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.

Photos and words by Paul Clare

To be perfectly honest the prospect of White Air Festival didn’t exactly have me brimming with anticipation and excitement. Yeah, I did want to see Biffy Clyro in their new role as rocks next big thing (last time I saw them was a decidedly small affair in a church in Norwich) and then there were two of Brighton’s finest live acts, British Sea Power and the up-and-coming Doll and the Kicks. Oh, and Doves were playing too. But not being big into my extreme sports unless you count badminton meant White Air approached without a great deal of fanfare for me. Oh, and Doves were playing too.

White Air was coming to Brighton for the first time after spending the last 12 years down on the Isle of Wight where it had built itself in to ‘Europe’s Biggest Extreme Sports and Music Festival’. Over the three days it had lined up 30+ sports and activities that festival goers could watch or if they were feeling more energetic and daring they could have a go. Being the outdoorsy and active types, the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy were both heavily involved in the festival and to open the weekend the Red Arrows were out in force at 11am in a super loud flyover which must have caused a few residents of the city to fear an air strike. The various activities included water-based sports like windsurfing; wakeboarding; kite-surfing; jet skis; high-diving and the epically named Thundercats. For those who don’t like to get wet there was BMX; inline-skating; mountain bikes; mountain boards; skateboarding; parkour (those guys who run and leap over building and urban areas) and… Yoyo-ing!

Sadly I was combining my visit to the festival with having also to go to work each day. With most displays finishing around 6pm this meant I did miss almost everything worth seeing by the time I was able to get down to Madeira Drive. The festival was set up in a long strip from near the Volks as far as Concorde2 at the far end. This layout encouraged the punters to check out the different stalls and activities and they made their way to the live stage and/or bar. One thing I saw which looked like fun was something called ‘brush-boarding’ which is a kind of dry slope surfing on huge spinning electric toothbrushes. The main area of activity was definitely the Freesports Park. Here there were guys, some on two wheels, some on four tearing down ramps and practicing airborne tricks for the entertainment of onlookers. After taking this in for some time and listening to the PA explain some of the tricks to the uneducated I decided I’d better head down to the live arena to see The Lemonheads. I was looking forward to hearing some good American slack rock, and hell, maybe Kate Moss or Liv Tyler would make a surprise appearance (they provide guest vocals on the bands new covers album ‘Varshons’). Lemonheads sounded great and while small in the number the crowd were enjoying themselves in the late afternoon sunshine.

From here on it was the music that took centre stage but I did get the chance to see close up some impressive tricks performed during a streetboard (similar to a skateboard but longer and with larger wheels) competition back in the Freesports Park. But back to the live arena I soon went as the always superb British Sea Power were next on. Happily the crowd had grown in size somewhat as the day headed into dusk. BSP are nature boys at heart liking nothing more than a good hike in the country or a spot of bird watching, not your typical extra-curricular interests for rock musicians. The stage was garlanded with branches and foliage and the band took to the stage. BSP announced their arrival at White Air by sounding air raid sirens (I looked around for returning Red Arrows) and then went headlong into one of their searing rock anthems. Lead singer Yan told the crowd that he was pleased but surprised to be on after The Lemonheads. Too modest by half I thought as BSP gave a far more exciting and engaging performance that was as varied as it was purposeful. But then BSP do seem like such thoroughly nice chaps. From my point of view, I thought it was awesome that the band explicitly made sure us photographers could stay in the pit all set long and not just the usual three songs. Lots of highlights to the set but if I had to pick one song it would have to be ‘Remember Me’ just before the end. Seeing guitarist get into the spirit of the festival and attempt a bit of on-stage skateboarding when he clearly hadn’t set foot on one before was quite endearing.

White Lies were the next band on and seemed to have rather a lot of fans in the crowd. This lent to a pretty moody and disgruntled atmosphere building when the band were kept off stage for an hour longer than scheduled. Even the comperes were encouraging the crowd to boo. And sure enough when White Lies came out they have to take some jeering. But admirably, the band sucked it up, and told the crowd they’d make up for being so late (not their fault they did protest). White Lies played a quick-fire 6 song that started with the radio bothering ‘Farewell to the Fairground’. It was all a bit landfill-indie to my ears but the crowd seemed to be having a good time and so did the band.

