So here it is (Apologies for the delay – mental weekend) – the winner of our third and final draw to win three complimentary tickets to this year’s Soul-Identity Summer Shakedown Boat Party with DJ Format and Wah Wah 45s‘ Dom Servini (and us of course!) is… JOSH SMITH (Well done Sir), who correctly named Simon James as the other member of The Simonsound alongside DJ Format. All that’s left is to extend a big thank you to all that entered the three prize draws (especially those of you who entered all three) and a offer a big congratulations to all three winners.
So now with all the free passes out of the way, the best way to pick up the last remaining tickets for Saturday (if you haven’t already) is via WeGotTickets or Ticketweb.
In the meantime, a little guest mix from our friend Steve KIW dropped into our inbox this morning and we thought it best to share the love. Ever the understated, the mix in the man’s own words “Pulled this together last night… includes Stevie, Ramsey Lewis, Guilty Simpson, T-Coy, Michael Vogel, Escape from NY, Woody Herman, Q-Tip, Blvd Mosse, Harold Melvin, Buddy Rich…”. You can give it a listen below.
While DJ Format and Mr Servini take care of proceedings upstairs, Steve will be joining myself, the Cigarettes and Sunshine boys and Rad Dad (Beatfix) on the lower deck on Saturday for a mixed bag of disco, soul, house, boogie and anything else we fancy playing.
We’ve now also confirmed the after party literally five minutes from the boat in the heart of Blackfriars (sadly a different venue than last year but will still get the job done), which will be running from 6.30pm till 1am, and will be free to all boatgoers. More news on that nearer the time. All we need now is the weather to sort itself out for Saturday and I reckon we’re all onto a winner!
So we’ve drawn the winner of our second prize draw for this year’s Soul-Identity Summer Shakedown Boat Party. Congratulations Mikey High Jinks, you’ve won three complimentary tickets to the event on the Saturday 28th August. Now all you need do is get in touch with those two people you’re giving the other tickets too!
And now for our last chance to win. Our third and FINAL prize draw which will be drawn this Friday at 6pm GMT*. To enter and stand the chance to win three complimentary tickets to this year’s boat party (worth, um £52.50!)simply send us an email to summershakedown2010@soul-identity.com and answer the following question.
The Simonsound ‘Reverse Engineering’ album is a collaboration between two individuals, one of which is DJ Format. Can you provide us with the full name of the second person in the group?
That’s it, simply get your response in before 6pm on Friday 20th to go into the final draw.
Good luck and have a great rest of week.
* Only one entry per valid email address. To be entered into the prize draw, your message must be received before 3pm GMT on Tuesday 17th August 2010. Entrants must be 18 years old or over.
Thanks to everyone who entered our first prize draw to win tickets to this year’s Soul-Identity Summer Shakedown Boat Party. And a massive big up to James Rodgers who is our first winner. Well done James, you got yourself three complimentary tickets to the event on the Saturday 28th August. See you on the boat. We’ll be in touch soon.
For all those that weren’t so lucky this time around, feel free to enter the second prize draw which will be drawn next Tuesday at 3pm GMT*. All you need do is send an email to summershakedown2010@soul-identity.com and answer the following question.
Name three artists currently recording on the Wah Wah 45s record label
Should be fairly easy if you do a bit of a quick search (Two of them are mentioned fairly heavily on the site). Don’t forget to get your answers into us before 3pm on Tuesday to go into the draw.
Good luck and have a great weekend. We’re off to do some digging.
* Only one entry per valid email address. To be entered into the prize draw, your message must be received before 3pm GMT on Tuesday 17th August 2010. Entrants must be 18 years old or over.
With an ever increasing repertoire of remixes and re-edits under his belt, Graham “Greymatter” Luckhurst dropped his debut album “Mind Over Matter” back in February. Released through his own Unique Uncut imprint, the album is a immense collection of sounds fusing broken beat, soulful electronica and Latin with the tougher rhythms of dubstep, UK funky and bass music. Featuring collabs with one of our favourite (and since retired) beatsmiths Domu and Brazilian Baille Funk diva Deize Tigrona, the album hit hard and was well received within the UK beat fraternity.
Accompanying the release at the time was a set of equally accomplished remixes which came with some pretty impressive names attached, including Cosmin TRG, Illum Sphere, Karizma and Souled. Some five months later, the second batch of remixes from the project have finally emerged and are available from today to stream and download via Greymatter’s Bandcamp.
For Mind Over Matter Remixes Part 2, Graham scores another serious team of producers to reimagine his material, and this time the results are outstanding. Whereas its predescessor straddled both the house and dubstep camps, this second set of remixes firmly embraces the ever burgeoning bass scene. Broken beat don Danny Native AKA Altered Natives (fresh from turning his hands to Ikonika’s “Idiot” on Hyperdub, and releasing his own “Believe in Me”, a great broken house anthem) drops in to completely bruk out the already heavyweight track that was “Eu Fumo” and create a killer bass roller in his own image. With it’s carnival feel and syncopated drums, this remix is sure to devastate many a dancefloor. Next up, dubstep artist Mr Lager takes the break heavy “We Are One”, smoothes it out and remodels it into just under six minutes of deep and atmospheric electronic lushness, before Milyoo steps up and delivers a completely unclassifiable take on “When I Was Lost”. Vocal snippets shimmer in and out of the mix, while the bassline sits somewhere between the beat driven sounds of LA, and the disparate soundscapes often found etched into London’s dubstep riddims. After supplying his own takes of “When I Was Lost” and “Too Much” for the first volume of remixes, Brighton’s Klic returns to revisit the originally skanking “Raw Root” and turns it into a deeper Detroit inspired house jam. Finally, rounding off the digital version of the remix package, hotly tipped Throwing Snow (Recently signed to the new Ho_Tep label fronted by Eglo’s Alex Nut) takes the title cut from the album and slowly transforms it into a glitchy dubstep hybrid.
