Not sure what the running order in the main room will be yet, but here's my guess:
10.00pm - Yours Truly.
Yes, Gutta's managed to blag another live appearance. Unbelievable, eh? I've been busily planning what I'm gonna play on the night, and made the decision last week that the first 20-30 minutes of my set will be on an old skool tip. And when I say 'old skool', I don't mean it in the way that most of these grime djs do. To them 'old skool' seems to mean tracks from 3 or 4 years ago! Sign of the times, I guess. Me, I'm going deep old skool, winding the clock back 15 years with a connoisseur's selection of prime 89-91 Bleep 'n' Bass. Why? Three reasons. Firstly, cos I'm arrogant enough to think I can actually educate all those twenty-something wipper-snappers on how fucking cool all that bleepy pre-jungle hardcore was. Secondly, from a purely selfish point of view I just want an excuse to hear all those old tunes loud through a PA again. Thirdly, in the interests of scientific research, I'm curious to see how well the sub bass on those oldies compares with that of current dubstep. As I've said before, I think there's a lot of common ground between the two. The fetishistic obsession with bass weight being the obvious one, but let's not forget that B'n'B also drew influence from Jamaican soundsystem culture. Ital Rockers could almost be the bleep equivalent of DMZ! And let's not forget all those icey yet emotive melodic hooks and Detroit-tinged string pads. I listen to tracks like Digital Mystikz' "Stuck" or D-1's "I Dream" and I feel similar emotions. The riddims might've changed, but the feeling remains. There's some big differences too, of course. B'n'B represents a time when it was the Drumz Of The North that were really innovating. The sounds emanating from places like Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds were (in my view) superior to the more breaky rave style that was developing in London at that point. At it's heart B'n'B was mainly driven by the (by now) innocuous pulse of the 4/4 kick drum, which has been almost completely abandoned by dubstep (although maybe it shares some commonality with4x4 garage, which I've also heard referred to as 'Bassline House'). Yet the other percussive elements of B'n'B are far from the standard cliches of 4/4 house. The snares and hi-hats weave complex steppy patterns across the beat, often with a strong electro flavour, and there's all those other weird percussive hits clicking and clonking in the background. You listen to something like Unique 3's "The Theme" today and it still sounds incredibly raw and strange. The first time I ever heard one of Wiley's Eskibeats, my immediate reaction was that it was coming from a similar zone. Although I love my breakbeats and have much respect for the junglists that came afterwards, Bleep 'n'Bass is still probably my favourite 'hardcore' micro-genre of all time - the first British dance movement of the post-Acid era to truly transcend (and maybe in some cases even eclipse) it's American forebears. Hopefully next Thursday I'll be able to make a few local headz understand why I feel that way. Although admittedly I doubt there'll actually be many people there at that point! Then I'm gonna play me some dubstep, some grime and probably finish with a bit of Grim. Atki2 reckons he's got a test pressing he wants me to drop in the set.
11.00pm - EL KANO
"Who the hell is El Kano?", I hear you ask. At least, that's what I asked when I first found out he was playing. I like to know who I'm sharing a bill with, so I got in touch with the man himself. So, El Kano, who the fuck are you, mate?
I'm part of the collective Adverse Camber and we've done a few pretty successful parties in London over the last year or so, mainly on the breakcore/ruff electronics tip. Our site is a bit wack at the mo' but there's some info on there. As well as djing I do all the artwork (excluding the current site) for Adverse Camber, including the posters and flyers for Night of Awesome Power and the Knights of Awesome Power and the CD packaging for the Adverse Camber "Wreckage" compilation. My page at the website has a few mixes for download. I recently did a set on Resonance FM of metal, grind, death, doom and noise, and before Ruffneck I'm also playing at Volks Tavern, Brighton on 1st October, with The Bug, Shitmat and The Gasman.
If all those mixes at his web page aren't enough for you,
Nettle - The Ballad Of Arthur And Johnny (Joseph Nothing Remix)
DJ Distance - Swarm
Skream - Angry
Scorn - The Distance Between (Surgeon Remix)
DJ Distance - Dark Crystal
Tipper - Dissolve (in) (phoenecia remix)
Digital Mystikz - Give Jah Glory
Kode 9 & Daddi Gee - Stalker
Nettle - Myanmar (Timeblind Remix)
Loefah - Twis Up (Youngsta & Task VIP)
Horsepower Productions - Hand Of Death
Filastine - Judas Goat
Mutamassik - War Booty
Enduser - Not So Distant Drums (Line 47 Mix)
Cannibal Ox - Vein
Wasteland - Doomed
Cristian Vogel - Trope
12.00am - BLAZEY
1.00am - DUB BOY
Ruffneck's (joint) commander-in-chief and King of the 7 inch, Tim 'Dub Boy' Rayner will probably be playing the final hour, no doubt involving lots of naughty ragga/dancehall bizzniz. He's got a mix online here, if you fancy it. Special thanks to Tim and Krys for giving an old bastard like me a chance to strut my stuff on the deckles once more. Hope to see all my West Country massif in attendance...well, Psychbloke maybe?