Biffy Clyro were undoubtedly what everyone was there to see and the arena was the fullest it would be all weekend. I must admit the Biff have mainly passed me by a bit since that night in the Norwich church. I enjoyed ‘Vertigo of Bliss’ a lot but musically this just hasn’t been where my head has been for a while. Biffy are a band that don’t mess around on stage, its just lots of punchy riffing, soaring Scottish harmonies and some rousing choruses. It was big, it wasn’t too clever, but it was a lot of fun. And they finished with ‘Mountains’.

Day two and I decided I’d only head down to the fest late on as I’d missed most of the sports anyway. So we got there and went straight to the arena to watch The Cribs. The only reason being to see the one time Smith Johnny Marr playing live. The Cribs’ appeal beats me however, even with Mr Marr and we were pretty thankful when they’d finished so we could go get another beer and await Doves. Now I’ve always had a soft spot for Doves and to get to see them live for the first time is long overdue. The band have been playing together for such a long time now and coming off the back of the festival season and the tour for ‘Kingdom of Rust’ they knew exactly what to do and how to go about it. It wasn’t the most exciting show I’ve ever seen but a very solid set with songs from across their four albums. The visuals were also a bit of a treat with their idiosyncratic videos being projected behind them. Jimi Goodwin got in a few Quadrophenia references and commented on how beautiful the pier looked in the night time view. Yeah, we see it all the time mate! They finished with their most joyous number ‘There Goes the Fear’ which sent most people home pretty happy.

All in all a decently run festival, with all kinds of things to try out. Even if you don’t want to go particularly extreme there were small workshops for having a go. It’s a particularly good event to go to with kids due to the active element and not a big emphasis on Brighton usual strength, drinking. I’d say if you were going to White Air simply for the bands and hanging out then you’d struggle to justify the ticket price but it’s not really aimed at that kind of audience. Only on an anecdotal level, it seems that a hell of a lot of people got in for free so not sure how successful it was for the organisers but the festival definitely offers something different in Brighton and it would be a shame to see another locally held festival go down the tube eh?

Photos and words by Paul Clare

The Playgroup night is BACK and for their second night this autumn, they are showcasing Ninja Tune’ electronic-lover Daedelus and DJ Food at the grand old stage over at Concorde 2. The boys will be playing footsie with Tim Exile from Planet Mu.

Guess what the best part is? It’s FREE ENTRY B4 11.30pm…!!

Doors open at 10.30pm, kicking out time is at 3am.

We reckon with it being the return of the students, it’s gonna be way packed before then. It’s only a fiver for those unlucky ones.

If it’s too crowded in the main room, you’re in good company in the bar – music is being provided by the Wrong Music djs and Barbarafat.

I’m not all that acquainted with Daedelus, but I know the Ninja Tune label host a heap of good off-kilter hip hop and electronic music artists such as Brighton student fave Mr Scruff, The Herbaliser and The Qemists. I love Planet Mu – drum n bass, dubstep, music to lose consciousness to whilst still dancing.

I’m really curious about Barbarafat so any reports this way please.

Daedelus is on a bit of a tour, so if you don’t catch him tonight here’s some alternative dates…um, that is if you fancy skipping over to Italy, that is!

10/10/08 – Exit 07 – Luxembourg
11/10/08 – Nancy Jazz Festival – Nancy, France
14/10/08 – Ecoteca – Pescara Italy
15/10/08 – 247 Showroom – Milan
16/10/08 – Lokomotiv presents – Bologna
17/10/08 – Velvet – Rimini
18/10/08 – Interzona – Verona
19/10/08 – Global Beat presents at Bar Sartea – Vicenza
23/10/08 – De Burgos – Galway, Ireland
24/10/08 – Andrews Lane Theatre – Dublin
25/10/08 – Trinity Rooms – Limerick
26/10/08 – Cypress Avenue – Cork
31/10/08 – HARD Haunted Mansion at the Shrine Expo Auditorium – Los Angeles, USA

Skool Of Thought kicked things off playing a more varied set than he did at the Plumps DJ’s gig a mere few days before. His style got the filling dancefloor moving, with almost everyone unable to resist throwing a shape or two to the massive basslines that he spun.

The only omission from his set that I would have loved to have heard over the Concorde’s phatter than phat soundsystem was the outstanding Cutty Ranks “Limb By Limb” remix – which until recently I’ve called the Toasty Boy track (whoops!).

Big tracks included Skool’s new “Bang Bang Bang” track, which sounded fresh, and Slydes magnificent vocal peaking and bass squelching “Vibrate To This”.

