Name Frank Tope
Muslcal style Italo disco, acid house, deep techno and lots of other genres which might only really exist within quotation marks.
A message to you, Booty Ah yes, the Brixton club of which Tope is a resident also happened to lend its name to the last Basement Jaxx album. The much-vaunted party night, founded by the Jaxx, Tope and his mate Tayo, has a reputation for playing messy with the beats and giving straight-up house music the saucy treatment. Tope and Tayo have spread themselves about in recent months, playing at Liverpool's Chibuku Shake Shake. as well as at Space in lbiza and Notting Hill Arts Club in London, and the mission is clear: the gospel according to Rooty demands sweating, daftness and whole- hearted party-going.
How it all began Frank's odyssey started in Exeter, in the cream tea shire of Devon. In 1986, before the dawning of acid house, he DJed at a night there called Creation, named in tribute to the record label. Tope sets weren't so much Primal Scream and the Mary Chain as northern soul, funk and Motown. And legend has it he would be provoked to near-violence on hearing the sound of Dire Straits on the pub jukebox. Mum-tacking Not only has Tope made his name as a DJ. he is also a fine music journo, having plied his trade with Mixmag and Jockey S/ut amongst other titles. According to Ultragroove resident Gareth Sommerville he is ‘the greatest writer to pour forth about house music in a UK dance mag'. More recently he‘s moved into publishing, and was responsible for signing Rdyksopp on Universal Music. (Kenny Hodgart)
I Frank Tope plays at Ultragroove, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sat 27 Aug.
18 ms LIST 25 Aug-8 Sep 2005
David Holmes
TECHNO PURE The Venue, Edinburgh, Fri 26 Aug
Once again, it’s a warm welcome back to quite probably Scotland’s most highly regarded club ever as it settles into its annual August birthday slot. Pure is 15 this year, but the relocation of the club back to its spiritual home in the Venue (every date since the last regular night, which was also the tenth birthday, has been held in Studio 24 along the road), is added cause for celebration.
‘It’s going to be emotional,’ says the club’s co- founder, Brainstorm. ‘l’ve played in the Venue since then of course, and so has Twitch [Pure’s other founding member/DJ, now enjoying success in Glasgow with Optima]. But we haven’t played together at the Venue in five years, so it’s going to feel like a homecoming of sorts.’
Although Twitch and Brainstorm have assigned themselves the main floor for the whole night (that’s
ELECTRO RIZLA SILVER Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Fri 26 Aug
It's an easy association to say that this night, sponsored by Rizla, promises to do exactly what it says on the tin. And that is a showcase of some of Europe's most eclectic electro artists all together on the one bill.
First up is Marco Passarani. the Rome-based. Detroit-affiliated boss of such labels as Final Frontier and Nature. As well as DJing in a mixture of styles, from industrial techno to electro and acid house, Passarani is also a producer. His recent album SUI/en Look featured an odd cover of Alexander O'Neal's ‘Criticize' with Eryand Eye of Kings of Convenience on
pseudonymous vocals.
Then there’s Holland's Serge, head of his own Clone label, who confesses to being ‘difficult to describe'. ‘I started DJing when DJs played all night long, rather than just a two-hour set. so I had to learn to be versatile. I play house or disco, ghetto-electro or deep Chicago house to fast minimal electro. it's essential for a good night out to include all these moods.’
Finally, Serge's Clone labelmate Alden Tyrell will be completing the bill. 'He's one of the most talented producers I know,‘ says Serge. 'He's been into making and producing music since he was a teenager, and I first heard him as an unknown on Ferry Maat‘s Soul Show on Dutch radio, which is what first turned me on to dance music. We met the first time he came into the Clone record store. He'd been out rollerskating and he was trying to climb the stairs without taking his skates off, so he stood out right away.‘
(David Pollock)
9pm—53m, ‘a day job in reverse’, as Brainstorm describes it), something extra special is on the cards for the top floor. Fellow Pure mainstay Ege Bam Yasi will be playing a live set and old school house exponent Evil Eddie Richards will be DJing, yet it’s the star guest who promises to round the floor’s acid house theme off in style.
‘The last time David Holmes played in Edinburgh l was talking to him about Pure,’ recalls Brainstorm. ‘He was very complimentary about it, he said he loved playing there because the crowd would go so crazy, and I asked whether he’d like to come back and play some sort of techno set. But the acid house thing was all his idea.’
With 15 years in the bag, then, how long might the Pure dynasty be expected to last? ‘I don’t know,’ says Brainstorm. ‘If we come back for the 16th, we’re kind of committed to going until 20, and 15 is a nice round number, so we’re leaving our options open for now.’ (David Pollock)