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it’s the bombPosted on May 7th, 2008As heads will know, the legendary Bomb Squad have been building and exploring their ties with dubstep, with recent exciting results being performances on the same bill as Loefah and Blackdown at Dub War in New York, and appearing at the Miami WMC alongside Skream and Mala. On the way to what is looking to be like the summer of Wonky, The Bomb Squad have now announced their world tour. What feels most exciting apart from the inane noises we can expect for our sunny delight, is that UK rave culture and US hip hop are speaking to each other more directly than ever. The results from Shocklee Inc to Samiyam are mad and/or radical.
The first thing that got me into dubstep was its sheer difference from everything else I was hearing at the time. It was about pure sonic power, and it simultaneously contradicted the forms of power around it. Meditatively, it was an escape, but in manifesting itself as such it was also a stark contrast to some of the shit things going on in the world: war, famine, natural disasters, and a hemisphere that’s too busy polishing its credit card and its Blahniks and chasing Amy Winehouse out of her house in her bra even to do anything even about some of the horrors happening on its own doorstep.
For me personall, dubstep was never just about angry young men, and its willingness - musically at least - to explore facets of what it is to be human that went beyond egoism one of the key distinctions between it and grime.
If you want music that tears the world apart, sets it alight with the fire of things you can feel but maybe not quite articulate in words, and melds it into something equally parts rough and seductive, then you will celebrate the return of Hank and Keith Shocklee. You might also muse that much of that energy has been diluted by varying interpretive trajectories and, worse, unintelligent mimicry (especially since early DMZ); and that maybe, therefore, this is a beautifully timed return. As Trim would say, ‘LISTEeeeeern’….
Posted in misc | No Comments » WILEY IS A SQUAREPosted on April 28th, 2008There are lots of square things in London, like pavement slabs, and, erm, crisp packets. Of course, neither of these is square by necessity. Also the crisp packets part might sound a little far fetched but just imagine they are square before the crisps go in. Blogging is a pretty square thing to do and as a blogger you should be authoritative and commanding….. so here are my thoughts on ‘Wearing My Rolex’ going straight into the charts at number 4. These were partly inspired by the fact I spent the best part of my afternoon talking about house and other things 4/4 with MA1 and Kismet. I am writing them pretty much as they came into my head:
Posted in misc | No Comments » FUCK YOU I AM HOTPosted on April 28th, 2008by Natalie Storm… … and Timberlee. Posted in misc | No Comments » TONIGHT!Posted on April 25th, 2008
Posted in misc | No Comments » MARYANNE HOBBS INTERVIEWPosted on April 19th, 2008THIS IS THE UNEDITED VERSION OF A SHORT INTERVIEW I DID FOR PLAN B MAGAZINE WITH MARYANNE ABOUT SONAR 2008 AND HER NEW COMPILATION LP ‘EVANGELINE’. There is no-one quite like this lady. I was asked to do this at short notice and she got her answers back to me almost immediately despite not having slept due to the death of her mum’s donkey, Daisy May. I remember when my donkey Patsy died. Donkeys live a long time and have lovely personalities. You get very attached to them. Big up all my donkey massive. Big up the Norfolk Horse and Donkey sanctuary. Big up my donkeys Benny and Ruby. With a CV that links the NME, motorbikes and UK urban music MaryAnne Hobbs was the woman to bring dubstep to Sonar, one of the biggest electronic dance festivals in the world. When she curated the dubstep lineup last year, the results for everyone involved were emotional. Despite the Beastie Boys headlining the stage next door at the same time, they succesully made the transit from a relatively limited network of clubs to the international festival circut and attracted an audience of 8.5 thousand. She returns this year. In 2007 she chose Oris Jay, an early pioneer of the dubstep sound; the legendary Skream; and Kode 9 and The Spaceape, who performed their stunning ‘Bass Fiction’ live set. This year she will be accompanied by Mala, from Digital Mystikz/DMZ, Skull Disco’s Shackleton and LA bassboy Flying Lotus. At the same time she will be releasing her second compliation CD, ‘Evangeline’, which includes exclusive tracks from Pinch, Magnetic Man, Flying Lotus, Shackleton and loads of exciting lesser known young artists. There are also two producers with top secret identities ‘The Cult of the 13th Hour’ and ‘Dakimh’.< a href=”http://melissabradshaw.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/evangeline-sleeve-art.jpg” title=”evangeline-sleeve-art.jpg”>