By the time the Dom Stanton took over, he was playing to a seriously packed out and varied Concorde floor. So it was interesting to see what type of set he was going to play. He brought the usual mix of new and exclusive tracks that you expect when you hear the Stantons play: loaded with accapella’s, a little scratch or two and even a rewind, he set about destroying the eager crowd.

Dom’s set was tight and contained all the things you would expect and a few new bits. The Rouge Element’s remix of “Hope Time” was featured, which adds a new level of depth to the original, making a very fine remix indeed. “Dip And Get Low”, which is driven by UK hip hopper Rodney P sounds better every time I hear it.

But the real highlight was the remix of Roman Flugel’s skint epic “Get Noch”, which – when doused with the usual Stanton drums and the sweet dulcet tones of MIA (in the form of her “Bucky Done Gun” accapella) – really did blow the fuck up. Again, proof of the bootleggin’ mastery which the Warriors seem to possess.

But the Stantons have more strings to their production bow than mere bootlegs. Recent tracks “Blue” and “Night Mover” (featured in the wipeout pure PSP game) stood out as little gems of electro break beat which screamed of their “She Not In” legacy.

I was disappointed that Dom didn’t play his remix of seminal drum and bass track “Atlantis” by LTJ Bukem. I first heard this remix about three years ago and it blew me away then. The original, along with Goldie’s “Timeless”, is about the only drum and bass I can stomach listening too. So to hear a breaks version, coupled with a cheeky vocal from the cult film “Warriors”, was pretty special. Maybe one day this will get a release; I live in hope.

Next up – and with the job of following on after Dom’s set – were the Breakfasterz. With 12 releases/remixes last year, they really broke into and saturated the breaks scene with a whole load of quality that had been lacking from other new artists. I’m pretty sure the Breakfasterz only have to open the door of a studio and it throws a classy, fresh-sounding release back at them.

Because there’s three of them, the Breakfasterz have been able to cover a lot of ground whilst DJ’ing out. Last weekend saw them split between Sheffield, Russia and Plymouth. But fortunately for Superchargered, tonight saw all of them grace the turntables.

The Concorde 2 is a bizzare club. The name itself come’s steeped in the history of Fatboy and Daimen’s mythical Boutique sets which seemed to have followed the name Concorde along from venue to venue. This, and the fact that it is dominated by a stage more suited to gigs always makes it interesting to see what a promoter/cub night will do with the space.

Around six months ago a small fortune was spent on the venue renewing the lighting rig and it shows. Even after a chat with Burgess Hill, I’m still not convinced that they are using them to their full potential, and with the rear two scanners left off all night, I wonder whether it’s time they
re-addressed this issue.

The visuals were split between four screens, and I have to say they were very pretty. They linked back into the recent Supercharged flyers, and the projections and animations were crisp, if a little small, but still very enjoyable.

The main thing about the Concorde is the stage. Putting a DJ up here really does give them a platform to perform on. And I don’t think that anybody would have been better suited to this job than a group of drunken and energetic Breakfasterz.

They spent most of their time – when not DJing – jumping around and hyping the crowd up at every opportunity. And the real beauty of this is that because there’s three of them, this meant the crowd were never given a chance to quieten down.

The mixing was precise and they played a shed load of new and current stuff. All round they took over from the singular Stanton perfectly, and talking to people after the gig, it looks like it’s a toss up which set they prefered the most.

It was good to see a Supercharged event at the Concorde2. The look and the feel of this place fits the Supercharged ethos perfectly. It was a great week for breakbeat in Brighton, with arguably four of its finest exponents playing across the city for Supercharged, with Hyper playing at the Volks for Flawless.

I had a wicked night, and I loved the freshness of the music. Many of these tracks came straight from the studio and had that beautiful ‘just been burnt’ cdr glow to them. And that can’t be a bad thing. Loved it. Simple as really.

acidflashlight
satanscrackdealers

Words: 3 0 3 t i l l i d i e

Steelerwheelz was doing a mighty fine job of warming up when i arrived. Playing a exciting blend of uptempo, fluffy, happy sounding breakbeats. Next on the decks was promoter/producer/label owner/DJ Skool Of Thought. And he obliged the crowds by dropping the tempo and the tone down to a damn dirty and nasty level, which promptly caused the dancefloor to explode!

