Rinse@Cargo

Rinse @ Cargo Thurs 1st Nov: ya dun know the club space. Featuring Boy Betta Know, Jammer, Ghetto, Spyro, Skream, Scratcha and JJ, Jelly Jams, Circle, Youngsta, Benga, Supa D, SK Vibemakers, Katie...

From above

I recently spent two weeks on holiday in Thailand. Time away from a PC, a mobile, the internet, newspapers, four email accounts and three types of IM was good for my brain, stress levels and my book intake. This is the first in a series of short pieces inspired by my time away…

Around three hours into the flight, maybe four, I looked out the window. Dust. Nothing but dust, over hills and gullies, stretched out beneath me for hundreds of miles. There were no trees, no plants, no houses: nothing but stone mountains shaped by wind, water and tectonic forces. This had to be Afghanistan. Maybe Uzbekistan. Um, or perhaps Turkmenistan.

Tiny tracks would cross ridges or enter entire mountain ranges. From above, I had a window into entire worlds.

Blame the news agenda but when you think of countries like Uzbekistan or Afghanistan this isn’t what you visualise. What is ‘top of mind’ when you recall a nation’s identity bares little correlation to the actual geography. just like, a recent conversation with a friend informed me, the Bollywood cliché representations of London (Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben…) bare little correlation to rows and rows of Victorian terraces or post-War housing you actually find. Think the “Notting Hill” view of London, or shocked US rap fans meeting Dizzee for the first time: “Y’all have black people in London…?”. “It’s not all red telephone boxes and Buckingham palace,” as Diz says.

So when you think Uzbekistan or Afghanistan, perhaps new militant groups like the IMU come to mind, or the Taliban – images and ideas all drawn from the information reductions of the Western media. But the contrast with the visual impression couldn’t be greater. By area, mostly what makes up this part of the world, is rock. Dry, empty, rock.

In “The Tipping Point” Malcolm Gladwell brings up the well known phenomenon, “six degrees of separation,” an idea that dates to a piece of research done on US citizens in the 1960s by Stanley Milgram. Looking down on to the bare rock peaks of Uzbekistan, I wonder how on earth this could apply here?

Stanley Milgram’s study involved people connecting people through their network of contacts from Omaha, Nebraska, US to Sharon, Massachusetts, US and it found on average, that the two groups could link through 6 connections. Yet crucially, both groups are in the US: they share a language, geography, a currency, free exchange of labour and the same local laws.

Does something approaching ‘six degrees’ really apply between the West and Uzbekistan? Perhaps it’s not unreasonable so say it doesn’t. But what about Uzbeks in London? Suddenly we’re now sharing a currency, geography, free exchange of labour and the same local laws. How many separate us degrees now?

Staring down from 11km above, I guess this was what my wonder reminded me of: the sense of amazement I’ve had over the last five years or so in London that how we can all share the same city, yet massive groups move geographically near each other yet are mutually culturally invisible, like the (rich) City workers who glide thirty feet up through (poor) Shadwell on the DLR to Canary Wharf.

“Ayo/I’m tired of using technology/why don’t you sit down in front of me..?”

The invisibility of local groups is all the more amazing given the ubiquity and connectivity of modern technology. Simon Reynolds, in conversation with K Punk, has talked about the over-accessibility of culture in an internet era: “the web has extinguished the idea of a true underground. It’s too easy for anybody to find out anything now.” But how easy is it to find anyone? In cases like looking for connections between an UK blogger in a plane and an Uzbekistani tribesman, I don’t think Facebook is going to help.

Perhaps the ubiquity of technology in the West gives a perception of infinite connectivity? Instead, perhaps the internet contains dark matter, not in the physics sense, but regions of culture not lit up by the net, or parts of the net not mutually accessible, beyond the English language character barrier? Sure, you’d expect that as a function of poverty (manifested as the global digital divide), but yet the consequence of the perception of infinite connectivity might be a numbing, mutual reinforcement of viewpoints and worldviews. One that’s flawed by it’s limitations.

The plane sped on. The next time I looked out the window, rock had given away to water. Then, across sparkling waves, strode this one long, curved sandy spur like a raindrop running down a windscreen. Occasionally it split and you could see a vast bridge joining one dribble to another. Welcome to the Caspian Sea.

[PS: these aren't my Flickr images, my camera was full. But this is the same plane, the same flight company, the same side and part of the plane, the same two views I saw (Afghanistan/Uzbekistan and the Caspian Sea). Strange...]

Navratri

All this week British Hindu’s have been celebrating the festival of Navratri. It ends this Saturday. Wikipedia outlines the proceedings:

The Navratri commences on the first day (pratipada) of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Ashwin. The festival is celebrated for nine nights once every year during the beginning of October, although as the dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar calendar, the festival may be held for a day more or a day less.

