Not Avon Barksdale from 'The Wire'

New Brighton night Beat Redemption has sure got me excited about their next event in March. The inaugural one at the back end of January was a stonking success with a packed out crowd shovelling the deepest depths of bass marshalled by Hyperdub’s Kode9 and Cooly G. Concorde’s system pounded like I haven’t heard it in a while.

The next one on 12th March will be headlined by Los Angeles’ beat maestro, retro computer game enthusiast, jazz legend nephew and premiere orgasm inducer to radio 1’s Mary Anne Hobbes. Oh, he also has a big hand in LA record label Brainfeeder (Ras G, Gaslamp Killer, Nosaj Thing, TOKiMONSTA).  Flying Lotus has a new album out in May, which said radio 1 dj is getting her knickers very twisted over. He’s been confirmed for Bestival and before that he’ll be a Butlin’s weekender BLOC. All in all, his shit is red hot!

If that wasn’t enough the promoters have also crammed a couple of other quite capable headliners on to the bill. Dutch dub man Martyn (author of recent fabric50) will be doing a 90-minute set. Then there’s a live performance from King Midas Sound which is musical alter-ego of The Bug (skeng!).  All that and a load of other stuff including Greena from Bristol’s Apple Pips playing in the front room. Check here for all the details.

See you in the dub-pit.

Got a spare £750,000? Why not buy the Ocean Rooms

As far as clubs go in Brighton, Ben Gill and team have held on to their reign at the Ocean Rooms for a good run. Though no one thought it would crumble down the way it has. Following a death at the venue on New Year’s Day, the venue was shut by the council and put up for sale by the owners.

If you have a spare £750,000 and fancy being a club boss, get your fanciest chains on and whip out your cheque book. Let’s hope for Brighton that this doesn’t turn in to a wasted flat development. Even though the Ocean Room’s hasn’t been at the top of its game for a long time doesn’t mean the venue should be scrapped. Its demise is down to the management, which for a long time have run the venue without much regard for the punters. Reports of violence, imaginary bookings and poor promotion have all culminated in its downfall.

With all the negativity around the venue, and we knew this day would come, it is a shame for it to be gone. They delivered some great nights over the years, and it not being on Brighton’s club landscape is a sad fact. Even if you only went there once a year, which was probably part of its problem to compete at the same level as other clubs. The Ocean Room has never been the kind of club you would go to for a shot-in-the-dark good night out. It’s always been to see a particular DJ or band. This is unlike for example Audio, which is probably Brighton’s most popular venue when you put aside the shit places like the Honey Club and Oceana’s. It just doesn’t have the same pull.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-14466861.html?pageNumber=1&backToListURL=/property-for-sale/East-Sussex/auction.html

Let’s hope it can be replaced with something worthwhile.

Debruit

The Donky Pitch crew return for 2010 with another line-up blending hip-hop, dubstep and all things electronica which is both heavy on cutting-edge experimentation and also damn good fun to dance to!  They’ve lined up two live performances; headlining will be Paris-based Debruit and Brighton-based “Skwee” producer Boss Kite will play his debut live show.  On top of that you get arch-dancefloor destroyer and Donky resident DJ Slugabed. For bio’s read below.

Donky Pitch return to the Jazz Place in Ship Street on Thurs 18th Feb.

And if you love/like/are curious/don’t-know-what-the-hell-it-is-but-think-it-sounds-funny Donky Pitch will also be holding a screening of the film “We Call It Skwee”.  Its at The Globe pub on Tues 2nd Feb from 8pm with Donky Pitch DJs playing their favourite ‘Skwee’ tunes subsequently.