The highlight was hearing the absolutely outrageous track by Toasty Boy being dropped. Speaking to Mr. Steela about it, the convo went…

“Jesus! Loyde’s just dropped that Toasty Boy Track!” he repiled “Yeah, but its so fucking dark!” to which the only possible repsonce is “Your point being?”

This track sounds like something Tayo would make if he was in a bad mood and feeling especailly dubbed out and broody. You could feel the weight of the bassline. Thats how heavy this tune is. (If anyone has a copy please get in touch!)

The mood of the crowd was kept to a simmer by Skool Of Thought from the melancholic beats he spun. But all that was about to change…

It had been over a year sonce the Plump Dj’s last graced the dancefloors of Brighton. And as the demand on the night proved, it had obviously been far too long. During the last year the ‘Plumps’ reputation has grown and now preceeds them. They return to Audio sporting the three breakspoll awards that everyone else really wants, a new album, and some even newer, staright from the studio material.

I had been lucky enough to see the Plump’s gig at the Concorde2 a few years back. And I have to say that it was one of the most influential gig’s I have ever seen. Back then ‘Plump Night Out’ was the soundtrack to my life and it was a pretty special time. It was amazing then to see the guys blow up Brighton’s toughtest breaks crowd and win them over. And I have to say that im glad to report that nothing much has changed.

There has always been two sides to the Plump Dj’s. The happy-go-lucky side you bear witness to on tracks like ‘Electric Disco’ and ‘Funk Hits The Fan,’ and then there’s the darker, intence serious sounds. My passion lies firmly in the latter catagorey. I was glad to see ‘Soul Vibrates,’ in my opinion, change the modern conception of how this thread of breakbeat should sound and be made. A new benchmark was laid down.

So as you might guess by now I couldnt wait to see them play. I had travelled to fabric to see them a few times but this was different. This was back in the all-encompasing crib that is Brighton. I wanted to see how the last year had changed them as both Dj’s and as producers.

The reception they recieved when they stepped into the booth was rare. It was the kind of applause you hardly ever see at the end of a night. And they were yet to play a record. And so it began. The Rub Off featured early doors (set up beautifully by a cheeky intro…) and got everyone in the mood for what was to come. Slydes new track, Vibrate to this, on the Plump’s home label fingerlickin’ stood out, along with a remix of kasabian’s processed beats, which managed to get even the most hardend indie fan’s who came with a predetermination not to enjoy themselves to finally let go and place their hands in the air along with the rest of the crowds.

Now, the thing that sets the Plump’s apart from the others in my mind is pure and simple Passion. It seems to me, to be the key. The only other guy that plays with such a passion and enjoys such an interaction with the crowd is Brighton’s own hero, Fatboy Slim. When a tune’s gonna drop Lee Rous and Andy Gardener bounce in unison with the crowd right upto the looming peak. Lee play’s invisable synths through the troughs and must hit every single snare, hat and drum all night long with air cutting hands.

The Plump’s showed us a plethera of new ‘post lotion’ material. Stuff that wasnt ready/right for the last album was played out with pride of place. The next single Blackjack was aired along with a track that used to form the last part of the original mix of Get Kinky, but it was deemed too good for a mere outro, so the track was split into what is now Get Kinky and this mysterious new track. My personal highlight of the night was hearing the magnificent Spacebass. This track reminices over the finest moments of the early Plump work, whilst incorperating the sensibilities of later productions. Big track.

The set built into a brilliant last twenty minutes that knocked the still rammed dancefloor sideways. The now legendary re-edit of Scram with added sirens and two acidlines, screeched out. Followed by the head fuck that is Acid Hustle. The finale came in the form of the Plump Dj’s own remix of Stakker (Future Sound Of London’s) Humanoid, and the crowd left satisfied they had seen something special (although most of them would have happily raved onto 6am (Bring those new laws on!!!)).

The intencity and the belief that they play with instantly involves and focus’s the crowd. Its so obvious they enjoy what they are doing and that they believe wholely in the records they select to play. It becomes infectious to watch and listen to. And this is why they have such a good repuation and why they are respected by breaks heads the country/world over. As Dj’s they are unparalled. Although Freeland comes very very very close second. A blinding night…Do yourselves a favour and be there next time.

Acidflashlight

Audio
http://www.audiobrighton.com

10 Marine Parade
Brighton
East Sussex
Tel: 01273-624343

info@audiobrighton.com

Words: 3 0 3 t i l l i d i e