Photo by Shaun Bloodworth [How totally phwoar is this photo? You should see it in big. Beamed down from spaceship crew dem. I am not one of those twats that claim credit for work that was not mine. It was not my spaceship. Shiv.] What did you first think when you were asked to curate the dubstep stage at Sonar last year? It was a great honour to be invited to curate at Sonar and to follow in the footsteps of my hero John Peel who played a historic set in Barcelona in 2002. I also felt a very real responsibility to the dubstep community to get it right, so it was thrilling, and terrifying in equal parts. I chose Oris Jay one of the pioneers who built the basslines that formed the original blueprint for the sound; Kode 9 ; The Spaceape who played what has become their radical Bass Fiction live performance ; and the incendiary Croydon boy-star Skream to represent with me at Sonar in 2007. Tell us what it was like. Skream told me it was the best night of his life last year, no contest. We had no idea what to expect, in spite of the fact that I’d done 6 months work ahead of the festival priming people for our showcase. What we did was bring the dubstep sound out of humid and intense boutique club environments for the first time, and out onto an 8.5 thousand capacity international festival stage. Just moments before it was due to start, people were still saying to me “are you sure you can pull this off? look at the size of this stage it’s like something Faithless would play, and the BEASTIE BOYS are headlining on the main stage at the exact same time, about 20 paces away from you…” The DJ before us was quite literally playing to about 6 people. But as soon as I dropped the first tune, people began to pour in, and by the time Skream stepped up the scene was just biblical. Check the video at YouTube for yourself.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ5yF8zmgcc Did I hear something about Skream and Oris Jay and a bottle of vodka? The victory celebrations are as notorious as the showcase, yes! But you would need to speak to Skream and Oris direct to ascertain the exact number of units involved Why have you chosen Mala and Shackleton this year? Mala was with me at Sonar in 2007, he made the pilgrimage just because he wanted to experience it, and he even took Jamie Cullen down into the heart of the crowd to skank out.. haha!! Mala was the man who first invited me though the doors of DMZ and changed my life forever. He’s the man who sets the bar in the scene, people look to him in the same way that I looked to John Peel when I was young. He sets such a fine an example of how to operate at every level: how to live this life, and creatively I simply could not dream of a more majestic headliner. Shackleton is the architect of Mix Of The Year in 2007 on my show. He’s probably my favourite producer in the world right now. There’s something so primal about his sound, he has tapped into the very pulse at the core of the earth itself. Has dubstep changed in spirit since it started spreading? Benga said in the Dubstep Souljahs documentary I did recently on Radio1 ‘the scene is like our child.. we nurture our child, we’re protective of our child.. we don’t want anything to go wrong’. I know exactly what he means and I echo those sentiments. One of the biggest challenges dubstep faces as it goes global is to retain the pure positive energy that has fuelled its early success. Sgt Pokes calls it ‘Community Step’, born out of the idea that it’s a family thing.. it’s all love and everybody makes a contribution. It’s a simple idea, but such an effective one. Do you know what you’re going to play yet? I will work right up til dusk on the night of the showcase, up to the wire. The sets are all very short only 45 minutes, but that pressures you to edit what you do hard and bring it back to the very real essence of what is fresh, powerful, and beautiful, and can move 8.5 thousand relative newcomers to the sound. There’s all this stuff on the Sonar press release about the spirit of femininity as represented at the festival. It doesn’t mention you though. [: ( ] Should it? I am happy to be defined by my achievements. Is there femininity in dubstep? Feminininty you say? Ok,1 word: Vaccine…. In addition, there are so many inspirational girls involved. Sarah Souljah, who runs Tempa, Ammunition and FWD; and laid the foundation stones for the whole scene; Georgina Cook, rave organiser, blogger & photographer who has the most iconic collection of pictures documenting the history; exciting young producers like Ikonika and Subeena… And of course, Melissa Bradshaw, my favourite writer of her generation.* *[pon reading which I went red and hid my face even though there was no-one there to see except Bill and Keith - HAHA] Who are the secret artists on your LP? ; ) One of the beauties of including secret tracks, from the artists’ perspective, is that they can put out a piece of work out which listeners will come to with no pre-conceived ideas. It’s like having the power to make people invisible for a day. I can’t tell you who they are, or that would defeat this object. What principles did you base your track selection on? I wanted to draw the sonic parallels between dubstep, grime, techno and electronica, and showcase as many different textures of dark sound as possible. Original pioneers are represented shoulder to shoulder with next generation ‘new breed’ artists. It’s like a snap-shot of the expansive electronic underground that I represent on the BBC Radio1 show. Why is it called ‘Evangeline’? It’s like the word ‘evangelist’ made female, as I guess I am best known as an evangelist for underground electronic music. Was there anything you missed out with great reluctance? In the frame, we had almost 3 times the number of tracks we could fit onto the record. It was a near impossible task to choose, and in the end it came down to simply finding a diversity and balance of sound that works in the shape of an album. Who are the secret artists on your LP? ; ) (haha) Same question a second time, boy.. either your very you’re keen or you’re very drunk haha!!