H BAR • H Bar Various dates
It’s a great month for H Bar – Hove’s dance music outpost – so we thought a round-up was in order. First up Brighton trance hero John 00 Fleming dives back underground with J00F Editions on Saturday 2nd. A week later on the 9th, Ministry Of Sound legend Jazzy M pops into Beatsworkin’, and no one has had longer at the house music coalface to perfect their craft. The old school superstars continue on Thursday 21st, when CJ Mackintosh – the man who took dance music to No.1 with M/A/R/R/S’s ‘Pump Up The Volume’ – arrives to kickstart Easter. (JK)
DIGITAL SOUNDBOY
Audio Fri 8th
Shy FX, boss of Digital Soundboy Records, is responsible for one for the defining jungle tunes of the 90s. Every dance music fan worth their bassline recognises the echoing siren and UK Apache’s frantic vocals of ‘Original Nuttah’. With a new album due to drop sometime this year every “bad boy inna London” and “rude boy inna England” will want to hit this night so get your ticket quick, they’ll sell faster than you can say “Murderation!” (ZC)
FREEBASS • Concorde 2 Fri 8th
Congratulations to Freebass for making it to their third birthday while sticking to their guns of providing heavy, bass-driven nights out with no entry fee. They’ve picked up some pretty vocal fans along the way, not least in Jumping Jack Frost who called the night he played one of the best raves of last year. If you like music built from the bottom end up – whether it’s drum’n’bass, dubstep, house or reggae – you’ll probably agree. If not you can always ask for your money back. (JK)
MOODY DISCO Life Fri 8th
It’s hard to believe that it’s only a year or so since Tom Demac packed in his day job. He’s been so busy taking his live show to Fabric, Space in Ibiza, Mulletover, and now Life. The Murmur artist keeps his deep, minimal electronic tech house raw in the flesh, and he’s certainly a star on the rise. As are Brighton’s own Maxxi Soundsystem, whose Alexander O’Neal-sampling ‘Criticize’ has been selling out all over and turning up in everyone’s charts – not least Erol Alkan’s, a man who knows a good tune when he hears one. Maybe they’ll be giving up their 9-5s soon too. (JK)
DIGITAL SOUNDBOY Audio Fri 8th
Old school drum and bass producer Shy FX is responsible for more than a handful of classics, and his consequent chart success paved the way for more mainstream acceptance of the genre. He went on to set up Digital Soundboy Records, and the supporting acts Redlight and B Traits are from this stable. Redlight’s the newer guise of heavyweight drum and bass producer Clipz, now garnering continued success, and B Traits is a rarity in the genre, as she’s a girl. (JMM)
WILEY Concorde 2 Tues 12th
After recently temporarily dumping his management via Twitter (disaffected girlfriends and boyfriends, don’t get any ideas), the godfather of grime has now taken to broadcasting 24/7 from his house via Ustream. It’s amazing stuff, from previewing work in progress to ranting on, and even going jogging. If he turns his camera off long enough this LP launch ought to bring even more new tracks to our ears and maybe some Roll Deep classics. (ZC/JK)
BLAH BLAH BLAH PRESENTS BOWSKI Digital Thurs 21st
According to the urban dictionary, being ‘Bowski’ either means you’re muscular beyond belief or you’re some sweet strain of Mary Jane. This Bowski however, gets his title from Jeff Bridges’ effortlessly cool stoner in The Big Lebowski. Bowski produces toe-tapping house with mischievous melodies and echoey techno bleeps. After his debut tune ‘Hooves’ got played out by Boy 8-Bit and Fake Blood, you can see why local heroes Blah Blah Blah are pushing him to the forefront. (ZC)
CRASH THE WEDDING •
Green Door Store Sat 23rd
Now, be honest, you love a wedding disco, we love a wedding disco. The abandon of dancing to Classic Pop Hits in an over the top frock or a crumpled suit with a carnation buttonhole is an experience that is woefully under-represented in a person’s lifetime. With this in mind, Crash The Wedding are marking the regal nuptials with a special party, and you don’t even have to buy John Lewis vouchers. Careful not to try and slide across the Green Door Store’s cobbles in your socks though. (MB)
TODD EDWARDS The Tube Sat 23rd