A friend of mine took part this year, and showing me the video of the night, I was enchanted by the energy, colour and synchronicity of the dancing.





Having seen that amazing video, I couldn’t help quickly asking her a few questions…

Blackdown: So you were out dancing last night, what's the name of the festival?

rt: Navratri, It literally meaning 'nine nights' It’s celebrated by Hindus, mainly Gujaratis. It is to symbolise good over evil.

Blackdown: So what's it like to attend?

rt: It’s tiring, that’s the only bad thing. Otherwise its exciting, fun to get dressed up and enjoy yourself, good to focus on the religious part so well for nine days, and it’s something everyone always waits for every year once it ends, people almost miss it, because you've got so used to going there every night for the past week

Blackdown: And who goes?

rt: Everyone, literally all ages, boys and girls...the elder men and women will mainly sit and watch the youngsters form the majority of the people who actually take part in the dancing generally, there are more girls then boys

Blackdown: So is the nine-day festival dedicated to one god?

The goddess that is worshipped is called ‘Durga’ and her each of her nine forms are worshipped on each day. Durga is the supreme Goddess. I don’t know what each form is called, but am familiar with Amba Maa (maa means mother), she is the mother of everything, the whole world and universe. Also, Maa Kaali. She is a significant figure; she is responsible for destroying all evil, killing demons. If you look up any pictures of her, she is always portrayed in a very angry and scary way with her tongue sticking out.

She is the only one like that; all other goddesses are always shown as pretty, kind and very lady looking…if that makes sense.

Blackdown: Can you explain, to someone who's not been, what happens throughout the evening? What's the structure?

rt: It will usually start around 7:30 or 8. The whole evening consists of a variety of dances, with 5-10 minute intervals in between. The first dance is called 'tran taadi' (meaning three claps), where people dance around in a huge circle and the step involve three claps and then repeat it again.

Once that is over, after a break, they'll announce the start of another type of dance which may be ‘tran taadi’ again or be ‘taadi (two claps).’ In the middle of the evening, they have 'aarti' which is where everyone sings a prayer to the goddess. Once that’s over, the evening will finish with the 'daandiya raas' (the stick dance) that will go on for about 45 mins.

At the end, people leave and collect 'prasad' which is basically fruit or nuts that have been offered to the gods then shared out amongst the people

Blackdown: It looks so energetic and well co-ordinated. How do the people who attend go about learning the steps?

rt: People just pick it up if they've been going every year since they were young or otherwise, people teach each other and the steps are really simple so they're picked up quickly.

Blackdown: Isn't it tiring?

rt: Yeah it is but its so fun, and only happens every year so you want to make the most of it and you end up with a lot of blisters on your feet!

Blackdown: so is the festival more religious or fun these days?

rt: it’s more fun now I think even though people will take part in the prayers during the middle, I’m sure its the dancing they truly come for...which is true in my case too

Blackdown: go on, admit it, how much flirting goes on?

rt: lots of flirting goes on... that’s what some of the people must come for. The most fun part of the evening is the stick dance at the end, so not everyone will bother coming into the hall until then... so the guys and girls who hang about in the corridors just end up messing around and flirting I guess

Blackdown: tell me about what everyone wears, is it colourful?

rt: yeah, really colourful. Girls wear saris or another type of dress which includes a flowly skirt and top with a veil (called a 'sharara' or 'ghaghara choli' - ghaghara is the skirt, choli is the top). Guys can come in normal jeans and tops but now more and more guys come in traditional 'sherwani' suits. Which is a long top with embroidery or some sort of design and trousers.

LDN004

What some people have said about LDN004:

"Unsettling and beautifully off-key Shaolin grime."

Kode9, Hyperdub


“Talking of the more atmospheric end of dubstep I did get a good tingle off the latest release from Keysound Recordings, Dusk & Blackdown featuring Trim's "The Bits" b/w/ Blackdown "Northside Cheng Dub", excellent attention to the higher frequencies on both of these with a cobwebby skein of reverbed plinky patterns…”

Simon Reynolds, Blissblog


“’Northside Cheng Dub’ is bristling with laidback power… an atmosphere that tingles like frostbitten fingers.”

Dave Stelfox, The Wire


“Journalist Martin "Blackdown" Clark … with Dusk cuts up the Chinese "cheng" instrument in a mellow grime style for ex-Roll Deep MC Trim to get contemplative over, and on his own makes a bouncier instrumental stepper from the same elements on the flip. On both, the production positively shines. 5/5”

Joe Muggs, Mixmag


“I guess I'm notorious for my love of AA (or B sides)and this release is no exception.. i love the atmosphere of this tune, the deeply enchanting oriental textures and chimes...”

