I’ve been meaning to get a routine on where every two weeks i go to the market and buy a rucksack full of fruit and veg. Then cook with it, freeze the meals and eat at our leisure. This week i did, and this is what i got for 12 quid!
Cost wise its huge plus, quality wise, yep, i think these taste better than somerfiend (which is literally a stones throw away), and while it is more hassle, i do love markets, and the whole bartering thing. I think this is most definitely the way to go, and soups, lasagne, pies, and casseroles are just the beginning.
Here is a small example of what you can make, (pastry not included)
A happy tune to kick us off this month, aptly titled happiness and with that signature A-skills funkiness, and Krafty Kutz bassline. One that looks set to put a smile on any dancefloor’s face.
Making a great track more dancefloor friendly with a nice dollup of darkness from the Baobinga & id camp. I prefer the stantons edit of their remix as its a little more rollin, but make sure you check out other version as they are pretty similar.
Noisia - Seven Stitches - Division Recordings
A wicked techno influenced breaker from the boys more known for their choice d+b cuts. This one’s been doing the rounds for a few months now, but still tearing up the dancefloors, whilst providing djs with a heavy bridges to other genres.
Double S - From Day (Cardpusher Remix) – True Tiger
Technically dubstep but drop this in a peak time breaks set and watch it go off, This is a wicked track with plenty of cool edits and grimeiness for anyone who likes to mix it up.
Plump Djs – Listen to the Baddest - Finger Lickin’
Another crackin track from the phat ones with plenty of changes to keep things fresh and that rolling plump djs break.
Break The Box vs Lbj - No Rules (Joebot Mix) – Big Square Records
Heard this one on Joe’s soundcloud account this week and definitly deserves a chart. With it’s drivin beats and rolling acid synth lines this is a top remix from the spectrum resident. – Check out more at www.joebotdj.com
I’ve had such a good weekend! Atomic Jam at the Que quite simply “rocked” and was every bit as good as the old days. Djing was equally fantastic, with the room filling up at lightening speed and a wonderful peak time type crowd response.
But as much as i feel extremely fortunate to have played room 2 of the mighty jam, it IS all about that main room in the que club. Walking in there was like a huge warm blast from the past, rekindling my deep appreciation of techno, and the que club, (the two really do seem to go hand in hand)
One of the other highlights was spending some time with Dom from brothers bud. Hes doing soo well now, and is one of those blokes that you can’t help but get on with. I booked him for headway at my first weekly breaks night years ago, and while he was writing loads of tunes back then, i think he was just starting to get the out there. Next time i spoke to him, he was signed to finger lickin, and now, (5 years later) he’s doing real well. I also met trance orbital, who do the big spikey balls, and all that decor we used to see. They’ve been on my mailing list for years, but i dont think we’ve ever properly met. Again they are doing great, so both me and pyn were suitably inspired
And last but not least of course there was the man behind the jam – Danny. I’ve never met him before, but had some really nice chats on the phone in the run up to this event. At the event he had his promoter head on, so we didn’t exchage much , but i’m well pleased for him. He’s a really good bloke and did a great job.
Theres are few more pictures here and I’ve got some video footage to upload, so will post that online soon. If you find any blogposts about it, feel free to post the links in the comments. We need to celebrate the jams return while it’s here, as it might not last apparently, (though that might just be a backstage rumour.
I’m having a massive overhaul at the mo of everything to make way for a few bits of kit, trying to get as much in check by the end of year to make way for 3 new technologies which are set to raise the bar for 3 areas of my life. One is a free upgrade, and the other two are what i’m consoling myself with as investments. So they dont become another thing i dont have time for, i’m not touching them until the decks are cleared, so expect a full review and some tutorials in 2009.
So what are they? – Well on the djing front we have the new Traktor Scratch Pro, which was sent to me by Native Instruments a few weeks ago, and looks to really shake up the dj world. They’ve looked at the problems with the last version, and added some features that you just cant do with anything else, and should all feed really well into some creative projects i’ve got going on in the djing.
On the music making front, i’ve spent most of my overdraft on the new Omnisphere by Spectrasonics, which is probably one of the most amazing things i’ve ever heard. Again more on their site, and more on when i start using it next year.
And finally on the communications front (and largely because my old phone was literally falling apart) i’ve opted to leave 3, and join vodafone, partly in order to get a decent handset that suits my needs, but also because i’d had enough of the 3 customer service, which can be hit and miss dependant on who i spoke to.
While every human and their dog seems to have an iphone, i’ve opted for the Samsung Omnia (and even bought a case to keep it safe!?), as its more souped up, and you can turn it from windows mobile into a dream phone with things like winterface and some of the other vito software. Aside from the 16 gig of memory and the 5 meg pixel camera, you can use your phone for things you never ever imagined, like navigating unknown terrains, and stargazing, creating your own ringtones (good for us composers) and various syncing options with things like thinking rock and outlook, (which as much as i’ve avoided it, i’ve found is actually really helping my gtd system.)
I havent given them a proper road test as of yet, but suffice to say, my music, djing, events, and projects should all feel the benefit of these new toys, and i look forward to writing with some reviews of how they are doing in the new year.
Aside from partaking in that great gigbeth fringe show last week, i’ve also had the opportunity to check out some more musical treats in brum over the last couple of week, so thats what will form this blog.
First up was Cogs first birthday at the hare and hounds, with their residents djs, their resident vj Blendstate, and special guest and brummy legend Mr Sir Real. It was a really nice vibe in there, and the specially erected “cog screen”and the birthday cake added nice touches to a thoroughly pleasant evening.
