Dizzee Rascal, 23, was born Dylan Mills, and grew up in Bow, east London. His father died when he was two and he was brought up by his mother. As a teenager, he began to DJ in local clubs, and at 16 he recorded his first single, I Luv U. In 2003, he became the first rapper to win the Mercury music prize, with his debut album, Boy In Da Corner. His new single from his third album, Maths + English, is called Dance Wiv Me. Next month, he plays Kendal Calling, Reading and Leeds festivals.
When were you happiest? On stage. What is your greatest fear? My music not being relevant. What is your earliest memory? Playing football on the estate in Bow, when I was four or five. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I swear too much. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Chatting shit about me. What was your most embarrassing moment? On Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Hollywood. They showed me doing my rehearsal and my trousers fell down. That day I didn't wear no underwear, and you could see my bare arse. Aside from a property, what's the most expensive thing you've bought? The reversible gold and black jacket I wore in the Dance Wiv Me video - there are only two of them in the world, and it cost a couple of grand. What is your most treasured possession? My life. What makes you depressed? When I can't make the right song. Who would play you in the film of your life? I'd have to. I had a little role in a film called Rollin' With The Nines. What is your most unappealing habit? I fart and then I laugh. What is your favourite smell? When a girl wears Coco Chanel. What is your favourite word? 'Me.' What is your favourite book? Bruce Lee: Artist Of Life. I like his philosophy. What would be your fancy dress costume of choice? Blacula. What is the worst thing anyone's said to you? 'Smoke some of this.' To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why? To my mum, for being such a fucker when I was little. If you could go back in time, where would you go? Ancient Egypt, because I'd love to see who really did all that. What was the best kiss of your life? I've had a few of them. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Tupac, Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, Pam Grier in her heyday, Barbara Windsor in her heyday, Beyoncé. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? All the bad ones. What is the worst job you've done? Sealing envelopes. My mum made me do it. There were 15 boxes - thousands of envelopes. We were up all night and I had to go to school the next morning. I hated it. What has been your biggest disappointment? The music industry, for not being the magic carpet ride that you think it is before you get into it. If you could edit your past, what would you change?A haircut. I tried to go for the Bobby Brown slant and people said I looked more like Grace Jones. When did you last cry, and why? When a friend died recently in a car accident. How do you relax? A blow job relaxes me. How often do you have sex? Two or three times a day, if I can get away with it. What is the closest you've come to death? Five years ago, I got stabbed six times in Ayia Napa. What single thing would improve the quality of your life? Maybe a wife - a proper girl who I trusted and could be at one with. What keeps you awake at night? Weed, ecstasy, anxiety, sex. What song would you like played at your funeral? Tha Crossroads, by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. What is the most important lesson life has taught you? If you are going to work, you might as well follow your heart, because nothing in life is easy and if it's going to be hard, it might as well be what you really want.
Even by post-millennial standards, six years between successive studio albums is a long time to keep the fans waiting. And then to produce one which sounds half-finished? Well, “Mala Fama” (‘evil fame’) is the title of one of these 21(!) new songs, so maybe Manu Chao is playfully courting obscurity.
La Radiolina sounds like a partially successful attempt to bridge the gap between the studio and his astonishingly energetic live shows, while revisiting his Mano Negra punk-pop roots. However, with many of the tracks petering out in little over two minutes, often roughly edited into one another, it’s not as satisfying or flowing as his early work. Not that there isn’t plenty to enjoy.
There’s a smattering of very appealing slower, sparser tracks such as the Cuban/Catalan rumba swing of “Me Llaman Calle”, which is later recycled – oops, I mean ‘reprised’ – as “La Vida Tombola”. But more typical is the irresistibly racing energy of “Tristeza Maleza”, with its luminous sci-fi synth effects, driving snare, snappy brass motifs and ominous warnings to George Bush Jnr. Unfortunately it’s followed by the unsubtle agit-pop lyrics and reggae chug of “Politik Kills”. Yeah, we knows. When he sings in Spanish, it’s much easier to overlook the formulaic nature of his lyrics, which often still rely on repetition of one catchy mantra-like phrase, with a different ending for each line.
Repeatedly re-using a small stock of sound effects from one album to another is that other great Chao trademark, and it continues here. It looks like the ‘space invader’ sample that peppered Clandestino and Próxima Estación…Esperanza has finally been put to bed, but the cop car siren which decorated Dimanche à Bamako, his fabulous 2004 collaboration with Amadou & Mariam, still seems to have mileage in it. It does make you wonder, though, whether the punk-polka “El Hoyo” and “Panik Panik” aren’t actually also just fragments of the same song. Anyway, La Radiolina has more new gimmicky sounds than ever before – including hysterical laughter, blubbering lips, and hillbilly geetar licks – plus more guitars.
