Hip Hop at its best! The Science of Speech Tour

Manchester has seen a lot of great hip hop gigs recently, and many of my favourite MCs have rolled through our city. The crowning glory to this occured on Wednesday May 11th when the 'Science of Speech Tour' came to the Academy.

Originally billed as Black Star, De La Soul and Rakim- when I first read about this gig I couldn't believe it- unfortunately, on the night we discovered the De La Soul had been dropped from the bill. I was a bit gutted, but then I still got to see Rakim, Talib Kweli and Mos Def, so to complain would be a bit rich!

Local collective Murkage kicked things off, raising the energy levels from 0 to Party in a full on set. Although they have just started out I see a lot of promise in these guys- watch this space!

Rakim was next up, and, as expected, did not fail to deliver! Dropping classic hits, new material, a story about his boat trip to the UK and a huge crowd participation bit which overran his set (but no-one cared).

Finally, after what seemed like forever- the icing on the cake. I have seen both Mos Def & Talib Kweli separately but together they become an unstoppable force and a massive crowd pleaser. The way they bounce off each other is perfect and hearing all those collab tracks live was something special. We're even treated so a couple of solo efforts from both guys.

 This gig should have been attended by anyone with an interest in hip hop- a clear demonstration of what this genre is all about. The only downer was that it pointed out how much American hip hop has lost its way recently. I'm still praying for a return to form, but for now I'll stick with my old Mos, Kweli, The Roots & Common albums.

Check out more pictures & full review soon at Example Magazine

Super Saturday- Warpaint & Drum Clinic

Saturday 14th May was the climax of Manchester's FutureEverything festival, the final day, and also the day of the Festivals best gigs. Warpaint are a girl band (in the loosest use of the term) from L.A. who play ethereal, ambient indie rock. Highly recommended- just don't expect to be rocking out too hard to them!

After watching Warpaint bring the house down at the last live gig the Ritz will see all summer. I made my way over to Jabez Clegg for Drum Clinic & Selective Hearing, who had joined forces to put on a fantastic showcase of electronic music, featuring Martyn, Daedalus, Kyle Hall. To top this all off, room 2 featured a Planet Mu showcase featuring DJ Spinn & DJ Rashad.

 It was an awesome night played out to a packed Jabez and a fitting finish to the festival. Drum Clinic has been putting on some of the most forward thinking nights & line-ups this year and I'm hoping they get continued support because they really deserve it!

 

For more shots and a full review on FutureEverything festival, keep an eye on Example Magazine.

Unlucky for some? Das Racist & Just Skank w/ DMZ - 13/5/11

I'm not really one for superstition, in fact, I completely forgot about the unlucky connotations of the day the 13th May fell on, an it took until the following week for me to think back and decide that, I had an awesome Friday 13th!

I got to watch Das Racist at the Roadhouse- an American hip-hop collective who, through one Youtube video viral, have carved themselves a niche in the comedy-hip-hop market, which isn't easy to do well! They also had the inspired idea of playing their first UK gig in Manchester, so I could take pictures- nice one!

After the gig I rolled over to Moho's for another Just Skank epic. This time it was their 1st Birthday Bash and they pulled out all the stops- booking Mala & Coki, b2b for what seemed like forever.

With SGT Pokes rocking the mic, the DMZ crew were in full force and absolutely smashed it! The night was finished off by some other guy named Pinch- he's alright too (please read into the intended sarcasm there if you don't know Pinch- incredible artist & DJ!). Nice work and if thats what all Friday 13ths are like, I'll continue not to worry.







Das Racist played as part of Future Everything Festival- my full review of that, along with more shots from both these gigs, will be online soon on Example Magazine

...and now for something completely different (2)

So following on from my previous post about trying something different with gig/music photography I thought I'd share some of the shots from the recent massive freeparty put on just outside of Manchester. This was an epic night, where an alleged 5000 people turned up to dance through the night.

I had a camera on me but it wasn't mine. Bearing in mind the sometimes dodgy goings on at events like these, and the value of my usual equipment, I borrowed my mate's Nikon D40- the same camera I started out with- as it was much cheaper to replace if anything unfortunate were to happen.