** **[Me?! DRUNK?!!!!!?] Posted in misc | No Comments » FWD CAME BEFORE REQUEST LINEPosted on April 17th, 2008Incognito @ Purple E3 London’s - and the world’s - first Funky weekly launches on May 2nd Geeneus’ Funky night Sex @ Purple E3 a couple of weeks ago was all sleek girls and boys on the dancefloor. Actually the girls were mainly in the middle while the boys stood around watching them. It was pretty full and the vibe was buzzing, if no explosions. In fact, due to the relatively smooth air, it’s not gonna go off in the same way either grime or dubstep did. If it does, and the sound takes flight, it will feel very different. I mean, I bumped into someone and they split red wine on my top. Red wine. So here it is: Funky goes weekly. Yes on the same night as FWD. If it gives dubstep something to think about, can that be a bad thing? Residents:
MAY 09? MAY 16 MAY 23 MAY 30?MA1?Supa Surprise DJ ?LIVE PA Crazie Cousins Feat Calista from Big Brother ‘Bongo Jam’ ?Pioneer? Borris Doors: 1030 – 0400 Dress code: Strictly smart & sexy Posted in misc | No Comments » Salman WhiskersPosted on April 14th, 2008Yesterday I went to see Salman Rushdie talk about his new novel with Lisa Appignanesi, because I’m a geek like that. She is so hot. Look at her new book. This has nothing to do with music. Yes it does. Mr Rushdie was as ever the genius and said something about humans being the story-telling animal. He said it was what makes us human. This is total lies!! Keith is always telling stories. Here is what he looks like when he’s telling a story. Soon he is going to tell you a story about Hyperdub. He’s just working on the sub-headings. Then we will know that cats tell stories and music is a story which makes us human.
Posted in misc | No Comments » Alex, Alex, AlexPosted on April 13th, 2008Yo. Friday night’s ‘Why Not‘, the first ever exclusively dubstep festival at Ministry of Sound, was so funny. First we got to see Oneman DJing with 3 girls wearing flourescent tutus and fairy rings dancing around him, then Blackdown scared away the fairies and the girl in a fluffy corset with some unapologetically deep, mystical pulsing stuff, then I got to pay £3 for a bottle of water, and then after scarpering from the roots of dubstep room where El-B was playing some new Ghost stuff when Newham Generals got pulled out a back door because of a certain strong smell I discovered the huge room, the very fucking huge room, where somehow the Generals had gotten from being kicked out to being on stage and Coki was DJing to the biggest crowd I have ever seen at a dubstep event. And D Double E was making the noise no-one has worked out how to spell properly yet. Even after a very long chain email conversation about it in 2005. It was interesting going from the roots room downstairs to the dubstep room and hearing how Darkstar’s post-dubstep garagey stuff compared. It was like the same music but up in a gas cloud. Benga boinged past at the end and said something about having cleared the floor HAHA ONLY KIDDING. I was genuinely confused for a second there. Last week MaryAnne announced her new compilation LP. It looks to be another hard thought promotion of raw and rare music. From her selection I would also venture to say it’s (as incisive but) more radical than the last one. Next week is Chocablock. Also see the flyers below for two nights happening next Thursday. Shoosh are exploring 4/4 in lieu of the funky wave, while three friends of mine called Alex - Charles II’s real name Alex, he just has funny hair - will be squelching around in the wonky hip hop at Roll Call. Apologies again for the ongoing lack of click-back and comments on here. It is currently baffling a team of 3 php heads carefully plucked from the dubstep web. Also I am trying to do a PhD. And some other things. Shiv.* * Check the video below, which was posted on my facebook after I bewailed the fact my phone will spell AMTRAK but not CUNT.
Posted in misc | No Comments » Skengwoman ModePosted on April 6th, 2008Have you noticed the new monthly news letter on Rinse? I wrote it. There’s some silly stuff and an interview with Rekless & Paleface. And a Supa D review. (WHICH YOU CAN’T READ RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THE LINK IS FUCKED I OFFICIALLY HAVE GREMLINS. Still working on the clickback and comments on here as well hold tight okay!!? …..) Posted in misc | No Comments » OMMMMMMMMMMPosted on April 3rd, 2008Yesterday I was accosted at the bus stop in Angel on my way to Hornsey Rise. The dude said he saw me in OMM. I was like, rah, that was aaaages ago. Then this morning I realised it was on their website. Look how totally hot I am! I am a PhD student though fuckers, not Hanna. My relegation to measly ’student’ made me need to deep breathe. Also check out the sweat on Skepta’s Superman Tee. He’s number 10. Posted in misc | No Comments » |
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 ©2007 Melissa Bradshaw | design by Sushon.org | portrait photos by Steve Braiden |
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