts and proving to us that there's more going on in the nation's capital than politics, sightseeing and well designed streets. The pair have just released their latest album, Random Thoughts, featuring guest appearances from the likes of the UK's Rodney P, Mnemonic Ascent, Nfamas from 1200 Techniques and newcomer Axe Aklins. The boys are preparing to tour in support of the album taking in most of the capital cities and a few regional areas as well. RA recently caught up with MC Hau for a Q&A about the group, the album and doing the live shows.

- How does it feel to have finally completed your third album, Random Thoughts?

It's good man! More of a relief actually. We were going to release it back in October 2003 and we were gonna put it out ourselves but we talked to Ashley Anderson (Katalyst) who got us to put it out on his label, Invada. Because of that we had to hold the release date it back to May 2004. It gave us a chance to make it sound better and we added in a couple of songs in the process like Last Tango In Paris and Control.

- I know you're gonna say all of them... but do you have any stand out tracks or personal favourites from the new album (especially ones that make you go "YYYYEEEAAAHHHHH")?

Oh, I'm not sure - it's like deciding which kid you love. If I had to say anything it would be the track we did with Rodney P (Warm And Easy) and Control.

- How far have both of you come since the release of your first album Lift Ya Game?

I'd say we've gone far, but I can't really describe it. Since releasing that, we knew that people were buying our music so we knew we could do something with it - there's a real progression with each album rather than being stagnant. I've also been listening to other genres of music, back then I was only listening to reggae and R&B, now I'm into jungle, drum'n'bass, breaks and house - I'm really liking house nowadays!

- Your first album was released on Parallax view, then you released Diverse on Hydro and now Random Thoughts is released on Invada. How did you manage to score a release on Katalyst's label?

We were talking to him and he sounded like he was watching us and seeing what we were up to. Dan and I wondering who to release our album through and Ashley had the same passion for our music. We weren't signed to Hydrofunk but we took it as a learning experience.

- Your new album sees you collaborating with the likes of Mnemoic Ascent, 1200 Techniques and Rodney P from the UK, care to fill us in on how they came about?

I would always rather work with a good person rather than a good MC who is an asshole and Nfa from 1200 Techniques put us on their latest album so we repaid him the favour and got him on ours. Mnemonic Ascent have been our boys for ages so we had to put them on our album. I've always loved Rodney P's sound ever since he was with the London Posse. We approached them one night after a show and asked them if they could appear on our album. Rodney said he'd be down but I didn't think he was being serious! We picked them up from the airport and got down to the studio and came up with the track and finally I always gotta show my boys some love so I got Axe Aklins from the KOA crew for Control.

- You've also done a tune for Nubreed's album as well, do you guys get into the breakbeat sound as well?

Yeah man I love it man. I don't what got us into it... I probably shouldn't say hehe. Jungle and breaks are basically hip hop with the same energy just really sped up. I saw DJ Randall play in Kings Cross a while back and just noticed the same raw energy.

- I've noticed a few tracks on this album are staple tunes of your live show, like Adrenalin - do you write tunes with a focus for the Koolism live performance or do you just put pen to paper and write away?

We just put pen to paper and write away - we don't really have a plan when it comes to making tunes but some of them turn out to work really well in a live set.

- On Nite Time, you rap about working late shifts and dedicate that tune to people who work those shifts, do both of you spend a lot of time working late in the studio to get your tracks finished?

Yeah man, Dan does more than I do because he spends a lot of time perfecting his beats and loops. As the MC I have the leisure of sleep. By 3am I'm feeling dead and I'm ready to give up but Dan usually stays in - by the end of it he's looking worse for wear.

- You've performed live at Field Day 2004 in Sydney where we saw you play more than just a hip hop set, you guys played some uptempo beats and moved onto Danielsan mixing up a breaks set. Would future albums by Koolism see you guys playing this sound or will it be strictly hip hop?

I don't know man, if it leans towards breaks, it will sound influenced by breaks. Dan and I have talked about doing some white labels - breaks and Miami bass, but the Koolism sound will be just how it is - always funky!

- What other festivals have you guys played since then?

So far we've the Good Vibrations festival (Sydney), Big Day Out (Sydney), Sydney Festival in the Becks bar.

- Do you like playing the big festivals or do you find it better to play an intimate club gig?

Both, I love the festivals because we get to see heaps of other acts. It's during the day and you can go whereever you want. Intimate gigs are cool too putting on your own show is awesome. There's plenty of atmosphere and the crowd are there for you. I'd put both on the same level.

- Where can we see Koolism playing in the near future?

Check out www.koolism.com for our gigs and touring schedule it's updated regularly