Basically, despite being a house producer from New Jersey, Todd Edwards invented UK garage. The Daft Punk collaborator is a cast-iron legend and has made some of the best records of the last 15 years or so. Well, we say some – actually one. He’s made the same record again and again – skippy, swung garage beats, sliced up vocals, soft bouncy bassline and a hook to get in your head for months. But it’s a real beauty. As Edwards’ influence grows on the post-dubstep scene, this has got to be the best booking in Brighton for months. (JK)
FAUNA • Jam Sat 23rd
Clubbing in Germany is different – like clubbing used to be. The clubs open at midnight on Friday and close on Monday afternoon. Berlin’s techno-mecca Berghain is like filling Tate Modern’s turbine hall with ecstatic, long-haul, serious-minded thrill seekers. The techno they play is music to keep you dancing, not until the singalong chorus, but until you expire – thumping kick drums beat a count-up to dawn. The Fauna guys promise to bring proper Berlin clubbing to Brighton, with Alpha Channel headlining this month. (MB)
HOSPITALITY Digital Sun 24th
This evening Hospitality’s head honcho and all round music geek London Elektricity is topping the bill and launching his new album ‘Yikes’. To back him up he’s brought the vocal talents of Esma Esmeralda, MC Wrec and Brighton’s own MC Darrison. Not much is known about the album itself but Tony Colman’s always been at the forefront of liquid drum’n’bass, either with his live band, his jazz-stepping productions or signing the biggest names in the liquid subgenre. (ZC)
GOGGLEZ • Brighton Ballroom Sun 24th
After over a decade in dance music journalism, we’ve been to some incredible parties in the best clubs in Brazil, Romania and, well, everywhere with speakers really. But if pushed we reckon the best party we ever went to was a Gogglez do at Volks where they rewound ‘Super Sharp Shooter’ three times to give it six minutes of intro. People were literally thumping the walls. And that’s why the return of the cross-genre crew is probably the most exciting things happening this month. Oh yeah, Evil Nine are joining all the original residents too. It’s too much. (JK)
DIPLO Coalition Weds 27th
As part of Tiger Beer’s ‘Know The Not Known’ campaign, Diplo’s playing a free gig at the Coalition. Yep, blink and rub your eyes all you want – that’s right, it’s a free gig. The one half of Major Lazer and founder of Mad Decent label is spearheading the music end of Tiger Beer’s campaign that rewards curiosity. So be curious and come find out how dancehall mixes with dubstep and how the hell you’re supposed to dance to such a odd blend. (ZC)
SUPERCHARGED •
Audio Weds 27th
Live drum’n’bass is an exciting spectacle; London Elektricity set the trend and opened the doors for the likes of Pendulum and Brighton-based band The Qemists. Now, as dubstep splinters into diverse factions Modestep bring the live experience to our stage. This four-piece bass band, whose debut ‘Sunlight’ accrued over 250,000 views on YouTube in two weeks, jam out distorted bass, wobbly reverb and beats that break into double time, creating high octane tracks that entertain your ears and eyes. (ZC)
A-SKILLZ & JFB • Audio Fri 29th
Initially renowned for his wonderfully upbeat reworkings of Beatles’ classics, A-Skillz is a talented producer guaranteed to make you smile and get on down. His inspired remixes are definitely worth looking up, and for an introduction to his style head to Audio. Combining pop classics with hip hop grooves and turntable magic, A-Skillz will be playing alongside legendary Brighton turntablist JFB, so expect technical greatness, live recordings and scratchings from the audience, and beats to make you body pop. (JMM)
STICK IT ON • King & Queen Fri 29th
If being glued to the telly waving a shitty little flag at the screen isn’t your way of celebrating the royal nuptials, Stick It On’s Right Royal Knees Up could well be. From 3pm til midnight they’re hosting their own wedding reception, with Norman Jay, Bust The Box and the usual gaggle of Stick It Onners dropping party tunes. The dress code is slutty bridesmaids, drunk uncles, bad suits – you get the drift. Stickiton.co.uk has all the details. (NC)
Normal.dotm 0 0 1 72 411 Brighton SOURCE Ltd 3 1 504 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
WORDS BY Matt Barker, ZAC COLBERT, NICK COQUET,
james Kendall, JESSICA MARSHALL MCHATTIE