Slugabed’s squashed 8-bit hip hop and lo-fi mangled beat structures have earned him releases on Glasgow’s Stuff Records (Rustie) and Ramp Recordings (Zomby, Fying Lotus, Ras G). He also has a debut EP for Planet Mu (Starkey, Boxcutter, Milanese), Ultra Heat Treated, forthcoming this month, all at the youthful age of 20. If you’ve made it down to DP before or if if you’ve caught this man in a club somewhere else in the world, you’ll know why we made him resident, if you haven’t … Check out his recent mix for Rob Booth’s influential Radio Show Electronic Explorations

(Donky Pitch)
myspace.com/506166353
soundcloud.com/bosskite

Boss Kite, aka local Brighton chap Ross Flight, is a victim of Skweee. Like the rest of the Donky Pitch family Ross fell in love with this Scandinavian phenomena on first listen and in the 9 months since he has been knee deep in synths and computer programs forging his own melodic take on this ’synthetic funk.’  “I started making Skweee music because I really wanted to be part of something I thought was exciting, fresh and completely unlike most electronic music that was coming out of the UK at the time. The simplicity of the sounds really grabbed me and I found a strange sort of personality in the music that was different in every Skweee track I heard.” The results of his labour have gained him recognition from the rest of the burgeoning Skweee community around the world, and we’re really pleased he’s chosen to share it with us first.

Photo by Marek Richter

Feeling dirt poor, broken and a bit SAD?

There’s always at least one night that comes along in January, just when you thought ‘I’m not going out for at least another two pay cheques’ and ‘I really should rest up/drink less/stop blacking out’ and by the end of the month all of resolutions you made on the 1st seem stupid and pointless. It’s time to go out.

On 23 January, BLACKBOX have pulled together a night of dirty bass music that won’t break the bank – 3 quid before midnight down at the Concorde 2.

DJing on the night is the legendary Phil Hartnoll (Orbital), who’s apparently taken a break from gigging since the band re-formed last year.

In Room 1, there’s Coin operated Records founder Mustard Gunn playing bass heavy wonky techno,  Sicknote resident, techno anarachist Sketchy Steve, and BlackBox residents Tony Montana and Jiminy Clackett.

In Room 2, it’s all about the psy-trance, hosted by Wonkay Music, with DJs Hugoblin, Dez, Hugo Nation, DMT, and Kayaman.

They say:

Complete club transformation
Lazer and Light show
Massive soundsystem
Cheap Drinks deals all night

Saturday 23 January 2010, 11pm – 4am Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton

£3 Advance tickets – only available online at www.concorde2.co.uk
On the night : £3 Before midnight, £5 After

A new year and a new night to hit our shores – Aka Aka Roar. They really seem to have hit the nail on the head with their concept:

Amid the rapid commercialisation of dubstep, we are looking towards those artists who are developing the sound and its related sub-genres. With dubstep being heavily influenced by 2step we feel it’s important to look back as well as forwards and dig out those artists and sounds that made the genre what it is today. Brighton has its fair share of dubstep nights, but AKA AKA ROAR is distinct, not only in the artists it welcomes on to the bill, but in its unrelenting attempts to provide a quality night of progressive music at a cheap price. More than being “just another dubstep night”, we look to the broader genre for inspiration. Dubstep has moved on and whether you call it ‘funkstep’, ‘future garage’, ‘Progressive dub’ or even ‘techno’ we love it and we think you will too!

It all kick’s off with the fantastic Appleblim on the 11th of January at Life.

For now here’s a Aka Aka Roar promo mix, from Ben White, to keep you satisfied over the weekend: http://www.mediafire.com/?2ddzqdwmywd.

Source: http://squeakybleeps.blogspot.com/2009/12/aka-aka-roar-promo-mix.html

Track Listing:

BLACK GHOSTS // Full Moon (Appleblim & Komonazmuk Remix)
BEN WHITE // Waves
UNTOLD // Anaconda
GREENA // Actual Pain
APPLEBLIM // GIRDER
BRACKLES // LHC
UNTOLD // Palamino
ODDZ VS TEMPA T // Strung Up Hype (Oneman Blend)
BRACKLES // Glazed
MSTRKRFT FT JOHN LEGEND // Heartbreaker (Brackles Remix)
SHORTSTUFF // A Rustling
UNTOLD // Stop What You’re Doing (James Blake Remix)
UNTOLD // I Can’t Stop This Feeling (Pangaea Remix)
BEN WHITE // Constant

With Kachings reminisent to the beginning of Pink Floyd’s 1973 hit Money, it’s time for another new years even in Brighton. This list is a work in progress and will be updated with any changes up till new years day.