A few days later i went back to the hare and hounds to see Laura Louise perform. Orginally from New Zealand, she’s got some great tracks, and manages to create a full orchestral type sound using only a loop pedal, a flute, and her voice, which is very, very good. Check her out for yourself here, doing a rendition of Fat Freddies Drop
So the next thing was the Consider It Done with Mr Elephant Gigbeth Fringe show, with the multi talented John Mostyn, which was great fun, and from a djing point of view was especially good as i got to play a breaks set, a drum and bass set, jam with a live mc , and then play a bham opera type set for the last 2 hours! Loads of fun and a lovely crowd.
On the subject of the live jamming with the mc (which as a rule of thumb i rarely do), he was a lovely bloke/barman, and a really good mc, but it seems no matter how many people are dancing, and how much they know the tune (Roni Size/Brown Paper Bag), the mc stepping up seems to have the inevitable effect of clearing the floor!) Not the best for the mc confidence, but then it was a real mixed crowd, and gave me a perfect excuse to drop the proclaimers!
While i love “proper djing” in peak time clubs, theres a lot to be said for classic party tunes, and a lot of sillyness and connection can be had, making it easy to traverse the genres. Muppets to James Brown, Artic Monkeys to Queen Latifah, Quantic Soul to Happy Mondays, it was great fun, and a really reponsive crowd.
Anyway, i digress, brum the day after was good as it was drop beats not bombs, and it felt suitably celebratory now that bush is finally out. Boogie and the drop beats crew had once again gone to enourmous lengths to make the event into something special, and while i missed a lot of it, we did catch my two favourite beatboxers Bass6, and the incredible Mc Xander. (sorry about the sound quality)
Expect to see one or all of the above at the next Mr Elephant, and i’m hoping we can get all the above to come play the next Project X Presents Show next year too.
One band i dont think we could get (at least not at our “all of us working for free stage”) is the inspiring Fat Freddys Drop, who played at the Bham Academy last friday. I’ve been getting more and more into them over the last few years, so it was great to see them in the flesh. I was pretty tired after doing the “shuffle dance” (for some unfathomable reason), and the singer seemed a little out of sorts, with no encore, but still their music is great! It was also nice to see our favourite landlord and local promoter/ dj Mr Adam Regan on that big ole stage warming up the audience with some quality tracks.
So thats been the last couple of weeks in terms of seeing some music in my favourite city. The rest of the time, i’ve been working on a huge reorganise of pretty much everything i have. This has included sorting through 2000 contacts, 1000 pieces of vinyl, millions of mp3s (it seems) and hours of video footage. On top of all the backing up and sorting out, i’ve also been putting into place a whole host of organisational “systems”, for want of a better word, based around gtd, in order to make way for some new arrivals to the studio.
More on that later, but for now, i’ll leave you with some footage of the end of Mama Matrix’s set (again apologies for the quality
..All went remarkably well and trunks up to all those who made it happen! The first half (6-9pm) saw 3 half hour showcase sets for some visiting student reps, as part of the afternoon gigbeth conference, and despite it being an early eve performances, Smiley Mic, Mama Matrix and our very own Dj Marc Reck and Vj Liam Blendstate, all demonstrated in full effect what they do.
From 9pm was the aforementioned gigbeth fringe show organised by Consider it Done, with a little input from us. Apparently, and thankfully for us, it was one of the busiest venues, and turned out to be a really fantastic evening attracting a truly ecletic mix of people
First up was Laura Louise, all the way from New Zealand, and with a truly stunning voice, she delivered a magical set using her acoustic guitar and flute all going through a footpedal to create lush harmonic layers coupled with emotional lyrics.
Next up were Mr Elephant favourites Mama Matrix, who delivered a blistering set of Balkan Gypsy Jazz from start to finish and left only a handful of people sitting down. A truly amazing band!
Smiley Mic was up next and showed us what a real one man band looks like with his firsr gig in Birmingham. Easily switching up styles from acoustic layers, to star wars, culminating in a prize winning sugar hill gang remix, Smiley is one face you need to keep an eye on (and a thoroughly lovely bloke)
And then our very own Marc Reck was seeminly up to finish the night with as many styles as he could fit in, and even a live jam! Starting with breaks and house, and switching into a myriad of drum and bass styles, the space which had previously been occupied by all the instruments and p.a was quickly replaced with a room full of smiley dancing people. After a brief dj mc jam, he finished up the evening with a stack of soul, indie and shameless crowdpleasers resulting in hour and a half extension til 3.30 am!
Cid music shot some great video footage of the evening, and rhubarb captured some of live streams. which you can listen again to on www.rhubarbradio.com (plus other gigbeth shows). You can read about it on the consider it done blog, or Smiley Mic’s, or number one digbeth blogger Nicky Getgood‘s who was seen tearin up the dancefloor til the wee hours!
Its been ages since i’ve blogged on here as we’ve been in connection transit land for a while, but suffice we are all somewhat connected up again, so its back to blogland once again….In the effort to keep onto of the blogging, I’ve wrote some drafts while i’ve been offline as there’s been some great stuff happening, so i’ll backdate and post them below for anyone who fancies a read. There’s also been some elephant related news/reviews, so i’ll copy that from the mrelephant site too.
Mr Elephant at the Celebrate Birminghams Underground #1 by Alina Ha
You can check out Dom’s review of the Celebrate Underground event (and this picture) in this month’s Night Times!
I always strive to make the show really eclectic, but with a lot of flow, so check out the tracklistings to get the vibes of various shows. Your comments and feedback are always welcome.
Night Times Breaks Reviewer
I review breakbeat for the monthly Night Times publication and play all sorts of music for my radio show so feel free to send yours via this drop box.
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