Resident at Uncarved Towers last week:
1) Paul Meme
Some nice chattage on the veranda, curry and whatnot. Paul also played me his new track, which it has to be said is pretty fantastic techno-ragga.
In London for a few days of rag-trade biz, but also played an absolute blinder at the capital’s finest breakcore / filthy noise night out – Sick & Twisted.
I guess most people would probably expect S&T to be filled with nutters and drug casualties but it’s actually one of the nicest, un-moodiest crowds I’ve ever seen. Seems to be a proper ‘scene’ with people who go every time and have a natter as well as an insane jerky dance. Large contingents of women as well. People often assume that completely over the top noisy-as-a-bastard music is the domain of macho geezers with something to prove but that just isn’t the case in my experience. Women respond to bass and noise…
Musically, I can’t hack the bulk of stuff that gets played at Sick & Twisted, though – too much doof doof doof biz. That said, the warm up DJ threw down some nice stuff by The Bug and there was quite a bit of variety amongst the pummeling beats.
Jason’s set was a horse of another colour, though. It’s always suspect bigging up your mates, but he plays exactly what I want to hear – kicked off with an outrageous Congo Natty-style bootleg of Whitney’s “My Love is Your Love” with all sorts of “Put Your Hands In The Air If You Believe In The Most High” asides and thence into some choice cuts from Ambush and all points east. Niiiiiiiiiice junglist ragga industrial vibe, even some two-step. Chaos on the dancefloor. Penultimate track was a ridiculous dubplate featuring wailing divas, happy hardcore pianos, guitar samples from Stiff Little Fingers and general 200bpm insanity. Last track? “Nightclub” by The Specials: “I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning”