the daily newspaper for london from the red bull

DAILY N TE
THE DAILY NEWSPAPER FOR LONDON FROM THE RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY
01/24
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
ROLL UP,
ROLL UP
PHOTO: ZANE CUNNINGHAM
From day one, the Red Bull Music Academy has
offered a platform for budding young
producers, DJs and music obsessives from
around the world to come together and share
inspiration. Wherever we go – from the derelict
warehouse we took over for the first Academy in
East Berlin in 1998 right through to Dublin, New
York, São Paulo, Cape Town, Rome, Seattle,
Melbourne, Toronto, Barcelona and now
London – the Academy becomes a place where
the culture’s elder statesmen can share their
insight and experience with the next generation
in an intimate environment.
So why should you care? Well, the Academy
offers a good deal more than a series of
workshops for a handful of participants. In fact,
it only really gets going when everyone else –
that’s you – gets involved. That’s why we’re
inviting you to join us in some of London’s
iconic music venues for five weeks of gigs, clubs
and late nights. As you’ll know if you’ve
witnessed our stages at the Notting Hill
Carnival, Barcelona’s Sónar festival and the
Detroit Electronic Music Festival, we love to
present the most striking voices of the present,
past and future.
When it comes to music, we all know that
London has serious form. On any given night,
there’s more going on in the capital than
anywhere else on the planet.
This newspaper is where you’ll read all
about what went on last night and where you’ll
go tonight. Hopefully you’ll discover what went
into the making of some of your favourite
records, too. But more than that, you’ll get to
know how all the lessons learned today were
taught through decades of underground
culture. We hope you’re going to join us in
celebrating the people that made it all happen.
Out on the town and inside these pages.
Check out the daily blogs and vast video
archive on redbullmusicacademy.com or more
than 2,500 radio shows on rbmaradio.com.
Whichever way you connect with the Academy,
it’s always about the magic that happens when
people get together to live and breathe music.
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
///R BM A -WOR LDW IDE ///
WELCOME
TO OUR
WORLD
Disco in Toronto? Dubstep down under? As the Red Bull Music Academy
takes over London, Emma Warren offers a taste of what to expect
S
CHURCH OF DUB: Sly and Robbie at Barcelona cathedral, 2009
o I was a bit confused. I had been flown from
London to São Paulo to work on this Red Bull Music
Academy thing and it was... well, really good.
I walked around the low white building, past vintage
Brazilian furniture and studios kitted out with turntables,
samplers and drum machines. Culture minister and 1960s
Tropicália legend Gilberto Gil was hanging out, eating
barbecue. Detroit techno icon Carl Craig was getting ready
to be interviewed (by me, nervously, having never before
interviewed anyone in front of an audience), and a cabal of
LA scratch DJs – the best in the world – were spending time
with a group of veteran soul and funk drummers they’d
later be performing with.
Here I was, at something that was clearly generating
a sizeable creative boost to everyone who passed through.
It was connecting old-school knowledge to new music and
building a creative environment that wasn’t about fame
or success or reverence. And, despite looking very hard
for one, I couldn’t see a catch.
That was in 2002 and I have now worked on five
Academies. I’ve been to Rome, Melbourne, Toronto and
Barcelona with the rolling Academy caravan, which puts
me in a good place to explain what it’s all about. My basic
introduction goes something like this: It’s an annual music
academy that happens every year in a different country.
It’s like a massive ongoing musical feast where you’re only
surrounded by people who are really into music, whether
they’ve been doing it 40 years or 18 months. It’s like a year
of going out squashed into two weeks. Here’s how it has
been for me.
SÃO PAULO
São Paulo: a city where taxi drivers speed across traffic
lights and reverse at 25mph down the street. During
the Academy in 2002, it was a place where LA’s entire
underground hip hop community went rare record
shopping en masse – and within 48 hours had pushed up
prices from dirt cheap to collector levels as news spread
of their arrival. The beat diggers were in town as part
of the Academy’s flagship event, Brasilintime, which
brought to life one crazy idea, much like the soundsystem
clash that’s happening at the Roundhouse here in London.
The event was a follow-up to a project called Keepintime,
which united legendary American funk drummers and
hip hop DJs. The São Paulo redux put them live on stage
SPREADING THE GOSPEL: Flying Lotus and My Man Henri draw the curtains on Canada
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
24-HOUR
PARTY PEOPLE
Reluctant globe-trotter Jeff Mao reflects
on seven years of magical musical moments
I
O CANADA! DJ A-Trak and DJ Mehdi ask for more syrup
and added three of Brazil’s most famous percussionists,
one of whom was sitting (and playing) on an instrument
that looked like a skinny oil drum.
An array of talent passed through the Academy to be
interviewed and regale the participants with songs and
stories: Kieran Hebden, who makes music as Four Tet,
American underground hip hop auteur Madlib, and
England’s punkiest reggae man, Adrian Sherwood.
We attended a gay sweatbox disco with house DJ and
Yoruba healer-in-training Osunlade. We danced badly
in circles with a samba school in an aircraft hangar
and went to see a football match between São Paulo
and arch-rivals Santos. Pele’s old team won 5-1 thanks
to a nifty young player named Robinho. It was quite a ride.
ROME
I was back on the team two years later in Rome, where
Pilooski attended as a participant. The building, in the
old Jewish area of town, was a former nunnery, built
around a courtyard which had been used by squatters
as an underground cinema. The Academy borrowed
it, built doors, walls and recording studios, then left
it as a local cultural centre after we’d all gone home.
There were two lecturers a day: on Monday it might
be avant-garde New Yorker Arto Lindsay followed
by Canadian electro-pop producer Tiga, while Tuesday
could feature UK dubstep DJ Plastician followed by
Aretha Franklin’s drummer, Bernard Purdie. Mr Purdie
told us about being in the studio with Aretha in the days
when most soul music was recorded in one take. They
were cutting Rock Steady when someone accidentally
opened the door. Her music flew off the stand and
he had to improvise a percussive break until she’d
retrieved it. The resulting drum instrumental went
on to become a hip hop cornerstone, sampled by everyone
from EPMD to Kid ‘N Play.
I hosted a lecture with an Italian house DJ who
was a big player in the ’80s during Italy’s homegrown,
heroin-fuelled cosmic disco scene. His answers were
long, difficult and in broken English and he ducked
anything relating to those crazy days of the Cosmic club,
where DJs performed in a glass elevator. I watched the
archived video of the session this week for the first time.
I look a bit pink, and appear to be rocking slightly.
CAN THEY KICK IT? Capoiera’s still the fastest to burn off that açai
warehouse outside the city and done the usual, but times
ten. The building was a huge space over three floors with
a gigantic roof terrace. Endless rooms were filled with
vintage recording equipment, turntables, the most
up-to-date software, and a new addition – a fully
functioning radio studio from where we broadcast live
on local radio every night.
Brazilian folk singer Arthur Verocai sang his haunting
soul, New Order’s Peter Hook took control on the couch,
and a heavyweight team of Kode9, Skream, DJs Krust and
Zinc gave the speakers a powerful workout. Lunchtimes
on the roof saw Jackson 5 producers the Mizell Brothers
running bets on how fast a participant could drum, or
Grace Jones’ synth player Wally Badarou discussing tunes.
A then-unknown Flying Lotus attended and made a track
with fellow participant, Brighton’s Andreya Triana. The
song Tea Leaf Dancers was later released on Warp Records.
Toronto was a Canadian sister to New York during
the disco days and that year’s event had a strong disco
undercurrent. Old-school Academy lecturers and the
fresher-faced participants shopped for rare ’70s records
and swapped iTunes tracks. Arthur Baker waxed nostalgic
about Afrika Bambaataa and New Order; Ian Dewhirst,
of the Mastercuts compilations, talked us through his
record collection. It wasn’t all retro disco, though: MIA
dropped by for a two-hour lecture, Ethio-jazz godfather
Mulatu Astatke hung around for a week, and Heaven
17’s Martyn Ware talked Sheffield, synth-pop and his 3D
soundsystem. This was also the year that ’90s top boy
DJ Premier sat on the Academy couch after playing
a rammed gig to 99.9 per cent of the city’s hip hop fans.
BARCELONA
The heavyweights rolled into Barcelona, none heavier
than Public Enemy’s Chuck D. The Academy’s old textile
factory was decked out with locally curated art and
everything needed to make music. The guest list included
junglist-turned-conductor Goldie and Jamaica’s finest,
Sly and Robbie. The new school represented too, with
the sampledelic folk of Canary Islander El Guincho,
fuzzy electronics from Fennesz, and Portugal’s hugely
successful Buraka Som Sistema. The latter neatly
illuminated the Academy’s journey: João from Buraka
first attended as a participant, back in São Paulo. One
gold album later, he’s on the interview couch, passing
on his mastery and memories to a new generation.
MELBOURNE
Ah, Melbourne. The Academy’s antipodean edition was
both colourful and bigger. They had taken over a disused
TORONTO
LEVEL CHECK: Participant Macro Marco pushes all the right buttons
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
EMMA WARREN IS A JOURNALIST AND RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY
TEAM MEMBER
SOUNDS OF THE SOFA: Melbourne participant Andreya Triana
(after which I realised that the only people in the world
n the words of the microphone god Rakim,
more inscrutable than Asians are German music
it’s been a long time. Almost seven years, actually,
journalists). Shockingly soon after that I was in Cape
since I was first employed as a content team
Town, sat on a couch opposite Hugh Masekela in
member for the annual nomadic circus of speech, sound
a spacious lounge of fluffy pillows and comfy chairs,
and circuitry known as the Red Bull Music Academy.
Table Mountain in the distance, mine and dozens of other
Here’s the part where I’m supposed to insert a line like,
sets of eyes and ears glued to the legendary trumpeter/
“And by gosh what a long, strange trip it’s been” – only
composer/vocalist/bandleader as he discussed his career
such hippie-dippy-speak would suggest that the ride is
in music, the anti-apartheid struggle, and how the two
nearing some sort of conclusion. And the wheels on this
were intertwined.
omnibus aren’t going rogue any time soon. Fortunately,
Experiences like the latter will do irreparable damage
the Academy – now a dozen years deep, son – keeps going
to your ingrained cynicism. There would be others: the
and growing like the US deficit.
lectures I’d host with Steve ‘Steinski’ Stein and reggae
To me, this is all somewhat miraculous. Not in that it’s
producer Clive Chin; polite encounters with the
a regular event uniting folks from different corners of the
indefatigable Bob Moog (RIP); a day trip to Robben
globe in the name of unfettered musical creativity and
Island’s infamous prison grounds accompanied by Clive
community (though that really
and fellow Stateside scribe Hua Hsu. Though I still tended
is miraculous). But that
to keep to myself, by mid-term I was exhibiting some
I, personally, would have
pretty strange behaviour (for me). It was while co-hosting
anything to do with it – other
a public workshop/discussion attended by local DJs and
than perhaps standing on the
producers with Stein and my roomie, Tony Nwachukwu,
sidelines and scoffing. I’ve
that I found myself willingly talking to strangers and
always been curmudgeonly,
encouraging them to stick to their creative principles,
suspicious of strangers and
imploring them to “do what’s organic, man!” My Academy
with a natural instinct to avoid
cherry had officially been busted (pause).
meeting new people whenever
The Academy must have sensed something was up
possible. I prefer my comfort
because they kept asking me back. Steadily I began to
zone, which happens to
engage more with those around me, and my personal
physically coincide with the
cache of indelible memories began piling up. In Rome,
walls of my home. In other
there was watching Leroy Burgess demonstrate on piano
words, I’m probably not the first
the plaintive jazz chords that would form the basis of
person you’d choose to assist
his boogie classic Over Like a Fat Rat. And an impromptu
in broadening the horizons of
inquisition of participants at a local pasticceria, and
impressionable young people.
the home-cooked feast local team member and indie
At least that was the case
publishing magnate David ‘Little Tony Negri’ Nerratini
in the autumn of 2003 when
and his lady cooked up for a lucky handful. During
I got a call from my colleague
Melbourne, I recall with fondness the exuberance
Eothan ‘Egon’ Allapat asking
and humour of Phonté Coleman, and the class of Carl
me to fill in for him at this
McIntosh. And a farewell rooftop BBQ soiree set to
Red-Bull-something-or-other
the likes of Brainstorm’s We’re On Our Way Home
thing he was supposed to be
and other disco to-go.
doing out in Cape Town, but
From Toronto, an outrageous tale has DJ Premier
couldn’t make because of work
recalling a nude Notorious B.I.G. holding court in a hotel
commitments. Though he did his best to explain what the
room of homies wearing nothing but a strategically
Academy was, it took me a while to get my head around
placed bucket of fried chicken.
what the hell he was talking about. I
But I’ll best remember the T.dot
gathered it had a loose educational
“DJ PREMIER RECALLS
for talking Boston sport lore
structure. There were lectures with
NOTORIOUS B.I.G. HOLDING COURT with Arthur Baker and fellow
respected musicians/producers/DJs
WEARING NOTHING BUT
team member Andrew Mason.
(i.e., assembly/class), studio sessions
A
STRATEGICALLY
PLACED BUCKET Or hearing participant Maritina
(i.e., science lessons), and gigs (i.e.,
OF FRIED CHICKEN”
Daskalaki drop Cameo’s
break time – or, maybe, drama?), and
I Just Want to Be at a party
at the end of two weeks everyone did
and thinking, “Greece is the word – word!” Barcelona
the Electric Slide, or something. Apparently, based on my
also meant, among other things, dinner with Chuck D,
years of experience talking to and writing about rappers
Sly & Robbie live at Placa del Rei, and Mario Caldato
for magazines, the gentlemen who came up with this
revealing the true origins of the Beasties’ Car Thief.
whole Academy idea figured I might be an adequate
Which is why now, being theoretically closer to
lecture host stopgap.
death from natural causes than ever before, I guess
Of course, me being me, my first thought wasn’t,
it’s important to come clean and grudgingly confess
“South Africa? Cool!” but “South Africa? Damn, that’s
something: I am definitely slightly less curmudgeonly
really far from home”. My then-girlfriend/now-wife
now than I was seven years ago, and I believe this to
basically guilt-tripped my mind right, though. (“You’re
be at least partially the Academy’s fault.
so lucky to get a chance to see the world, experience
There, I said it. Whew. Just don’t tell nobody.
something new, and you never want to do anything.”)
Soon after, I survived a three-hour phone inquisition
JEFF ‘CHAIRMAN’ MAO IS A US AUTHOR, JOURNALIST AND RED BULL
with content team leader Torsten “Akshun” Schmidt
MUSIC ACADEMY TEAM MEMBER
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
((
CLINK STREET: Scene of disreputable
activity throughout history
01 SOUTHWARK
Beneath the bustling commuter hub of London Bridge lie the beginnings of acid
house and UK club culture. Take a walk on the wild side with Tim Burrows
SOUTHWARK
MAP KEY
(
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY
The London 2010 HQ at
155-171 Tooley Street
)
CITY HALL
London’s seat of local government
*
THE ROYAL OAK
Nicky Holloway’s Special Branch nights
took place in this old boozer
+
JACKS
Former home of Andrew Weatherall’s
Sabresonic parties
,
ACID DAZE: Danny Rampling,
left, gets properly on one at Shoom
Cavernous nightspot beneath the
arches of London Bridge
-
PAPER TRAIL: Ancient SE1 rave
flyers from a time before Photoshop
0
SHUNT: Clandestine den beneath the arches
THE SOUTHWARK STRUT
SE1 NIGHTLIFE TODAY
CYNTHIA’S BAR &
RESTAURANT 4 Tooley Street
Moist-eyed revellers will associate
Cynthia’s (now Astria) with those
halcyon electroclash days of 2002
when it hosted high-gloss 21st
Century Bodyrockers. That and
Cynthia, a robot barmaid who
never mastered the perfect G&T.
SHUNT 20 Stainer Street
A cavernous theatre space doubling
as an avant-garde speakeasy, live
venue and occasional nightclub for
an in-the-know clientele.
JACKS 7-9 Crucifix Lane
Andrew Weatherall’s legendary
mid-’90s Sabresonic parties rocked
this no-frills club. Today it’s busy
most weekends with old-fashioned
techno and house raves.
0
SHUNT
Subterranean arts space on
Stainer Street
BR ID GE
('
BOROUGH MARKET
LO ND O N
London’s foodie paradise open
Thursday to Saturday
((
THE ACADEMY: A new music hub for London
BR IDG E RD
((
MA
SS
TO O
+
GH
UR
ST
BO
U N IO N
0
EY
INSIDE THE ACADEMY: Making tracks
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
)
*
,
T
GE R
D
SOUTH WARK ST
THO
HIG
()
ST
T
Location for Shoom, Danny Rampling’s
original UK acid house night
('
HS
()
THRALE STREET
.
/
RID
Site of the RIP warehouse parties held
in a medieval prison
ER B
CLINK STREET
DS
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
THE LONDON DUNGEON
Macabre tourist attraction
ON
cocktail at Tooley Street’s electro hotspot
/
RM
DRINK DROID: Robot Cynthia prepares a
Site of the infamous Dirtbox raves.
Now a shopping centre
BE
-
doctors’ surgery – and The Swan and Sugar
Loaf on Bermondsey Street would be filled
with the sounds of rare groove and disco.
“I wanted to be a DJ so I used to go to
these glitzy pubs done up like clubs,”
recalls Rampling. “The occupants had
spent a lot of money on them, so they were
a lot like cocktail bars. You could compare
it to the R’n’B scene now, people spending
a fortune on fashion and champagne. Very
few people in that area had any money but
everyone looked great. There was always
a way of getting your hands on something.”
By the mid-’80s, Rampling had become
the apprentice of another DJ, Nicky
Holloway, and had learned the trade at his
Special Branch nights at the Royal Oak.
“It wasn’t the first choice, crowd-wise,”
he says. “Mostly it was full of moody junior
gangsters dressed very casual in Farah
trousers, Gabicci shirts and gold chains.”
Holloway had been DJing at the Oak
since the start of the decade, running
alternate weekend nights with Gordon
Mac, who would later found Kiss FM. The
pub grew in popularity thanks to its 2am
license. “We fitted the club out with loads
of banners and put our own dancefloor
down,” says Holloway. “We used to have to
put this big jigsaw puzzle together in the
afternoon.” The music started as pure disco
and soul. “At first, the big records were
.
HAY’S GALLERIA
SO UTHWAR K
could be bought with their meagre wage.
“He gained a place in men’s hearts few
could equal” reads the inscription below
the bust. Barrel-chested, proud and
melancholic, he stares straight ahead,
his disciples long gone.
Heading west along Tooley Street,
casting an eye to the river, you’ll see City
Hall, the glass veneer of which reflects the
city’s meteorological mood swings. One
day it’s sludge grey. The next it sparkles.
But it’s always droopy.
The Royal Oak on Tooley Street was one
of the disco or ‘fun’ pubs that opened in the
area in the early ’80s. Places such as The
Dun Cow on the Old Kent Road – now a
Electroclash Mecca, briefly home
to 21st Century Bodyrockers
PYMCA / DAVID SWINDELLS
T
his year’s Red Bull Music Academy
is located on Tooley Street, an
unremarkable road parallel to the River
Thames that connects London Bridge and
Tower Bridge. The former has existed in
one form or another since the Roman age,
and was attacked by Viking chieftain Olaf
Haroldson at the start of the 11th century,
who made it ‘fall down’ – hence the nursery
rhyme. Built in 1894, Tower Bridge is
a whippersnapper by comparison.
Often mistaken for a commuter ditch,
Tooley has a history. In the early 1930s,
George Orwell stayed in a kip here, a kind
of doss house for the homeless, which he
wrote about in Down and Out in Paris and
London. “There is a strong energy on that
south side of the river,” says DJ Danny
Rampling, whose family hailed from
Bermondsey. Rampling ran one of the
UK’s first acid house clubs Shoom in the
late ’80s. “So much London history has
run through there,” he says. “There are a
lot of old spirits in that area. A lot of people
who lived there in past lifetimes have
been drawn back to it.”
Approach Tooley from Tower Bridge
and you’ll come across a bust of Labour
politician Ernest Bevin. In his position as
national organiser of the dockers’ union,
Bevin fought for better wages for dockers
in the 1920s by highlighting how little food
('
“NO ONE HAD
ANY MONEY
BUT EVERYONE
LOOKED GREAT”
CYNTHIA’S BAR & RESTAURANT
Never Too Much by Luther Vandross, You
Know How to Love Me by Phyllis Hyman,
Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton,
plus a bit of Frank Sinatra for all the
hoodlums who were there.”
The pubs’ interior glitz bore little
relation to the surrounding area, but that
was their appeal: these pubs were the only
attractions in the area. The dockers for
whom Bevin had fought disappeared when
the docks started to close in the 1960s and
’70s, leaving empty spaces behind. “It was
rundown,” says Rampling. “The whole
south side of the river was a series of
closed warehouses and industrial units, so
it was like a ghost town after dark. But the
night spots that sprang up drew people
into the area from far and wide.”
Holloway agrees. “All those luxury
flats on the river that you see today weren’t
there back then,” he says. “There were no
docks, so there were no people. I wouldn’t
want to walk around there at night. The
only thing that used to be on that road was
the London Dungeon. They picked the area
because it was really dark and dingy.
I used to get the tube from East Finchley
to London Bridge and would shit myself
walking down to the Royal Oak.”
These empty spaces were plundered
in the name of the party. Rake-thin club
legend Phil Dirtbox and DJ Rob Milton
ran their notorious Dirtbox parties in an
abandoned warehouse on the Thames side
of Tooley Street, opposite the Dungeon.
People would bring their own drinks,
throw a quid in the biscuit tin at the
“The irony is that Nicky Holloway’s brother
ended up working there without ever
realising it was Shoom!”
Saunter east a few hundred yards
and you’ll find Clinks Bar, an after-office
watering hole attached to the Novotel,
which is neatly lined with parasols and
palm trees. The word clink might evoke
the sound of ice in a glass, but in this area
it’s historically associated with The Clink,
Britain’s oldest prison – now a tourist
attraction – on Clink Street, Bankside.
The name presumably derives either from
the sound of the prisoners’ manacles and
chains or that of the
metal door closing
behind them.
Come 1988, Clink
Street was the place
to be for clubbers.
At RIP (Revolution In
Progress), a party run by Paul Stone and Lu
Vukovic, DJs Eddie Richards and a young
Mr C played tough, acid-heavy house and
techno in a warehouse that was once
a prison. Mark Easton was a film-maker
who shot footage in 1988 at RIP. “It had
been going for a few years as a place to
hire by the time RIP came along,” he says.
“It had four floors, tiny rooms and was
really grubby, but because there were
no residents it was a great building to
have a party in.”
Hardened criminals such as Dave
Courtney would sweat it out alongside
young Londoners. Rival football hooligan
firms would turn up. “I’d worked at other
clubs, like Paul Oakenfold’s Spectrum,
but Clink was the hardest vibe,” says
Easton. “It was darker and scarier. Chelsea
fans and Arsenal fans would warily eye
each other up but later on they’d be having
a right good chat and dance, just chilling,
which was obviously due to the ecstasy.
These guys just couldn’t hate each other –
it’s hard to hate somebody when you take
ecstasy. It opened up a lot of minds.”
As the ’90s dawned, acid house fever
spread across the UK, propelled in part by
the media’s sensationalist slant on rave
culture. Meanwhile, London Bridge went
the other way, and began its march towards
becoming the commuter hub and tourist
playground it is today.
LE Y
TOW
()
SE ONE CLUB
entrance, and then dance all night to tracks
played by Milton and Jay Strongman.
Today, there’s a Hilton hotel where the
Royal Oak stood. “I had a meeting there
the other week, which was funny,” says
Holloway. “We called it the Royal Oak
Hilton.” On the site of the warehouses that
hosted the Dirtbox raves there now stands
a riverside shopping mall called Hay’s
Galleria. How times change.
From the western end of Tooley, take
a left down Borough High Street to
Southwark Street until you reach Thrale
Street. You’ll see a row of terraced houses
on one side and a hulking
great building on the
other. Once a gym, this
place was the venue
for Shoom.
Rampling started
Shoom with his then-wife
Jenni after returning from Ibiza, where
they’d been seduced by Balearic hedonism.
“I had played the Fitness Centre, which
became Shoom, for a friend’s party four
or five years before,” he says. “I always
thought it was a good venue, a small
basement that just felt perfect for all-night
parties. I knew that one day I was going
to have my own parties in there.”
Shoom provided a weekly getaway for
a loved-up crowd who were the first in the
capital to succumb to acid house. Carl Cox,
Andrew Weatherall, Terry Farley and Steve
Proctor DJed at Shoom early on, and made
their reputations there.
The club ran for three years on Thrale
Street before Rampling took it to the
YMCA just off Tottenham Court Road.
“Now it’s something like a document
library or storage place,” says Rampling.
ST
(
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
AND
THE BEAT
GOES ON...
RED BULL
MUSIC
ACADEMY
LIGHTS UP
LONDON
The Academy’s London take-over kicks
off in the heart of Shoreditch with an
evening of live music from a selection of
this year’s participants, interspersed by
DJ sets from Mercury Prize-nominated
trio the Invisible and XL Recordings’
blue-eyed soul boys, the Golden Silvers.
Expect Peruvian post-punk from Maldita
Fan, trippy Theremin vibes from Greek
performer May Roosevelt, The Sound of
Lucrecia’s star-spangled Catalan indie,
and some good old Mexican butcher rock
from Teri Gender Bender (not a name
you’ll forget in a hurry). Free entry, too
– what are you waiting for?
THE OLD BLUE LAST, 38 GREAT EASTERN
STREET, SHOREDITCH, LONDON EC2A,
THEOLDBLUELAST.COM, FREE ENTRY,
8PM-12AM
BOOK SLAM AT
SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL,
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10
London’s leading literary nightclub
moves to Shoreditch from its usual
Notting Hill home for a grime scene
investigation. Writers and poets, from
author Dreda Say Mitchell to comedian
Doc Brown, trade open-mic slams with
acoustic sets from local MCs P-Money,
Rinse and Wariko as well as Academy
participant Sui Zhen. Charlie Dark hosts.
SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL, 380 OLD STREET,
LONDON EC1V, BOOKSLAM.COM, £6/£8,
7PM-11.30PM
CDR SESSION VOL. 1
AT PLASTIC PEOPLE,
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11
CDR founder Tony Nwachukwu
introduces a special night featuring
Academy participants and a roster of
upcoming producers and CDR regulars
submitting their un-released tracks to
be sampled by the inimitable Plastic
People crowd. Expect broken beats
and liquid funk from Nwachukwu,
participant Daisuke Tanabe and Gavin
Alexander. Submit your own track
before 10.30pm on the night and your
jam could be played. For more
information, click on soundcloud.com/
burntprogress/dropbox.
THE GOLDEN SILVERS: WORKING HARD
ON NEW SHAVING TECHNIQUES
PLASTIC PEOPLE, 147 CURTAIN RD,
LONDON EC2A, BURNTPROGRESS.COM /
PLASTICPEOPLE.CO.UK/CDR.SHTML,
FREE ENTRY, 9PM-2AM
SPLIT PERSONALITY
SINCE 1989, DETROIT TECHNO ICON
CARL CRAIG (PICTURED), WHO
MAKES A RARE LIVE APPEARANCE AT
THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, HAS
USED AT LEAST 18 ALIASES TO
RELEASE HIS SOLO TRACKS, AND
HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN FOUR
GROUPS, INCLUDING INNERZONE
ORCHESTRA, WHOSE JAZZ-FUSION
HIT BUG IN THE BASS BIN SPICED UP
THE EMERGING D&B SCENE. AS 69,
CRAIG, WHO ALSO RUNS THE PLANET
E LABEL, WEAVED SAMPLES AND
LOOPS INTO ELEGANT TECHNO AT
THE TURN OF THE ’90S. UNDER THE
C2 MONIKER HE GETS TO TURN
NASTY ON REMIXES FOR LCD
SOUNDSYSTEM AND ALTER EGO.
CRAIG’S 1993 REMIX OF DOMINA BY
FELLOW RFH PERFORMER MORITZ
VON OSWALD’S MAURIZIO PROJECT
IS ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREAT
MINIMAL DUB JAMS. OUR FAVOURITE
CRAIG HANDLE? PAPERCLIP PEOPLE.
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
PHOTOS: REX, GETTY IMAGES, RETINA
FROM METALHEADZ TO MATMOS, SOUL II SOUL
TO A SPEAKER-QUAKING 3D SOUNDSYSTEM, THE
ACADEMY IS TAKING THE CITY BY STORM. OVER
THE NEXT SIX PAGES WE GIVE YOU ALL THE INFO
YOU NEED TO GET INVOLVED IN THE FIRST TWO
WEEKS OF THE CIRCUS. GET READY, LONDON –
IT’S GOING TO BE A WILD FORTNIGHT
VICE MAGAZINE &
THE ACADEMY SPECIAL
AT THE OLD BLUE LAST,
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9
100 ACTS,
10 VENUES
TWO WEEKS,
THOUSANDS
OF TUNES,
ONE MASSIVE
PARTY –
AND YOU
THEOLDBLUELAST.COM, FREE ENTRY,
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
THE ACADEMY AT THE
SOUTHBANK CENTRE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
GO BOOM!
GEARING UP FOR BATTLE:
GOLDIE, WHO PLAYS AT CULTURE
CLASH AT THE ROUNDHOUSE
FROM WINNING THE
MERCURY PRIZE AND A
CLUTCH OF BRITS WITH
HER DEBUT ALBUM (2002’S
A LITTLE DEEPER) TO
TAKING GUIDANCE FROM A
MANIACAL MARCO PIERRE
WHITE AS A CONTESTANT
ON HELL’S KITCHEN, THE
CAREER OF MS DYNAMITE
(LEFT) HAS BEEN NOTHING
IF NOT DIVERSE. HAVING
RECENTLY DIPPED BACK
UNDERGROUND WITH THE
STICKY-PRODUCED BAD
GYAL, SHE JOINS THE
ACADEMY FOR A ONE-OFF
SIN CITY PARTY AT
BRIXTON’S PLAN B.
In association with Resident Advisor,
the Academy descends on the Royal
Festival Hall for its flagship event with
a gilded line-up of three collaborative
acts at the forefront of exploring the grey
areas of experimental electronics, jazz,
laptop soul, and avant-garde music.
It’s kind of like an entire weekend
festival condensed into one very special
evening of music. The mighty line-up
includes: Carl Craig (Planet E, Detroit)
and Francesco Tristano (Infiné,
Barcelona) and Moritz von Oswald
(Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound,
Berlin), Matmos (Matador, Baltimore),
Bugge Wesseltoft & Henrik Schwarz Duo
(Oslo/Berlin), Terre Thaemlitz as DJ
Sprinkles (Mule, New York City), and
Academy particpant Andras Fox.
Whichever way you like your beats,
this party is not to be missed.
ICA? A-OK
THE INSTITUTE OF
CONTEMPORARY ARTS
WAS A HOTBED OF
RADICAL ACTIVITY IN THE
1960S AND ’70S.
INFAMOUS EVENTS SUCH
AS THROBBING GRISTLE’S
PROSTITUTION IN 1976
PROVOKED OUTRAGE IN
THE TABLOIDS AND
PARLIAMENT, WHILE THE
PERFORMANCE OF
GERMAN AVANT-GARDISTS
EINSTÜRZENDE
NEUBAUTEN’S CONCERTO
FOR VOICE AND
MACHINERY IN 1984
INVOLVED A CEMENT
MIXER, CHAINSAWS AND
PNEUMATIC DRILLS, AND
RESEMBLED A CROSS
BETWEEN A BUILDING SITE
AND A WAR. INTO THIS
CAULDRON OF CREATIVITY,
WHICH STILL KNOWS HOW
TO PUT ON A GOOD PARTY,
WE WELCOME JAMES
PANTS (BELOW), DRUMS
OF DEATH AND BURAKA
SOM SISTEMA DJ J-WOW.
SOUTHBANK CENTRE, ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL,
LONDON, SE1. SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.UK,
£17.50-£22.50, 7.30PM-12.45AM
SIN CITY AT PLAN B, BRIXTON,
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12
Roadblock time again in Brixton as
Sin City hits SW9’s finest venue, Plan B,
for a night of basswave pirates and low,
low frequencies. Back with a vengeance,
Ms Dynamite heads a stellar line-up
in room one alongside dubstep upstarts
Hatcha and N-Type, tech-flexers
Appleblim and Ramadanman, plus
Kenny Ken & MC Skibadee, David
Rodigan, Flava D,and the Soul Jazz
Soundsystem. In room two, Oneman,
Youngsta, Kromestar and MCs Crazy D,
Viper and Toast set the controls to stun.
Earplugs not provided.
PLAN B, 418 BRIXTON RD, LONDON SW9,
PLANB-LONDON.COM, £8/£12, 10PM-4AM
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY
CONCERT AND WORKSHOP
AT THE ICA, SATURDAY,
FEBRUARY 13
Roll up, roll up! The ICA hosts a day
of “tea, biscuits, and studio revelations”,
which roughly translates as a tantalising
programme of lectures, talks and
showcases open to the public. Tony
Nwachukwu mans the production
workstations to guide hopeful musicmakers around the temporary studio.
The evening promises live sets from rave
Skeletor Drums Of Death and Stones
Throw’s funk fella James Pants, as well
as DJ action from Buraka Som Sistema’s
J-Wow and a handful of Academy
participants.
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS,
12 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, LONDON SW1,
ICA.ORG.UK, FREE ENTRY, 4PM-12AM
CULTURE CLASH AT THE
ROUNDHOUSE, WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 17
Gladiators, ready? This unmissable event
sees DJ Don Letts host London’s first
cross-genre soundclash as teams from
the capital’s finest bass squads go
head-to-head. Goldie’s Metalheadz crew,
Digital Mystikz, Jazzie B’s Soul II Soul
posse and the Trojan Soundsystem battle
for the Roundhouse massive’s favour.
Soul II Soul were at the forefront
of UK club music in the late ’80s
and early ’90s with transatlantic
smashes Keep on Movin’ and Back to
Life. Trojan Soundsystem have selected
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
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DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
DAILY NOTE 05.02.10
the liveliest roots and culture tunes
for years and years. Metalheadz,
lords of drum and bass, still pack
a mean punch today, while Mala
and Coki of Digital Mystikz defined
dubstep with their DMZ nights.
Strap on your dancing shoes
(and bring a spare pair along
just in case).
SLEEVE NOTES
COOLY G, WHAT RECORD WOULD YOU
RESCUE IF YOUR HOUSE WAS ON FIRE?
“RAH, WAT A QUESTION.
ERMM, WELL MY 12-INCH OF
WEEKEND FLY IS AT THE FRONT,
SO I’D JUS GRAB DAT”
THE ROUNDHOUSE, CHALK FARM RD,
LONDON NW1, ROUNDHOUSE.ORG.UK,
£10/£12, 8PM-3AM
3D SOUNDCLASH AT THE
ROYAL ALBERT HALL,
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Another killer soundclash – can you
handle two in a row? – with this
one taking place in the loading bay
of the Royal Albert Hall, a space
seldom open to the public. The star
attraction is the 3D Audioscape,
a surround-sound system devised
by Martyn Ware (Human League,
Heaven 17) and Vince Clarke
(Erasure, Yazoo, Depeche Mode),
that allows users to control the
sound in three dimensions. Artists
manning the controls include a
coterie of sparkling Warp stars –
Mira Calix, Plaid and Clark – as
well as dublord The Bug, Ninja
Tune’s King Cannibal and DJ Food,
and Flow Dan, not to mention
a number of Academy participants.
Prepare to have your mind bent
beautifully out of shape.
ROYAL ALBERT HALL, KENSINGTON
GORE, LONDON SW7,
ROYALALBERTHALL.COM, £10/£15,
8PM-12AM
PICK ’N’ MIX AT DALSTON
SUPERSTORE, THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 18
THE GRADUATE
FROM MAKING DEMOS ON THE DOLE TO PRODUCING HITS
WITH KANYE WEST, PAST ACADEMY PARTICIPANT MR
HUDSON HAS COME A LONG WAY VERY QUICKLY
You don’t need to look through a microfiche to understand
how Mr Hudson – real name Ben McIldowie – has bridged
hip hop technique and a classic singer-songwriter approach.
The Oxford-educated musician has made giant steps since
jamming with Jamaican duo Steely & Clevie and deep house
guru Osunlade at the Red Bull Music Academy in Seattle in
2005. From linking with rapper Sway to making tracks with
Jay-Z and Kanye, Mr Hudson tells us why collaboration is the
best policy, and how he’s still got the thirst for learning.
DAILY NOTE: It’s been a big 12 months for you, collaborating
with Kanye and Jay-Z. What do those heavyweights bring to
a studio?
MR HUDSON: Kanye works so hard, to be around him is
inspiring. But I think the most relevant word for describing his
contribution is probably just ‘help’. His team are amazing, I’ve
just been hanging out with a guy called Warren Campbell who
humbles me because I’m a jack of all trades and master of none.
But this guy, he sits down to play any instrument and it’s like,
“I think you’re better than anyone I know!” He’s a stupidly dope
producer. So being able to call on advice and second opinions
from Kanye’s extended family is a big part of it.
Did you always want to be involved in hip hop?
I was always recording songs using drum machines because
it’s hard to mic up a drumkit in your house and not have the
neighbours complain! But from a production point of view, once
I started listening to people like J Dilla I wanted to get into the
science and craft of how beats are made.
Did Red Bull Music Academy help you achieve that?
The Academy in Seattle 2005 was a massive confidence boost
for me. I got to meet people like ?uestlove and talk to him about
J Dilla and I remember Sway giving a very interesting talk. I’d
met him very briefly in a club in London and quite rightly he’d
ignored me, because how many people must he have had coming
up to him at that time offering beats? But in Seattle it must’ve
been more like, “Here’s this English guy called Mr Hudson who
knows who I am”. So I said, “Listen, if you ever need a bad Bowie
impersonator, give me a call!”
Did he call back?