 So with the fairly basic kit involved I decided to shoot the whole night in B&W. It lent itself better to the quality you can get from that camera in really low light. One I was going through the pics they were pretty grainy- this reminded me of bad CCTV stills. Combined with the attention the police ended up paying to the event, I decided to make up the pics as if they were taken from police surveillance. I stuck a time/date stamp in the corner and some branding in the others.

As a final touch I decided to 'anonymize' everybody in the pictures with the classic black-bars-over-the-eyes look. I was a bit unsure whether to do it & whether everyone would get it, but it went down pretty well in the end- and I think about half of the people that went are tagged in the big group shot now!

Example Magazine

I have recently started writing and shooting for the Manchester based online magazine, Ex:Ample. We are aiming to force our way to the forefront of the Manchester and UK music scene, through quality reviews, features and photos!

Sounds like fun!

http://www.examplemagazine.com/

Heres my first article too..

http://examplemagazine.com/features/post/608/Drum-Clinic-1st-Birthday-@-Jabez-Clegg

Sub-Tech- Jabez Clegg- 23/2/11

Putting on a successful new night is difficult. Putting on a new night in a room the size of jabez clegg would be thought of as suicide by many a promoter. Still this was the challenge taken on by the Sub-Tech crew and boy did they rise to it.

Integral to any night- regardless of size and the acts playing- is the crowd and the atmosphere, and thats what Sub-Tech got right. Even thought the room wasn't full there was a great crowd and togetherness therein, united by a love of Drum & Bass, Dubstep and skanking to the wee small hours. The main room saw a jump up rinse out from Levela and Dub Zero going back to back tearing through tunes ranging from stonewall classics through to brand new dubs cut exclusively for the night. The headliners were ably backed up by local talent including Raasclarke and Yesi, going absolutely relentlessly all night, and showing the future is bright for our fair city.

 Room 2 for the night was, as is a staple of most dnb nights now, the '140 bpm zone' with sets filling the whole spectrum of the slower tempo played by Sub-Tech residents Dark Elixir, Totoro, Slim and others. This room had a good-size crowd all night, testament to the diversity in the 'Bass Music' we all know and love.

Sub Tech kept the energy levels high and the speakers loud from start to finish, and many established drum and bass nights could learn a thing or two from these guys. If I had one gripe it would be that, towards the end of the night, I couldn't see the DJs due to the swarm of MCs which had gathered on stage, vying for the mic. I can put this down to youthful enthusiasm and wanting to perform, which is nothing to complain of, but maybe two or three max at a time would've eased the overcrowding and allowed more DJ-crowd interaction.

I for one will be looking forwards to the next event to see where they take it from here. On chatting to the promoters, I can instantly see theres a hunger and ambition to suceed, which is vital. Add in bags of enthusiasm and a good solid fanbase and I can see big things coming, and deservedly so.

Jaguar Jones and the Two Dollar Show

I've been mega slack with my blog lately. Apologies. I barely have a chance to sit down nowadays, let alone recount past gigs and shoots with acompanying prose (although I find time to repost amusing youtube videos about a bodybuilders fishy diet- a question of priorities perhaps!).

This changes now (until tomorrow anyway)!

 

 

My friend in Jaguar Jones played at the Two Dollar Show recently so I made my way down to take some snaps. The Two Dollar Show (TDS) is help upstairs in Trof, Fallowfield, every Thursday night. For a measly £2 (see what they did?) you get to see a selection of the regions more hotly tipped upcoming bands in a space not much larger than a living room- with a matchboxed sized smoking area to boot.

 It all makes for a very cosy evening as they sure pack out the space, which makes for a great atmosphere- and means I'm restricted to the widest lens I own and positioned roughly 4 or 5 millimetres from frontman Lewis' guitar, which he kindly avoids smashing into the camera as I shoot!

 

The Jag Jones sound fills the room with catchy riffs and memorable hooks- a perfect rock recipe baked to perfection- and impresses not only their attending fanbase, but surely some of the people attending to find something new. They're certainly a fivesome on the up, and i'll be there snapping at the front as they rise.