It’s a very good – as opposed to great – album struggling to escape from 50 minutes of often carelessly sequenced clutter. With some judicious pruning, and if he actually bothered to finish some of the songs, I’d be able to like it as much as I want to.
Zen Approach, Broken Home, Candle Chant, Road to Knowhere, The Begginning, Final Home, No More, all the mixing on Cold Krush Cuts, are just the bases of my love for DJ Krush. For the last 6 years, basically as long as I've been into electronica, downbeat, or whatever you want to call it Krush has been my all time favourite. AND I'm not alone. DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin, and DJ Food all claim to hold DJ Krush the closest to their heart.
It took me 5 desperate years to finally see Krush live and after hearing very mixed reports of his live performances, I was extremely over excited to say the least. The gig was at Clockwork, Bristol. The crowd was whack, and there was definitely a huge handful who had no idea what they had actually come for. In the front though was me and that was all that materred. I got in zone, and let the incredible visuals and technical downbeat trippiness take me away. And away it really did. I must admit, when I finally came to going to sleep. It was difficult, I was still well and truly in the Krush warp.
Good news is I can hopefully re-live this adventure twice this weekend. Krush is playing a The Big Chill on Friday and at Koko on Sunday. I will be at one of them that is for sure. The cherry on the top though, is Vadim and Luke Vibert are going to be a both events as well. What an absolute fucking amazing summer treat. Brrraap!
When the weather is like how it is our thoughts obviously turn to the finer things in life and Walter Meego sum things up with their track ‘Girls’. Outlaw Dj’s have remixed it into some weird niceness complete with a surprise sample and loads of super mental old school analogue psychedelic noises.
Secret Garden Party is this weekend, and I'm gutted to be missing it. SGP is all a small english festival should be. Colourful people, fantastic low key music, delicious food, good vibes, performance art, healing areas, therapists and lushous scenary. The Secret Garden Party began in 2004 with 1000 people attending. There was one hand-built stage, two small bars, a naked stage manager and the organisers could be found swimming in the lake at dawn. In 2005 the word had spread and 3000 people turned up...
The Line UP for this year: AbsenteeAdam FreelandAlex MetricAlexander WolfeAli BAlphabeat Alton EllisAnya Marina Alex WaezAtomic HooliganAsteriods Galaxy TourAutokratzBad ScienceBack to BasicsBaxter DuryBeans on Toast Ben BridgewaterBeep SealsBen DeVere and DJ Fun TimesBig...
Definitely my favourite Lemon Jelly track. Especially good ear candy whilst driving, after a big weekend, before bed, bath time, play time, yeah most time this is an amazing track. A real real shame that Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin decided to split, they created somethign amazing. Not only in their music but in their appeal and art work etc. If you've ever seen them live then you'll know what I mean when I say they are very special entertainers.
Instead of having a support act, Franglen and Deakin organised a giant game of Bingo, presided over by Death and played by many members of the audience. In other shows, support was provided by Don Partridge - a traditional one man band - whilst "Jelly Helpers" distributed sweets to the crowd. They also played a Saturday Morning gig named "Jelly Tots" as a charitable event for children. In between sets, classic British children's cartoons were played over a projection screen, and the event featured bouncy castles, clowns and hundreds of balloons.
Visually , their album covers and inserts are fantastic, and they alone put a smile on my face. I'm lookin forward to seeing Deakin, as I'm missing a bit Lemon Jelly in my life, as I'm sure most people are.
Theo Parrish was born in Washington, DC in 1972 and raised in Chicago, IL where his passion for music developed. Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Bob Marley and his uncle, jazz musician Dexter Sims, all influenced Theo's early musical life. Parrish began spinning and producing tracks in 1986 at the age of thirteen. In 1994, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from KCAI with a concentration of Sound Sculpture, a form of orchestration using live generating devices. The same year Parrish moved to Detroit where he has lived ever since and become a pillar of the citys vibrant underground music scene. Producing music and delivering unique and dynamic DJ sets in venues throughout the world Parrish has gained attention and respect of DJs, producers, listeners and dancers alike.
It seems though Theo has become frustrated within the industry that he loves most. In a recent interview by Moodmat, where he was presented with a question about racism within the music industry and particularly in dance, his answer unleached a build up of anger that he has obvioulsy been bottling up.
