London Live & Direct - Pt. 2

Alexees Hobson (alexees@wam.umd.edu)
Tue, 5 Mar 1996 06:31:13 -0500 (EST)


Been quite busy the last couple of days. :)

Last night (Monday), I visited the infamous "That's How It Is" session at
the Bar Rhumba. A dim-lit atmosphere with a good time vibe.

Ben Wilcox DJed first and I was not impressed - no beatmatching,
amateurish scratching, he basically just faded in and out constantly. He
had a good music selection (the latest tunes) but he couldn't maintain a
flow or build to a peak - the people dancing would stop constantly and
look at him probably thinking "where's the beat?". Only towards the end
of his set did he get it going with some jungle - but his set consisted
mostly of downtempo tracks.

-- SONG ID PLEASE --
He played this one amazing track, can someone please identify it? I
asked Wilcox but I couldn't hear a thing he said. Anyway, it starts with
a sample that says "Who am I? I am the record! And I can do anything I
want to! Oh, you don't think so?". Then it gets into a momentary fast
breakbeat, then gets into a slow one for a while, then "Another One Bites
The Dust" by Queen kicks in and dominates most of the track. There's
some other crazy samples/scrathes along with a "Flash Gordon" sample as
well. A flippidippirippin' track that will get any party going. Does
anyone know what I'm talking about?
--------------------

Anyway, Wilcox closed with "Unfinished Sympathy" (all-time favorite)
and James Lavelle stepped on deck. He played mostly beathead stuff
but added plenty of jungle as well. He played some Wu Tang and ATCQ
(Scenario) and everyone went nuts. He also played an excellent track
from the Sharpshooters. By the way, Lavelle wasn't that impressive a DJ
either. I left around 2:30, when Lavelle started dropping some house tunes.

Overall, I had a good time and danced a lot. It seems that they didn't
really pay attention to their DJing. I don't mean to be a critic cause
this wasn't a DJ comptetition, it was a party and everyone had a good
time (Snowboy was there and he was doing weird things on the dancefloor.
:)), people were dancing their arses off. Still, I'd like to see some
skills. When I go to the 18th, they at least beatmatch and maintain a flow.

Saturday, I visited Mr. Bongo and Soul Jazz. Great selection of old
records but a bit pricey. Mr. Bongo had a better selection of new
releases, including an extensive hip hop section. As you can understand,
I left both places a bit poorer. :) I hope Soul Jazz brings in some
slip mats by the time I leave.

Saturday night, Gilles P, Lavelle, Forge, Paul Anderson and others were
spinning at a massive club night called "London Calling" at the Arches.
I didn't have a chance to go but I heard it was brilliant.

Sunday night, I listened to Gilles P's radio show on Kiss FM for about an
hour. His guests were one guy from Hunch and Kevin Beedle from Clean
Up/Mr. Bongo. They were playing some new, upcoming tracks from a group
called "Sneakerpimps" (?) which should be out soon. Pretty good. Radio
overall is excellent here.

That's it for now. I'll lay low for the next couple of days cause I need
the sleep. :)
Jazz On,
Alexees... in nomail mode.