Our backings with Life, Supercharged and the Slackers Convention.

£32 to go to Digital?? Two words… blow me.

Happy New Year

The choice’s for this year are…

Venue: Audio

Featuring: 1920’s Secret Speakeasy – Support from Minimal Kids, Riva Star, Cagedbaby

Sold As: Our NYE parties are the stuff of Brighton legend, and this year we’re going all out with a celebration of the most decadent and debauched of all decades – the 1920s. With THREE separate arenas decked out in full ’20s style, and of course a killer line-up, it promises to be the biggest and best Audio NYE yet.

Above Audio // Step back in time to a roaring 1920’s speakeasy bar at Above Audio this NYE, replete with all the glamour and excess that the decade was famed for. The venue will be completely transformed with full 20’s decor, including decadent private booths, luxury full length drapes, and the legendary Above Audio cocktail bar in full effect. Hosting the speakeasy’s turntables, we’re honoured to welcome veteran Audio DJ Mex (Black Grass), who’ll be spinning his peerless selection of deep soul, hip-hop, disco and quality party anthems.

Terrace // Heading outside, our terrace hosts a very special 1920’s Cigar & Liqour Bar, where a full live jazz band will be on hand to entertain guests while they sample premium spirits and enjoy fine cigars at our walk-in art deco humidor. Whatever the weather, our fully-heated marquee ensures that the Above Audio Liqour & Cigar Bar will be the classiest smoking area in town this NYE.

Audio // As you’d expect, we’ve put together a killer line-up for the downstairs club. Local hero Cagedbaby takes a break from touring, remixing and producing Fatboy Slim (among many others) to drop one of his killer electro-disco-house sets. He’s joined by Riva Starr, one of the most talked-about talents in house right now, whose releases for Jesse Rose’s Frontroom label and Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried have catapulted him to club stardom. Support comes from Enzo Siffredi, whose cutting edge tech-house and signature minimal has made Audio clubnight Minimal Kids one of the biggest new parties of the year. Accompanying the sounds, we’ve commissioned some unique old-school video footage, including live real-time manipulation of video shot at the party itself.

Time: late etc…

Cost: £18 early bird tickets http://tinyurl.com/audionyetickets

Web: www.audiobrighton.com

Email: info@audiobrighton.com

Venue: Volks

Featuring: The Slackers Convention: Far Too Loud + Pav + LuQas + Dirtbomb + Pook + Mary Miss Fairy + Loop De Ville + Sidius + Stebo + Cut Loose DJs

Sold As: A dirty mix og breaks, beats and party nonsense.

Time: 11:00pm until 5:00am

Cost: £10.00 / £8.00 advance

Tickets: Advance tickets available from Flawless Clothing (Kensington Gardens, N Laines, Brighton) 01273 688484 / Rounder Records (S Laines, Brighton) 01273 325440 / Slackers Direct 07790030275.

Web: www.slackersconvention.com

Venue: Ocean Rooms

Featuring: Switch and Herve. Support from JAMES BRADY AND CASPER G’DAY, JAMES MOSS, CHRIS NATURAL (LUNARCY), JAMES D’LEY, FACEMAN, MATT POOK

Time: Doors 10 till 10

Cost: £17 early, £20 after

Sold As: NYE is the best night of the year and the biggest party not to be missed. Every year we have bought you something special including justice, hot chip, yoda, tiefschwarz and kenny dope some of these shows you don’t get to see again and this year is no different! We will completely decorate the club and this years theme is a white party! Transforming the venue with white 4 poster beds, a complete uv rave room with floods, strobes and extra sound. Wear white to join in the white carnival atmosphere. we will have the white hotel with the 4 poster beds, white performers, surgeons and nurses will keep you entertained!!!!!