"Id say this has been going on so long, its expected to eventually happen in every known musical discipline, but that doesn’t make it less of a crime, or less irritating... The music industry , like most huge industries, is owned by white men. Black men and women(musicians) tend to provide the labor(talent) that makes the product(songs). This isn’t a mystery and nor is it shocking since everyone white, black and otherwise living in the western world lives their respective lives with slavery as a backdrop to everything they do... As for commercial dance music: we’re not allowed. White skinny dudes from the uk or france are preferred(Jamiroquai/Moby), but generally an underground dance artist has to do commercial dance numbers for us to care.(Goldie/Carl Cox) Underground dance music, which is not controlled by the industry directly, is where we exist, but also have a lot of control, because to get music out we have to start our own labels usually."
Well it seems old Theo has got a lot to say about the subject, check out the whole interview (http://www.moodmat.com/?p=977) if you can, it's a kracker, and congrats to Moodmat for asking such a provactive question. Slightly reminds me of Lauren Hills rant a while back.
If you want to see Theo is action, he is in London at the moment, and will be playing at the 3rd San Miguel Hidden Depths event next Thursday 31st July. Register at http://www.sanmiguel.co.uk/ to win tickets. Hopefully Theo will turn some of that rage into a positive, and bless us with a set to remember. Let's hope!
Cos-Play, short for costume play, is an entire subculture in Japan that centres around dressing up like anime and video game characters or from live action television, fantasy movies, pop bands and some other random categories.
Most people have seen images of these cos-play enthusiasts before, but what we don't know is how grand this subculture is.
Well if this doesn't paint the picture I don't know what would. A Tokyo school has just begun teaching an innovative new subject called Cos-plish, a hybrid of the words “cos-play” and “English.”
The strange course focuses on three topics which have become increasingly popular among Japanese culture: the English language, manga, and costume-play. It’s centered around Otaku, the Japanese word for the geeks obsessed with anime and manga. To top off the bizarreness of it all, the teachers dress up in fantasy gear to teach the classes.
There are even Anime expos, where people come to flaunt their likeness to their favourite manga character. These expos apparently take place in North America as well but costuming is restricted in Japan in ways that don't exist in North American conventions. To start, at major cos-play events such as the twice-yearly Comic Market in Tokyo, the costumes have to fit certain standards. They can't be too wide or considered too dangerous. Costumes must be approved by event committees before they're worn.
I'm thinking Japanese fancy dress parties are a difficult place to impress.
I had been a bit disappointed by the lack of decent festivals that I had been to in recent years. The usual cliché POOP bands (you know the ones who sing about looking out of windows and being in love!!) playing to a crowd of people off their nuts, singing the same songs their heard on the radio at work!! Being fed adverts on the big screens for washing up powder and Shit films your never gonna see. Well I was glad to find that all was not lost and that there are festivals out there that do have soul.
Hosted in the breathtaking grounds of Henham Park Estate, Southwold the Latitude festival celebrated its 3rd birthday. The festival is not famed for its amazing line up of blockbuster acts or its incredibly large but impenetrable fortress of fences, nor was any of it that ‘spectacular’ (apart from some sheep spray painted pink).However what it didn’t have in wedges of cash, it made up for it in character.
The main stage hosted some big name acts such as Sigur Ros, who played a phenomenal set of their Icelandic falsetto brilliance. Promoting a new album með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust which according to Google means "with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly" which is a pretty f*”king cool name for an album if you ask me. Other main stage highlights include Seasick Steve an inspired American blues singer, who rocked the crowds with song likes “dog house blues” and “Cut My wings”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RlUwS1LKRs&feature=related
Moving around was another major part of this festival, although not long distances, walks had to be made to feast on the best parts of the festival. A few smaller stages situated around the woods and the beautiful river which ran through the festival; which hosted both gondolas; and a fantastic light projection of a spinning globe at night, a real sight to be seen!
The Sunrise Arena, located in the woods – hosted some great acts such as Crystal Castles and Metronomy to name but a few. In addition a great new act called ESSER who I think will be someone to look out for in the future (www.myspace.com/esserhq)
Other music acts which rocked the roof off the tented stages were Sebastien Tellier (http://www.myspace.com/telliersebastien) the French electro pop maestro, who knocked us all into submission with his electro beats and Blondie the punk goddess who still has it considering she is in here 60’s
Other treats included Comedy acts such as Bill Bailey and Ross Noble who went down a storm and upon finishing his set lead a 5,000 strong stampede across the fields. Fun was also had at the countless cabaret acts which continued long into the nights, which unfortunately on all three nights I cannot remember.