To promote this release further, Graham has decided to offer up digital copies of February’s debut “Mind Over Matter” album via his Bandcamp site for ONE WEEK ONLY, so if you haven’t copped it yet, now would be a good time to accquaint yourself with the album. You can also download the first batch of Mind Over Matter Remixes from the same site as well, all it costs is the price of an email address.
Greymatter – Mind Over Matter Remixes Part 2 – Unique Uncut (UUDIGI019)
1. Eu Fumo feat. Deize Tigrona (Altered Natives Remix)
2. When I Was Lost (Milyoo Remix)
3. We Are One feat. Domu (Mr Lager Remix)
4. Raw Root (Klic Remix)
5. Mind Over Matter (Throwing Snow Remix) – Digital EP only
Just back from a weekend out East in Norwich. Spent an ace couple of days of relaxing out of the capital with friends and fam, coupled with plenty of record digging and culminating with a low key gig Saturday night with talented DJs Rad Dad, Jarred Jazz and Sid Ford (expect some of the night to be posted up shortly).
Back home in London, the weekend threw up a whole host of what look on paper ridiculous nights, including the first Summer terrace party in Brixton from the mighty Boglewaltz boys and the debut Creative Control Coalition event at Empowering Church. Was gutted to miss out on both as the lineups alone looked amazing, but the one which really got away was the Stac gig at Vibe Live on Saturday night. The lovely lady launched her debut album “Turn That Light Out” backed by her very talented band and choir and accompanied by great support from singer Jamie Woon and DJs Blue Daisy, LenAfroSaxon, Pause, and of course Wah Wah 45s head honcho Dom Servini. From the looks of some of the reactions posted across social media since Saturday, it seems like it turned out a bit special.
If you missed out on Saturday too, never fear as there’s another chance to catch her live in more initimate surroundings tonight. From 6.30pm onwards Wah Wah 45s are hosting a little Stac In-Store at Phonica Records to mark today’s offical release of “Turn That Light Out”, a date the label have dubbed “Stac-aday”.
And the album? well just like that album art, it’s ace and could follow in the footsteps of another of our recent Wah Wah 45 favourites, last year’s debut album “Along Came The Devil One Night” by Scrimshire. A perfect slice of acoustic soul, with distinct touches of folk, jazz and even a little reggae bounce, the album definitely has the same earthy feel as its predecessor, which is not a complete surprise as it is in fact produced in its entirety by Scrimshire and engineered by Mr Ben Lamdin of Nostalgia 77 fame. The perfect soundtrack to a warm summer’s night (assuming we get one soon).
From the very first languid tones of Matthew Halsall‘s trumpet welcoming you to the album’s opening gambit “Same Old Thing”, it soon becomes clear that this collection of songs are actually something quite clearly out of the norm. Stac’s singing is, for the most part, both fragile and emotive, which may take you by suprise at first, but stick with it and there’s no denying that her style is deeply soulful, bringing a genuine warmth to all of the tracks on show. The live instrumentation used throughout also adds to the effervescent feel, with an impressive array of musicians on show, including the afore-mentionned Halsall on trumpet, strings on “Head on Me” courtesy of The Heritage Orchestra , plus Wah Wah family members Magnus Dearness, trombonist from the soon to be massive Hackney Colliery Band, Steven McCleery, pianist to the Part Time Heroes and of course Mr Scrimshire on guitar. Add into the mix some stellar songwriting from the lady herself and “Turn That Light Out” is a quite unique offering which fits quite comfortably into the already stellar Wah Wah 45s catalogue.
Stand out tracks, aside from the opening track, doing it at the moment include the minimalistic “Balls Bounce” (Make sure to seek out the equally lovely Bonobo mix that appeared sometime last year), the current single “All Or Nothing” and the uptempo “More”. But don’t just take my word for it. Peep the tracklist and stream the whole album via the Wah Wah 45s Soundcloud widget below, and if you like what you hear, head on over to Stac’s Bandcamp and make a purchase. It’s been confirmed that Stac and her band will also be performing at The Big Chill this year, so there’s never been a better time to acquaint yourself with her talent before the masses catch on. Because the beauty of music is not just in the listening, it’s in the initial discovery as well isn’t it?
Stac – Turn That Light Out – Wah Wah 45s (WAHCD013)
1. Same Old Thing
2. Strainger
3. Balls Bounce
4. Head On Me
5. All Or Nothing
6. Whoops
7. More
8. Glory
9. Tip
10. Cry To Me
The good folk at Wah Wah 45s have also made available a little “Making Of” video documentary to accompany the album. Well worth a little bit of your time if interested. Check it out below….
