Wednesday 24 March 2010

Rave generator

In the absence of anything better to do, knock yourself out with this 'rave generator'. It's a create-your-own-rave-anthem tool which should take you back to the 90s for all of ten minutes, until you get bored and go on to YouTube to hear the real thing.

www.ravegenerator.com

Monday 22 March 2010

Bloc Weekend 2010: review


My oh my - Bloc Weekend 2010 was a rambunctious affair. Thousands of dance music fiends descended on Butlins in Minehead for a three-day rinseout at the festival's fourth outing, and Gravity Skanker was there to witness it all.

Don't turn your nose up at a holiday park festival. They're actually rather fun. But I've talked about that before - let's get down to the nitty gritty.

I'm proud to report that it was the women who tore up the arenas this year. Headliners Salt n Pepa provided a damn good show, highly recommended to anyone who loves the early 90s sound. They had brilliant dancers, classic tracks (surprisingly more than I remember), and a great deal of energy and love for the crowd. It was brilliant, though Spinderella's a little out of practice.

Ms Dynamite also did a great job, MCing over DJ Zinc's bangin' set. She even did a top PA of 'Wile Out', a track that I love. Check it out in an earlier Gravity Skank blog post - woohah.

Further highlights of Bloc sets were Instra:mental and D:Bridge on the Friday night, who dropped a dutty couple of hours of dubstep in the more intimate Jac:Bloc arena. On an anthemic tip, Skream and Benga played a crowd-pleasing set in the main room, proving the dubstep pioneers still know what rocks the dance.

The Friday night at Bloc is always the messiest, but this year things were noticeably much quieter by Sunday. Two days of raving probably annihiliated a number of deserters, but I put it down to needing to get home for work on Monday. My crew raved it out till the end, conspicuous by our neon fancy dress (not many people partook in the wedding theme this year, boo).

Closing the Braindrop room on the last night, MJ Cole tore up the crowd... for half his set. Sadly things dropped off towards the end, and got progressively worse for The McMash Clan, who flipped the room into a weird blend of gabber, techno, (not very good) breaks and off-the-wall gnarly DnB. Hype came to the rescue a little too late, sadly with a mediocre set of DnB. I blame the five-hour drive from London.

I was gutted to miss Boy Better Know's grime set on the FWD + Rinse stage. Having caught crew member JME supporting Tinchy Stryder at The Roundhouse a couple of months ago, I'm now a proper convert. So hurrah for FWD and Rinse, who have shared links to mp3s of the night:

Click here for the Boy Better Know set at Bloc 2010.
Click here to download a zip file of the entire night.

It's a good old crowd at Bloc, so I was sad to see them let down by poor sound levels in almost all the arenas. In Tec:Bloc - usually the grimiest, most hardcore room - I could hold a conversation on the dancefloor and hear what was said. And this coming from someone with tinnitus. But sound issues aside, it was a rockin' festival, and Bloc always sells out for a reason. Here's to next year - see you there!

Saturday 20 March 2010

Gella 'Twinkle' feat MC Spyda


Jay Cunning's new breakbeat label, Sub Slayers, is only on its second release but has already churned out some pretty natty beats.

Check out the clips below of 'Twinkle' featuring newbie Gella and DnB MC Spyda:

 
The track's already out on vinyl but the digital release hits Beatport on Monday (22 March) and all other sites in early April.

The original's pretty good, but Gravity Skanker's pick for the dancefloor is the Schema mix. I like my shit gnarly.

Thursday 11 March 2010

Lovebox 2010

Lovebox is now a three-day festival, folks. And it looks wicked this year.

My pick is Friday 16 July, the opening day. For the highlights, see below...


Booka Shade and Shy FX are on the Saturday, and Hot Chip and Chromeo are playing Sunday.

It's at Victoria Park in east London. Tickets start at £45. Click here to go to the Lovebox website.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

The warehouse rave is not dead


Regular visitors will notice the blog's been quiet in the last few days. The reason is a four-day party marathon in God's own city. Since then I've been a broken woman, but it was utterly worth it. Let's just hope I recover in time for Bloc this weekend (which has now sold out, by the way).

One of the events I rocked up at was a blast from the past. Having battled the wankers of Shoreditch at uber trendy Dragon Bar for half of Saturday night, it was time to bid goodbye to asymmetrical haircuts, skinny jeans and retro beats, and get my proper rave on.

I hadn't had a 'secret party line' text message in a while, so I followed the trail to a warehouse in Edmonton. There are lots of warehouse parties cropping up all over London, particularly in the east, in areas like Dalston. But take these with a pinch of salt - they're merely ticking the cool box by walking the walk, yet most of them are in fact licensed, legal events, albeit in temporary spaces. Not in Edmonton.

