Scratcha DVA
Clubs
DUBSTEP SUB CLUB & DEADLY RHYTHM PRESENTS HYPERDUB Sub Club, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jul
As part of their ongoing 25th birthday celebrations the Sub Club are joining forces with Deadly Rhythm to showcase one of the UK’s most innovative electronic labels, Hyperdub, to help round off July. Though only eight years old, the forward-thinking A&R skills of its founder, Kode9, has seen the imprint quickly gain iconic status thanks to an acclaimed and varied back catalogue, which has ranged from Scratcha DVA’s funky, tribal house rhythms to his own claustrophobic and intense, bass-heavy productions alongside vocalist, Space Ape.
‘Every release is different, you have no idea what’s happening next and that’s what’s exciting’, explains DVA. ‘For the listener or buyer, Hyperdub’s like a person who always wants to show you something new and doesn’t like being told what to do. Other label owners will spend time looking for hits from hit- makers but Kode9 always searches for them on the dancefloors where no one else is looking.’
The pair will both be performing DJ sets at the Subbie alongside, LV, one of the first acts to put out material on Hyperdub. A more recent addition, DVA’s debut album, Pretty Ugly was released earlier this year to what he admits was a ‘massively mixed reaction’. ‘I liked that, though; the fact people either hated or
loved it. I’ve always had that reaction to my music, this time it was just on a bigger scale. To some, my music career ended when I stopped making grime, but there are other styles I want to work on.’ (Colin Chapman)
Ambivalent
The Sweet Vandals
SOUL & FUNK FOUR CORNERS Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Fri 27 Jul HOUSE & TECHNO BIGFOOT’S TEA PARTY 100 Stobcross Road, Glasgow, Sat 21 Jul
‘There’s been an explosion in the number of bands playing the same music we do over the last few years,’ says Simon Hodge, one of the promoters of the Bongo Club’s long-running funk and soul night Four Corners. ‘There are two reasons for that: one is Sharon Jones and the other is Amy Winehouse. A lot of the people who do it are okay, but often they’re not much more than that. So to find the best bands, there’s now an American scene to look at, a UK one and a pan-European one too.’ It’s rare that Four Corners books a guest band, says Hodge, because their usual
residents-only set-up works so well, the club being busier now than his previous successes Club Latino and The Big Beat ever were. Yet his position as one of the producers of the Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show on 6 Music means he’s exposed to some of the finest bands before anyone else. When he heard them and then saw them play in their home city of Madrid, he knew this summer’s guests The Sweet Vandals were a must-book as Four Corners joins forces with the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. ‘Spanish funk bands are some of the best bands out there,’ he says, ‘and I think that comes partly from the fact they’re very exuberant as people and as musicians, they’re charismatic and lively. The Sweet Vandals are well-dressed and dapper, and I love the fact the singer [Mayka Edjo] doesn’t do that thing where she pretends to be American. She’s Spanish and proud of it.’ (David Pollock)
Coming up this month is the third bi-annual instalment of Bigfoot’s Tea Party’s very own warehouse party that isn’t a warehouse party. ‘It’s more like a mini-festival,’ corrects promoter George Russell, who also provides visuals for the event under the name Redux. ‘Most of it is outside in the open air, we’re going to have a barbecue and a gazebo. The warehouse is for later on.’ The venue, mysteriously referred to only by its address, is actually the old Tall Ship Museum, the original having been incorporated into the Riverside Museum along the Clyde. ‘It’s quite secluded,’ says Russell. ‘It’s got a bar which we use, but most of the event is outside in a kind of courtyard, you can see the Science Centre, the Tall Ship, SWG3, it’s right across the motorway from SWG3, so you can get there really easily.’
Performing special guest duties on the night will be Glasgow’s own Esa, who’s been in the public eye of late as percussionist for Glasgow Afro- house duo Auntie Flo, and a very special set from Richie Hawtin’s M_nus signee Ambivalent, aka Washington DC’s Kevin McHugh, for a set of minimal techno meets acid house. There will also be an afterparty in a secret location with transport provided, which will also be a very special launch party for Ambivalent’s new and first ever mix CD on M_nus offshoot M_nus12 alongside another label guest, which Russell rightly describes as ‘a very big deal for us.’ (David Pollock)
44 THE LIST 19 Jul–2 Aug 2012