Web: www.oceanrooms.co.uk

Tickets: ocean rooms 01273699069, Rounder Records Brighton Square, Resident Records Kensington Gardens, Dome Box Office 01273 709709. www.ticketweb.co.uk

Venue: Digital

Featuring: Pussycat Club New Years Eve – Fabulous Las Vegas: Nippa Downey + Audio Pimps + DJ Al Outram

Sold As: WANNA PARTY ALL NIGHT LONG? You can buy a combination ticket for a measly extra £7.50 which includes entry to the infamous DIGITAL NYE AFTERPARTY Once Pussycat draws to a close you will be whisked to the VIP ARCH whilst the venue is transformed for THE Afterparty with special guests BRODINSKI & Blah Blah Blah DJs – the after party runs till sun up least.

Time: 10:00pm

Cost: £32.50

Tickets: ents24

Web: www.yourfutureisdigital.com

Venue: Komedia

Featuring: Trailer Trash ! Presents: Pirates Of The Caribbean

Sold As: Cult movie-themed club extravaganza, featuring fire, aerial and burlesque live acts, plus rum-fuelled, raucous pirate bands and rock ‘n’ roll, neo-swing, dirty electro, soundtracks & classic hits from our resident DJs, to roll you giddy and uproarious into the unchartered waters of 2010. Dress shipshape – Win prizes!

From: 9:30pm until 2:00am

Cost: £14.00 / £16.50

Tickets: http://komediabrighton.ticketsolve.com/

Venue: The Funky Buddha

Featuring: Tru Thoughts New Years Eve Party: Robert Luis + Hint + Flevans

Sold As: For New Years Eve admission will be £12, Robert Luis and Hint will be joined by Flevans, but overall this night is about the music and having a regular quality party in Brighton, so from 21st January onwards this it will be FREE. Upcoming DJ guests include Quantic, Zed Bias, Nostalgia 77 and TM Juke.

Cost:Tickets available now for £11 exclusively at www.etchshop.co.uk or £15 on the night

Time: 10:00pm until 5:00am

Tickets: www.etchshop.co.uk

Venue: Jam

Featuring: Don’t stop Believing

Cost: £12 + Booking Fee

Sold As: We have brought together a line up of djs who are used to rockin’ parties around town into a collective playing a selection of their guiltiest pleasures for your NYE pleasure.

Venue: Concorde 2

Featuring: Supercharged: DJ Zinc + Loefah (DMZ) + DJ Nero + Brookes Brothers + The Qemists

Time: 9pm

Cost: £15.00 advance

Sold As: Supercharged presents a New Years Eve party like no other… the only place to see in 2010 @ Brightons legendary Concorde 2! With DJ Zinc, Loefah, Nero, Brookes Brothers, The Qemists, 2 Bit thugs and much more! Early bird tickets are only £15, on sale now!

Web: www.concorde2.co.uk

Web: www.againstthegrainrecords.com

Email: hello@concorde2.co.uk

Venue: The Old Market

Featuring: Holdup!

Sold As: Holdup! will be holding its 6th New years eve party in the sumptious surroundings of the Old Market Hove this year. (our regular venue Life will be holding a dance/house music new years eve party). The night will begin at 9pm and roll on through midnight and our usual wild indie celebrations all the way through to 3am . All our favourite indie tunes will be banged out by our resident djs and a top night is guaranteed! If you have never been to the old market before you are in for a treat as its a beautiful venue, we will of course add our own touches with a balloon net and the like. ace .

