Author: Craig Haynes

Categories
Reviews

Review: The Jolly Boys, The 100 Club London

Image courtesy of AltSounds.com.

The sheer joy of a septuagenarian Jamaican rocking a red suit, belting out classic tunes mento-style and dropping the occasional James Brown-style “huh!” cannot be fully expressed in words. Just smiles, laughter and applause which are heaped on The Jolly Boys by the sell-out crowd at esteemed venue The 100 Club on Oxford Street.

With a changing lineup over six decades, the Port Antonio mento band are experiencing a revival after hooking up with Jon Baker (Gee Street Records) and Mark Jones (Wall of Sound) in 2009 who introduced a repertoire of pop and rock tunes to bring the mento sound bang up to date. The feel-good, retro vibe has been a hit at Secret Garden party and Camp Bestival and was well received this weekend at Big Chill.

Continue reading “Review: The Jolly Boys, The 100 Club London”
Categories
News

News: Celebration of Curation


31 days, 31 curators, 31 exclusive Cloudcasts.

As they approach their first birthday, our friends over at Mixcloud will be showcasing some of the biggest editorial voices around, who they have been proud and honoured to have worked alongside in the last 12 months.

Everyday throughout August an exclusive Cloudcast from their pick of the best curators will be available to listen to exclusively on Mixcloud.  The line up has been announced and includes the likes of Vice, Mixmag, BBC 1Xtra, RedBull Music Academy, Fabric, Don”™t Stay In and many more.

Highlights so far include Day 2”™s cloudcast from the mighty Knowledge Magazine which features some big tunes from the likes of Alix Perez, Noisia and The Upbeats, and yesterday”™s hip hop history lesson from WhoSampled.com. Check it!

Categories
News

Photo courtesy of The Ocelot Big up The Prodigy, who have been voted the most influential dance act of all time in a recent poll by GlobalGathering. With 29% of the votes they stormed ahead of Daft Punk (13%) and the likes of Faithless (11%), Kraftwerk (5%) and the Chemical Brothers (3%). It seems only befitting of a band that created a truly unique sound, morphing drum & bass, techno and rock into a menacing beast that would draw a new generation into electronic music, sell more than 20 million records over 20 years and pave the way for the live dance acts of today. The Top 10: 1. Prodigy (29%) 2. Daft Punk (13%) 3. Faithless (11%) 4. New Order (9%) 5. Orbital (7%) 6. Kraftwerk (5%) 7. Paul Oakenfold (4%) 8. Carl Cox (4%) 9. Fatboy Slim (3%) 10. Chemical Brothers (2%)

Photo courtesy of The Ocelot

Big up The Prodigy, who have been voted the most influential dance act of all time in a recent poll by GlobalGathering. With 29% of the votes they stormed ahead of Daft Punk (13%) and the likes of Faithless (11%), Kraftwerk (5%) and the Chemical Brothers (3%).

It seems only befitting of a band that created a truly unique sound, morphing drum & bass, techno and rock into a menacing beast that would draw a new generation into electronic music, sell more than 20 million records over 20 years and pave the way for the live dance acts of today.

The Top 10:

1. Prodigy (29%)
2. Daft Punk (13%)
3. Faithless (11%)
4. New Order (9%)
5. Orbital (7%)
6. Kraftwerk (5%)
7. Paul Oakenfold (4%)
8. Carl Cox (4%)
9. Fatboy Slim (3%)
10. Chemical Brothers (2%)

Categories
Reviews

DJ Shadow”™s slot at Wireless 2006 was a roadblock, with some fans unable to get anywhere near the tent. So you”™d forgive us for wondering what was going on when we arrived just 10 minutes early this year to find a relatively empty tent and nothing on stage but a mysterious grey ball. As the crowd finally begins to flow towards the Second Stage, they are greeted by text projected onto the ball: “Welcome to the first DJ Shadow show in nearly three years”¦ DJ Shadow does not have a new album out”¦ but there is some new music”¦ would you like to be first in the world to hear it?” After a quick appearance to greet the cheers of the now full (but never packed) tent, Josh Davis disappears into the ball. Although the projections offer an innovative and exciting visual backdrop to the music, it does make the show feel detatched, with the DJ and all his beat-crafting, turntablist trickery hidden away. The new material is promising. Leaving the questionable territory of 2006”™s The Outsider behind, it sees DJ Shadow return to dusty samples and big beats rather than manic MC vocals and alt-rock guitars. Still, the set does seem to lack momentum, without the funk breaks of The Private Press which could have added some energy (and dropping The Right Thing would also have been a clever nod to 2manydjs on the Main Stage). The big cheers are predictably reserved for classics such as Building Steam with a Grain of Salt (Endtroducing, 1996) and Six Days (The Private Press, 2002) and the crowd does get pumped towards the end as the bpm rises with some jungle-tinged vibes. Thanks to some technical hitches delaying the start of the show, Organ Donor isn”™t quite the triumphant set closer it could have been as it is cut short, much to the disappointment of a crowd that is finally hyped. Thankfully DJ Shadow appears to be going back to his crate-digging, experimental past with his latest tunes, and his classics get the heads nodding and the hands in the air, but with over-zealous stage production, this performance doesn”™t quite meet its full potential. Photos by Claire Withington

DJ Shadow”™s slot at Wireless 2006 was a roadblock, with some fans unable to get anywhere near the tent. So you”™d forgive us for wondering what was going on when we arrived just 10 minutes early this year to find a relatively empty tent and nothing on stage but a mysterious grey ball.

As the crowd finally begins to flow towards the Second Stage, they are greeted by text projected onto the ball:

“Welcome to the first DJ Shadow show in nearly three years”¦ DJ Shadow does not have a new album out”¦ but there is some new music”¦ would you like to be first in the world to hear it?”

After a quick appearance to greet the cheers of the now full (but never packed) tent, Josh Davis disappears into the ball. Although the projections offer an innovative and exciting visual backdrop to the music, it does make the show feel detatched, with the DJ and all his beat-crafting, turntablist trickery hidden away.

The new material is promising. Leaving the questionable territory of 2006”™s The Outsider behind, it sees DJ Shadow return to dusty samples and big beats rather than manic MC vocals and alt-rock guitars.

Still, the set does seem to lack momentum, without the funk breaks of The Private Press which could have added some energy (and dropping The Right Thing would also have been a clever nod to 2manydjs on the Main Stage). The big cheers are predictably reserved for classics such as Building Steam with a Grain of Salt (Endtroducing, 1996) and Six Days (The Private Press, 2002) and the crowd does get pumped towards the end as the bpm rises with some jungle-tinged vibes.

Thanks to some technical hitches delaying the start of the show, Organ Donor isn”™t quite the triumphant set closer it could have been as it is cut short, much to the disappointment of a crowd that is finally hyped.

Thankfully DJ Shadow appears to be going back to his crate-digging, experimental past with his latest tunes, and his classics get the heads nodding and the hands in the air, but with over-zealous stage production, this performance doesn”™t quite meet its full potential.

Photos by Claire Withington