My first pointer was to 'follow the music'. Easy - we could hear it from half a mile away. Not a problem, as the venue was suitably out of reach in a vast industrial estate. Climbing through a fence (of course) we made our way into a huge hangar - and I mean fucking massive.

The first sign of a squat rave is the stench of piss (legal venues have proper toilets. This place had a pitch black cess pit. In fact it was so bad, it was better to just find a dark corner of the hangar.) The next two things you're guaranteed to see are people passed flat-out on the dancefloor (tick) and dogs running around (tick). But these things are all part of the charm, and having been a regular to squat raves in both London and Leeds in the early noughties, it felt like I was reliving the good old days.

The set-up was three large sound systems in the centre of the room, all facing outwards. There were around 1,000 people there, in various states, but generally a good vibe. The music ranged from gabber (dear Lord, forgive them) to dub and reggae (brap) to dubstep, breaks and jungle (hubba hubba).

The best part was discovering some old faces playing on one of the systems. This was truly a Leeds revival, as the High Pressure crew had made it down with their awesome record collection in tow. Happy days.

What struck me was the number of Spanish people there. This happened at Fabric a few weeks ago, too. It would seem they're Europe's top raving machines. I like this, and am now hatching plans for a rave tour of Spain.

We stayed at the warehouse until well into the morning. As we left, I spotted a police car parked around the corner, but there wasn't any hassle. You've got to love London. Since the eighties, we've known how to put on an awesome rave, anywhere. And there certainly ain't no stoppin' us.

PS... There's a blinding (legal) warehouse party coming up on Thursday 1 April. Head to Layo (former owner of The End) and Bushwacka's bi-monthly ShakeIt party at - tadah! - The Warehouse to catch the incredible Carl Cox in action. It's his first London gig of the year, and is set to be rammo-jammo. Click here for info

Sunday 7 March 2010

Mix download site


Allow me to point you in the direction of Fact Mag.

This 'music is art' website has an awesome selection of DJ mixes available for download. Highly recommended as a guide to what's smashing the UK scene at the moment.

I'm headed straight for the Rustie mix, a warm-up for what promises to be a blazing all-day party down at the Lock Tavern in Camden. Yeehah.

www.factmag.com

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Fun this weekend: Thursday 4 - Sunday 7 March

Well, blow me! I had to do a blog to point out how much good stuff is going on in London this weekend. This is a list of just a few of the parties starting from tomorrow. I'm aiming to be at every single shindig - not sure if it's humanly possible, but worth a pop.

THURSDAY
> The brilliant FWD @ Plastic People, Shoreditch, settles into its new Thursday night slot with N Type, Youngsta and Zinc. Such a good club, even The Independant newspaper wrote about it this week (on page 3, no less).
> Red Bull Music Academy @ T Bar, Shoreditch, is a freebie which runs till 3am. The lineup is a hotch potch of bass music mentalism, featuring Untold, Scuba, Mike Slott and Jamie VEX'd. Hell fuckin yeah.

FRIDAY
> Hospitality @ Matter. Probably the best drum n bass night in the world. Tickets have sold out, so if you have one, you're a bastard and I hate you. If you have one you're willing to give me, you're wonderful and I love you.
> Rusko, Foreign Beggars and Nextmen hit Hyponik @ Plan B, Brixton. Some of the best artists on the scene, and all for a fiver. All hail the god, Plan B.
> Benga, Skream, Hatcha, Instra:mental, Joy Orbison, Zed Bias and Oris Jay combine to form one utterly ghetto fabulous lineup for DMZ @ Mass, Brixton.

SATURDAY
> You can either nurse your hangover or get down to Savage Legends @ The Den, Holborn, for something a lil' bit different. Loose Cannons, Jon Carter and Slyde mix up electro, breaks, bassline and house at what used to be our beloved End nightclub.

SUNDAY
> Wind down at... no, fuck it - wind yourself up to the max at a free party in Camden. Fact @ The Lock Tavern starts at 3pm with Ruskie, MJ Cole and Joy Orbison. Sunday is the new Friday, dontcha know.

Proof, if it were needed, that London is the best party city in the world.

Monday 1 March 2010

Plastic People and Ministry under threat

Two London nightclubs face potential closure after threats to their licence.

Police have asked Hackney Council to review the licence for Plastic People in Shoreditch on the grounds of public nuisance, crime and disorder issues.

I've never experienced anything but good vibes at Plastic People. In fact, I remember my first night there: when the lights of the pitch-black dancefloor were switched on at the end, I was surprised to notice the crowd was more geek than ghetto. It's certainly no drugs den.

Show your support for this awesome little club by signing the petition and joining the Facebook group.

Additionally Ministry of Sound has launched a battle against property developer Oakmayne, which is planning to build residential flats opposite the brand's south London nightclub and head office. If the development goes ahead, Ministry could lose its entertainment licence to ensure residents get a good night's sleep. To sign the petition, click here.