Time: 9pm

Cost: £12

Tickets: www.ticketweb.co.uk or next week at rounder or the old market itself, plus there is a 24 hour telephone booking line on 08444771000

Venue: Life

Featuring: Maxxi Soundsystem / Kliks / Schtumm / She Likes Parties - IDJUT BOYS, MAXXI SOUNDSYSTEM, JOHNNY ROCKS, ALI BROADCAST, SENOR MICK, AFFY, PAN/TONE Live (Sender/Cereal Killers), LEE SMITH, ANWAR, TOM RIDSDALE, Little Miss Bicks, Dr Dreidal (Popstarz / Shibby Shabblers)

Sold As: This is LIFE’s first NYE party and we have been working hard to make sure it will be the best way to seen in the next decade. In brief we will have 4 seperate areas incorporating 3 programmed events with their own artist line up and decor. Some of the event will be in spaces adjacent to the LIFE club itself but all our guests will be fully protected from the elements as the entire front of the venue will be covered in a huge heated marquee!

Time: 10pm – 6am

Cost: Early Bird Tickets £17.50

Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/64946

Major Lazer aka Diplo and Switch

Just before I was going to do a shameless plug for my gritty short story night at Red Roaster (which is on tonight!), it did occur to me that I happened to pick a pretty spectacular night for my event.

Not only were there two other literary events happening (Space, Hammer & Tongue), but more importantly, Goldie, Major Lazer Soundsystem and Herbaliser were all in Brighton TONIGHT.

Plus there’s a new techno/psy-trance night called Sicknote down at the Volks, which I was planning to make my final destination after getting drunk at St James.

Being a fair person, I decided to feature all of them, instead of my own night. I’ll let you make up your own mind regarding music tastes, but whatever you do, don’t stay in.

If you were a kid in the ’80s or a true short story lover, come down to Kemptown’s Red Roaster for Grit Lit, featuring Isabel Ashdown, Jake Kennedy, Emma Gray, Tim Lay, Chris Callard, Ed Siegle, and me.

We’ve got gangsters, black artists, Brazillian favelas, drugs, raves, alcoholic mums, pretty much the whole gritty deck. It’s a fiver to get in, licensed bar, nice people and we kick out at 10pm (doors 7.45pm). Facebook holds all the answers.

Music fiends

• Major Lazer Soundsystem, Mumdance, Blah Blah Blah DJs – Digital
• Sicknote: D.A.V.E. the Drummer, Julian Liberator, Antispin, 11pm £5/4 – Volks
• Herbaliser, Tinroots, 7.30pm – Concorde 2

Culture vultures

• Studio Hammer & Tongue 2009 Grand Slam Final Performance poetry, 7.30pm £5 – Komedia
• The Space: Goldie, Ian Rankin, 8pm, £6/4 – Latest Music Bar
• Wayne McGregor/Random Dance: Entity Dance and multimedia performance with a soundtrack from Jon Hopkins and Joby Talbot, 8pm £17.50/15/10 – Corn Exchange

Home is where the heart is... Work by: Pranksy's Art (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranksy/)

Want to see your artwork blown up as a three-story art installation?

Art Republic is launching a  national art competition called ‘Street Art’ in association with StreetSmart – the homeless charity.  The winning piece will be displayed large style in Brighton and London.

Along with some fab prizes (and a little fame and glory thrown in for good measure), you’ll also have the nice feeling that you’ve helped people sleeping rough.

As well as looking sharp, your piece should be about raising awareness of the homeless situation in the UK. A panel including Pure Evil, Inkie and Ben Eine and Static will be the judges of fashion+function=winner. You never know, it might not ever happen.

As big as this

And oh yeah, the winning artwork would be on this scale…

How to enter

Email your image (it must be an original piece, created by you) to artwork@artrepublic.com, please enter ‘Street Art Competition’ in the subject line.

Or if you are a member of Flickr, images can be uploaded through our ‘Street Art competition with StreetSmart’ group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artrepublic-street-art-competition/

The competition closes on Friday 8th January 2010.

What you’ll win…
The winning artwork will be displayed as a massive art installation (the size of a three-storey building) for all to see and enjoy. It will appear on buildings in London and Brighton in early 2010.

