Mr Elephant favourites Munchbreak, (this time with multi genre skills of Home Cooking djs) & the mighty Jam Jah once again showed us why Birmingham is packed full of flavour with 2 inspiring live performances and 4 dj sets which kept our last live and free event of 2009 nice and toasty all the way until the 4am close.
Here’s a little video of part one of Munchbreak where they took us back to their seminal jam session days.
Despite being probably the wettest, coldest night we’ve had thus far, nothing seem to hinder a whole pub full of revellers. Robin from Jam Jah kicked things off with their unique blend of roots, reggae, and dancehall.
Followed by some choice genre hopping funk style crowd pleasing cuts from Maxwell from Home Cooking
Then it was time for the headline live act of the night in the first of two sets. First the Jam session you can see above, and then their full live set. Here’s a little more footage this time from their 2nd set.
and if you want more, do go check out their album. It’s well recommended
P.s there are more photos here and our mr elephant facebook group is here.
Settling nicely into its new monthly slot Mr Elephant’s Party Rockin Mammal Sessions, saw Dr Pepperspray joining our residents for a Moseley Festival special. A hot day, so took a while to fill up, but as the sun set, the basslines kicked, until a big singalongafinale and an expected heartwarming comment.
Long running DJ and producer Dr Pepperspray demonstrated his unique diverse style & sound building up through about 10 different genres of music and picking up the pace with each record. A wholesome concontion of strangely Trip Hop, Hip Hop, Breaks, Tech, Funk, Bass & lashings of sample based humour! You can check his many aliases – http://www.myspace.com/doctorpepperspray & http://www.myspace.com/3d2m
We were also joined by our Mr Elephant cameraman, Mr Jack B, who bought along some of his classic Jungle tracks for the floor. A dj in his days in Manchester, and a vinyl lover, it was great to see the roles being shifted in true elephant stylings. Great tunes from a top bloke.
The other visual maestro of the night was also on fine form, with his super power projector and a whole load of new clips he’d been working on. Liam Blendstate rarely has a free weekend these days, being booked out by most of the underground promoters in Birmingham, so we feel pretty priveliged that he’s such an integral part of the elephant crew.
Our other resident sock rocker Marc Reck was on devastating form, with a whole load of new promos, and some really filthy drum and bass. The last hour was pure joy/bedlam, and an impromptu b2b session created that special party rockin atmosphere synonymous with the mammal sessions.
After a big finish we got treated to 3 classic elephant encore tracks – The Correspondents mix of I wanna be like you, and end of night elephant faves – The Banana Boat Song, & Dont Worry Be Happy, which left many a happy mammal leaving the bulls head, and chilled out the pace beautifully.
Next Party Rockin Mammals is on Friday August 7th 2009 @ the Bulls Head, with brummy Funk King – Roy Roastbeef
A lot of hard work, but ultimately a great experience
Liam & i have been working on getting an a.v set together all week with 3 am finishes most nights. Hard work but necessary as we were both using new technologies, and obviously wanted the launch to be something special, not least because Quantic was also on the bill (after a chance call from Adam asking if we could fit him and his new film into the night)
What was interesting to learn on a personal note (once again) that pre planned sets aren’t suited to djing. Its was essential that Liam knew exactly what was played so he could create video clips and an av set to accompany (for our first one at least), but we both learnt that there is only so much planning that works in this environment.
After watching the Transition in Tradition filming, Paul our guest percussionist played an inspired solo set while we plugged the cd decks back in (as they were obscuring the screen) and then we launched into our 1st cinephonic set. The set was a real pleasure building up through all kinds of music, from the opening track (Bombay by A R Rahman) through Tipper, Thievery Corporation, Kruder & Dorfmeister, into some funk, swing, and then Quantic style rolling house tracks.
The response was just as i’d hoped up until one of the swing hop tracks. It was here when the dancefloor went from everyone up to some people getting a beer. Normally as a dj you wouldn’t think twice about switching it up or back, into something that works, but as we had a set plan, there was no way out. It was the first time i’d had this experience for a while, and is best accustomed to taking the wrong bag of records out. I’m always a bit overly critical if the floor doesn’t stay remain full/build up, and people said positive things afterwards, but iwas reminded that some styles of music just work better played end to end.
Reason i say that is because, Quantic and B+ plugged in, and just put on some great records. There was no mixing, just selecting, and the floor responded to the records it liked. For certain styles of music you need to be free to play, and the crowd will groove to the parts they like and that’s what they did. While it was a new experience for me and liam as a partnership, it reminded me that 5 days working out how to fit various genres of more difficult records together is not normally as productive as it can feel. That said there’s nothing that beats a proper dj set using the equipment and scratchig it up in terms of really setting a crowd off.
Nevertheless i have great memories of the night, and feel lucky to have been reminded of something i learnt so long ago. Paul’s Cole’s (free control) percussion was inspiring, and we were also joined by the equally inspiring Tony Coleman from The Lab who not only vjed with Quantic, but also recorded the whole set, and has even edited and uploaded a section while the rest flies its way over via carrier postmen.
I’ll be posting the full audio and hopefully sections of video as soon as it arrives, and i’ll leave you with the opening 10 minutes of our Av set courtesy of Tea.
I’ll post the audio once it arrives (or feature it as part of our new Mr Elephant Radio show every monday night from June 29th on www.rhubarbradio.com – plug plug : )) but for now here’s the tracklisting
Cinephonic Av Set #1 – Marc Reck & Vj Blendstate
1. Bombay – A.R Rahman
2. Biotech – Tabla Beat Science
3. Speechless – Count Basic
4. Cat People – Amon Tobin
5. Dead Pixels – Tipper
6. Bug Powder Dust (Kruder Mix) – Bomb The Bass
7. Lebonese Blond – Thievery Corporation.
8. The State of The Union – Thievery Corporation
9. Life In the Rain – Quantic
10. Bitte Drehn – Dublex Inc
11. Enter the Haggis – The Haggis Horns
12. Magic Afternoon – Parov Stellar
13. Wanna Go Home – Angry Rabbit Productions
14. 34 – Angry Rabbit Productions
15. Zuzukus People – Up Bustle & Out
16. Get A Move On – Mr Scruff
17. Belleville Rendevous – Ben Charest
18. Hip Hip Chin Chin (Maxim Illion Mix) – Club Del Belugas
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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