As I said before it was great to feel a part of something a bit more special, rather than the mundane churned out rubbish that we are fed most of the time at festival. This wasn’t a festival for festival’s sake. It hard charm, it had atmosphere and most importantly it had pink sheep!!
London has been having one of its wettest summers in ages, and there has been intense flooding around the nation, so when the heavens opened up as I was walking to the beautiful confines of Victoria Park, I worried that day one Lovebox was under threat of being renamed Mud-box. Fortunately the rain gods were only teasing us. When I arrived at around 3.30 p.m., just in time to catch Patrick Wolfe, the sun and blue skies had begun to peek their heads out from behind the grey clouds.
Now in its fifth year, the Groove Armada boys seem to have the festival thing down pat, and there was a good mix of musical talent, eclectic stage set-ups and other attractions.
Dubbed a mini-Glastonbury by organizers, this feeling rang true, as despite some low-key sponsoring, it felt relatively corporate free. Food options were plentiful and went far beyond burgers and chips (with the jerk chicken stall taking my vote).
The tent of the afternoon for me though had to be Secretsundaze. Tucked away in the furthest corner of the grounds, the circular fenced enclosure had a real backwoods feel to it with a bayou porch of a stage. The centrepiece was of course the infamous Secretsundaze disco ball which hung from a giant stump of a tree. Giles Smith and 2000 and One spun house tracks that were perfect for mid-afternoon, the loyal SS crowd responded, and the result was a dirty (in a good way) daytime afterparty-like vibe.
Every 2 years since 2000 an extremely special event occurs in the farthest part of Western Europe. Portugal has got so many amazing qualities, but for me, its best, is that it plays host to the best Psy Trance festival I've ever had the pleasure of stomping at. There has been a few. Best week of my life, everytime, fact
It takes place on a beautiful lake in Idana -a-nova, central Portugal, right near the border of Spain. If you love outdoor parties, sunshine, free-spirits, beautiful people, and good trance, then do not ever miss a Boom. The amount of work that goes into this festival is incredible. Boom 2006 saw Balinese architects come over to build the rigs for the Dance Floor and the Chillout village.
Boom really comes to life at night when all the incredible hand made decor lights up and turns Boom festival into a colourful, vibrant, psychadelic playground. Last also saw the introduction of the Orange Awning area where they played a mixture of chilled ambient dub, minimal and breaks. This year will see a further expansion wit the introduction of dubstep, and faster breaks going on till the early hours.
San Miguel are putting on 5 music events over the summer, under the name Hidden Depths. There have already been 2. The first of which was in London at the Soho Revue Bar, which is an amazing venue actually. Prior to the event no one knew what the line up was, just that it was hosted by Mark Jones of Wall of Sound. The secrecy of the line up is the running theme of Hidden Depths. So in the end, everyone was treated to the likes of Shortwave Set, A Human, Propellerheads, and The Infadels, and lots of free San Miguel.
The second event was on the 10th July in Manchester, at a venue called Joshua Brooks. It was a unbelievable night. It was covered in Hidden Depths decor, big leather sofas, and huge LCD screens showing art film. The highlight though was definitely the music... obviously. Again the public were only aware that The Glimmers were going to be there. In the end though the crowd was blessed with the likes of THE Grandmaster Flash, and the Unabombers. The Glimmers smashed it, Unabombers smashed it, and The Grandmaster definitely smashed it. Here is a review from another blogger that paints a good picture http://www.buzzinelectronicmusic.co.uk/the-glimmers-grandmaster-flash-unibombers-hidden-depths-event-manchester/98 .
So that’s Hidden Depths so far. There are 3 more events to come. Secretsundaze, Chromeo, and It’s Pop It’s Art. Secretsundaze is on the 31st July at T-Bar, London. Featuring the likes of Theo Parrish, James Priestley, Giles Smith and 3 more TBC. The Chromeo event is 21st August at The End, there are another 9 acts playing including a certain somebody who was surprsingly epic at Glastonbury. The final event It’s Pop It’s Art, is on the 18th September at The Amersham Arms. Hosted by Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly who I love.
The great thing about these events is that they are free if you register at http://www.sanmiguel.couk/ and you win tickets. The atmosphere at the last 2 has been amazing, and the line ups for all of them have been spectacular. Very much looking forward to seeing Theo Parrish next week at the T-bar.
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