Well, Sway gave my CD to DJ Semtex, who in turn gave it
to Mercury Records and I got offered a record deal via that
connection. It did change my life because I used to be this
apologetic guy on the dole just demoing songs and being
ignored in London. I wasn’t really getting anywhere. In
Seattle I had all these lovely people from South America,
Singapore, Switzerland saying, “This is dope!”
Are you going to be involved in Red Bull Music Academy
in London this year?
I hope I get to play. I still live in London. I have a lot of affection
for the Academy. I’d like to do a talk or a little workshop to help
inspire someone who was in the position that I was in. Maybe
there’s someone who isn’t where they should be with their music
or they’ve got an idea that’s not going to make sense until 2013.
You know, perhaps I can help kindle a little fire. You have got to
feed the roots.
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
An evening of fizzing future disco
and bell-bottomed cyber-funk at
one of the hottest new bars in east
London, Dalston Superstore. Five
“glitterball grandees” from the
team of participants – Axel Boman,
Venice, Markur of Photonz, Mark
Fader and Juekz – man the decks
below while, upstairs, Channel 83’s
Ben Rymer and Damon Martin
pump out the jams in what’s sure
to be the month’s funnest knees-up.
DALSTON SUPERSTORE, 117 KINGSLAND
HIGH STREET, LONDON E8, FREE ENTRY,
9PM-2AM
TERM 1 CLOSING PARTY
AT THE CAMP, FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 19
A fortnight of rampant musical
activity closes in some style at one
of the best new venues in London.
Head down to CAMP to catch
unhinged house demon Maurice
Fulton unleash a special set of disco
bamboozlers, ably assisted
by the cream of the Academy. Oh,
and did we mention the top secret
headliner we can’t announce yet?
No? Too bad. You’ll find out who it
is soon enough. Watch this space.
ANDREW HUNG (FUCK BUTTONS), WHAT
WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT?
“IT’S ONE OF THESE
TWO AND WHAT
I TELL PEOPLE
IS DEPENDENT
ON MY MOOD.
IT WAS EITHER
2 UNLIMITED’S
ALBUM OR
SHAMPOO”
JACK SAVIDGE (FRIENDLY FIRES),
WHAT’S YOUR ONE IN-CASE-OFEMERGENCY TRACK?
“FRENCH KISS BY
LIL LOUIS ’COS IT
HAS A GROOVE YOU
COULD LISTEN TO
FOR HOURS, AND
THE SOUND OF A
LADY CLIMAXING
IS SOMETHING ALL
SEXES, COLOURS
AND CREEDS CAN
GET BEHIND”
BIBIO, WHAT
RECORD WOULD
MAKE YOU LEAVE A
CLUB IN DISGUST?
“ANGELS BY
ROBBIE WILLIAMS.
IT’D HAVE TO BE A
PRETTY SHIT CLUB,
OBVIOUSLY, BUT I
LIVE IN
WOLVERHAMPTON
SO IT’S NOT
IMPOSSIBLE”
TOM ROWLANDS (CHEMICAL
BROTHERS), WHAT’S THE
STUPIDEST THING ANYONE’S
SAID TO YOU WHILE DJING?
“WE USED TO GET ASKED TO
EMPTY THE CLEANER’S BUCKET
WHEN WE WERE DOING THE
WARM-UP SET AT THE JOB
CLUB. WE USED TO PLAY SO
EARLY THAT THEY’D STILL BE
GETTING THE VENUE READY.
THE CLEANER WAS LOVELY
AND LIKED TO DANCE WHILE
HE MOPPED. HE WAS THE
ONLY ONE ON THE FLOOR
AT THE TIME”
SCRATCHA (DVA), WHAT
RECORD WOULD
YOU RESCUE IF YOUR HOUSE
WAS ON FIRE?
“MY VINYL COLLECTION IS A
PAR! ONE GIRL I WAS SEEING
SET ALL MY OLD JUNGLE
RECORDS ON FIRE INTO
SOME BIG BLACK BLOB
BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT I
WAS SLEEPING WITH SOME
GIRL. THEN SOME OTHER
GIRL I WAS WITH TOOK ALL
THE DUBPLATES I EVER CUT
AND MY OLD-SKOOL GARAGE
AND GRIME VINYLS TO A
NEARBY DUMP JUST
BECAUSE I DIDN’T LIKE HER
ANYMORE. SO I RECKON I
WOULD LET THE FEW I’VE GOT
NOW JUST BURN”
SEAN BOOTH (AUTECHRE), TRUTHFULLY,
WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT?
“F**K OFF, YOU TRENDY
*&!@%$!* TWAT!”
BOY 8-BIT, WHAT’S THE
STUPIDEST THING ANYONE’S
SAID TO YOU WHILE DJING?
“LADY: CAN YOU PLAY SOME
LATIN MUSIC?
ME: I DON’T THINK PEOPLE
WILL LIKE IT.
LADY: BUT THEY’RE NOT
ENJOYING THIS EITHER.
ME: THEY SEEM TO ME TO BE
HAVING FUN, AND THERE ARE
ABOUT 400 OF THEM.
LADY: THEY’RE ONLY
PRETENDING TO LIKE IT
BECAUSE THEY’RE YOUR
MATES”
THE CAMP, 70-74 CITY ROAD, EC1,
FREE ENTRY, 10PM—4AM
FOR MORE DETAILS OF ALL EVENTS LOG
ON TO: REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN DAILY NOTE ARE THOSE
OF THE RESPECTED CONTRIBUTORS AND DO NOT
NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF RED BULL
COMPANY LIMITED REGISTERED OFFICE:
155-171 TOOLEY STREET, LONDON, SE1 2JP
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