The winning image will also be sold worldwide as a limited edition print through the artrepublic website, with all proceeds going to StreetSmart. The winner will also receive a meal for two at PINTCHOtapas in London and a night’s stay at Myhotel Bloomsbury.

The competition coincides with this year’s campaign by StreetSmart and their restaurant partners to raise money for the homeless during the festive season.

“Street art is experienced by everyone and therefore creates a bond between those who live on the streets and those who have a roof over their heads. This is a unique opportunity for an aspiring or established artist to express themselves, with the winner’s message being exposed to the world”. Lawrence Alkin, CEO, artrepublic.

For more info, check out the competition site.

TOKiMONSTA

Eventually found the Jazz Place after initially going down the wrong street (does anyone else still have trouble navigating the south lanes?) all the while getting heavily rained on.  It’d been a while since that last time I’d been down in the Jazz Place and it was good to be there again as I’ve some fond memories of that cosy basement.  Blue Daisy took the controls as first live act of the evening and was warming into his set when I arrived.  Playing what I suspect were mostly his own cuts, Blue Daisy played a set with a lot more groove than I had been expecting, mixing some very deep and atmospheric sounds with precision assaults of crushing beats.  It put me in mind of one of my favourite Warp artists, Clark.  Especially the crushing mile-wide repetitive beats of what I think I recognised as his own ‘Hunterz’.  On tonight’s evidence I got the distinct impression Blue Daisy will among the most interesting artists in electronic music over the next few years both live and producing beats.

TOKiMONSTA came straight after Blue Daisy’s seamless groove with 45 mins that veered between cosmic hip-hop and some good old-fashioned rave inspired anthemic moments.  Chief among the latter and getting a great reaction from the crowd were her own cuts using samples of of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s ‘I Chase the Devil’ and The Loonies ‘I Got Five on It’.  It all got very muddled up during TOKi’s set as her concoction of gnarling sub-bass and shimmering scatter-gun beats combined to addle my mind.  The only thing I clearly remember is not being able to leave the dancefloor.  And there I pretty much stayed until the end of the following set of Slugabed.

Big ups to Donky Pitch for putting on a night of such unique quality.  One of the organisers told me they are simply interested in playing music and putting on artists that they really want to hear, and hopefully this will be what a number of others will want to hear also.  The crowd was a good mix of those who wanted to have a bit of a party and those more content to head nod, but it was clear the vast majority were drawn there for the music.  With a music policy at the intersection between British dubstep, west coast hip-hop and Scandinavian skwee, a place where a great deal of innovative and exciting artists are creating some amazing music, Donky Pitch is well placed to showcase it in Brighton for our distinct pleasure.

Donky Pitch DJs have a residency every 3rd Saturday at The Globe. 9pm-1am

Find out more about Donky Pitch here

Listen to Donky Pitch guest mixes here

Review by Paul Clare

Hedflux

Yes, it’s that time again for Brighton’s best kept secret (not), breaks night Slackers Convention. Tonight they’ve got three headliners, Hedflux, Neurodriver (Far Too Loud) and RMS, plus all the motley DJ crew.

As we speak, Hedflux is coming down from Norwich, bring his tech funk style of breakbeat to this slightly hedonistic, anything goes night. Check out his Glade 2009 promo mix to get a flavour in advance. Most of you will know that Neurodriver is the solo project of Dom Smart from breaks outfit Far Too Loud.  What you might not know is that he and and Martyn Harler aka RMS are the brains behind breaks label Broken Robot, which they started in December 2008.

Saturday 28 November @ Volks Tavern, Madeira Drive, Brighton
11-4am. Tickets £4 b4 12/£5

Get involved in the facebook group.

Slackers’ Broken Robot lineup
Headliners: HEDFLUX, NEURODRIVER, RMS
Plus residents: LuQas & PAV, DIRTBOMB, LOOP DE VILLE, MATT SLACK, DJ Y-NOT, BOZBOZ

Slackers Convention: “Breaks, Beats & Party nonsence for the Discerning Under Achiever”