DJ Derek in da area!!!

Bodytonicmusic & Big Chill Present:
DJ DEREK (Sweet Memory Sounds, Bristol)
DJ Shepdog (Nice Up!)
Tom Beary & MC Little Tree (Scribble)



Grandad DJ Derek is back to rock the Bernard Shaw with some sweet reggae and dancehall. For the un-initiated, Derek is a retired former accountant for Cadburys Chocolate, who made a name for himself some 30 odd years ago for playing black music to a black crowd and doing it well. So well infact, that the BBC made a documentary about him and he hasnt looked back since, doing 3/4 gigs a week up and down the land and the tender age of 68.

A diehard real ale afficianado (he brought his own booze to the club but not before heating it on the radiator in his hotel room) he played in the Bernard Shaw last November and schooled everybody in how a real Gentleman DJ does it. Selecting sweet soul, ragga and dancehall jams and dishing out life advice in his see it to believe it Jamaican patois, he made us laugh, he made us cry, but most importantly he made us dance!

Bodytonic are doing this gig in association with The Big Chill Festival in the UK (August 6th - 9th) where Derek is a mainstay

Drum & Bass Documentary from 1996

Some badass tunes in the soundtrack to this...Goldie / Hype / 4Hero are some of the headz that feature from back in the day !!!

Tighten Up - Volume 1

This is the first in a series of classic riddims which i will be posting over the next while. I had to start with one of the all-time greats by Junior Reid 'One Blood' This is the massive 6 minute version too, with 2 minutes of dubbing after the vocals. Enjoy!

Album Of The Year so far....

Inspiration Information: Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics



Mulatu Astatke was born in Ethiopia in 1943. He is an innovative multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and the originator of a form of music he calls ethio-jazz. Mulatu Astatke's music is impossible to categorise. There are the obvious Ethiopian influences and then there are the jazz influences, reflecting the time he spent in the UK and the US. It's a predominantly instrumental style that first shook up the Addis music scene back in the late 1960s and early 70s, reached new audiences thanks to the success of the Ethiopiques albums, and is still evolving. Last year, Astatke gave his first live show in the UK in more than 15 years, backed by the London-based Heliocentrics collective.

Mulatu - Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics LIVE
Uploaded by granjeros

MULATU ASTATKE & The Heliocentrics
Live from Cargo, London
17th April 2008
ulatu Astatke - Vibes and Percussion
Malcolm Catto - Drums
Jake Ferguson - Bass
Jack Yglesias – Percussion
Adrian Owusu – Guitar
Finn Peters - Tenor Sax
Byron Wallen - Trumpet
Joel Yennior - Trombone
James Arben – Tenor & Baritone sax
Ollie Parfitt - Keyboards

The African bandleader joined them again for an intriguing studio collaboration which has resulted in this amazing album.


Probably a bit corny but yes listening to Mulatu Astatke really does take you away to a special place...

FUNK 45s @ SOUTHWILLIAM BAR & BASEMENT - NEXT THURSDAY APRIL 2ND

This should be fun!



FUNK 45s @ SOUTHWILLIAM BAR & BASEMENT NEXT THURSDAY APRIL 2ND 5:45pm-2:45am / zero euro

'M*ASH' 9 HOUR FUNKATHON 20 DJS on 2 FLOORS featuring: Afronova Choice Cuts All City Records Beat Finder Records Elbow Room Solace Billy Scurry Johnny Boyle Lex Woo Matjazz Warm DJ Keith O'Reilly Dave Rice Emma C Scribble Records Keep Schtum Stylus

It's "Strictly 45s" for this, the first FUNK 45s night at Southwilliam. 20 of Dublin's best DJs spinning rare funk and soul original 45s and fresh re-issues + brand-new funk cuts as well as disco, afro, latin & hip-hop 7inches from Dublin's most dedicated 45 freaks!

9 hours in all, starting upstairs at 5:45pm and winding up in the basement at 2:45am. DJs spinning 45min sets all night for the biggest funk party ever!

PASS IT ON!

The Ears Of The Town

The lads over at the Bubble have put together a really nice short documentary on Plugd Records, Cork’s finest independent record shop. A year or two ago i was down in Cork to play a gig and i finally got a chance to visit the shop after hearing so many heads say it was Ireland's best underground music shop. Well it turned out they were right! Great shop, i remember dropping €150 (including about €15 discount, nice touch) on Moodyman records, some hip-hop albums and loads of other bits and pieces. It was nice to meet the friendly and knowledgable Jim the owner of Plugd. Just wish the video was a bit longer and they interviewed Jim!


The Ears of the Town: Plugd records from John Callaghan on Vimeo.

Voice & G. Frequency

Check out Voice performing one of Dublin hip-hop producer and Scribble Sound system members G. Frequency tracks.