Mary Anne Hobbs, Radio 1


"Sensual instead of hard, warm instead of wobbling, the eastern-tingled Northside Cheng Dub is a gentle hit. Roll Deep's Trim does his casual brilliance over an equally understated beat on the flip."

DJ/rupture

“I’ve got chips on my shoulder and a fish that ain’t even battered yet.” The former Roll Deep MC, Trim, teams up with dubstep duo Dusk and Blackdown for this slow-moving single embellished by oriental touches and harp flourishes. Surprisingly light on bass, it goes all the way on the strength of the vocal."

Steve Yates, BBC Collective

“Forward sound: Further evidence that dubstep's most creative minds might be onto something else altogether.”

Paul Autonomic, Woofah mag

" ....... as my old mate, Northwest dubmeister Roger Eagle, used to say "Always the Version"! So last moth I flipped this and played out "Northside Cheng Dub" at the new YuGong Yishan club on Beijing's DongSi and that GuZheng sample cut like a monster robo scythe right through the mix and into the depths of the sunken dancefloor ...... China Needs Bass! - order the T-shirts now! Old mate Jah Wobble was out here last week and he tells me that his (Chinese) musician father-in-law, based in Liverpool, has invented the (first) Chinese bass, the DaHu!"

Steve Barker, The Wire aka DJ Lao Lao Shu (Old Rat), Beijing

LDN004 "The Bits ft. Trim"/"Northside Cheng Dub" is out now. Check it on Boomkat here. The first release in the return of Keysound Recordings for 2008...

Pinch

My PinchFork column this month features Lewi White, Ghetto, Peverelist, Burial, Guido, Quarta 330 oh and some guy called Pinch. Check also the first in a new series called Words into Sound. Checkit.

Under and over

It’s been a busy few months on the music front, between one thing and another but recently it occurred to me that a common idea kept appearing again and again.

First there was my Dizzee review for eMusic, as I came to terms with the changes he’d made to his sound and his message. In last month’s Pitchfork column I interviewed Skepta. The week before last I was invited to a “dubstep round table” for music marketing magazine Frukt, that featured MJ Cole, Plastician, Del from Drum & Bass Arena, Geeneus from Rinse and Dan Hancox from Dot.Alt. Then last week I was interviewed by Mary Anne Hobbs for a forthcoming Radio 1 dubstep documentary, due to go out at the pretty much peak time slot (for dubstep) of 9pm. It was in talking to Mary Anne that I realised the common thread that united all these events.

Both dubstep and grime are, by and large, underground phenomena. Dubstep is currently in an unprecedented growth period and grime has, in aspiration, always aimed high. In all four events, the Dizzee review, Skepta interview, the Frukt round table and the Radio 1 interview, the issue came up of what happens to underground scenes when they reach for the mainstream.

I’m not intrinsically against the mainstream. I love hearing Timbaland’s or Ryan Leslie’s weird beats on the radio and it was incredible when Dizzee won the Mercury Music Prize with “Boy In Da Corner.” Kanye does confidence on a global scale. And yes, while it’s true that I struggle to relate to most mainstream music, it’s fair to generalise that most artists would like their music heard by the widest possible audience: for them to think otherwise would be irrational. But increasingly reaching the widest possible audience comes with some very large terms and conditions, ones that like a straight jacket, tend to restrain.

First off there’s my eMusic “Maths + English” review, the closing paragraph of which reads:

“Much of what made Dizzee so utterly compelling has been discarded, a unique message replaced by the everyday urge to entertain. “A couple of years ago in my road-yout days/I was into pirate radio I guess it was a phase…” spits Dizzee on “Pussyole”. It’s a tragic admission. While the track as a whole lays into his former mentor Wiley, those bars cheaply dismiss pirate radio, the medium that first afforded him a voice and that continues to function as the voice of inner city London that mainstream radio will not allow. If Dizzee has fought his way to the heart of commercial media only to loose his message, did the end justify these means?”

Skepta, alongside his brother JME, has done more to work with mainstream media than any other unsigned grime act (they played at celebrity socialite Peaches Geldoff’s birthday party – that’s breaking serious cultural boundaries!). Speaking to him, prior to the launch of his self-released debut album about his strategy on reaching a wider audience, it was interesting to hear some compromises he makes. From the start, one of the appeals of grime has been its unique use of language. Even in my first Dizzee interview for Hyperdub.net almost five years ago, I spent time with him clarifying what the slang terms he used meant (“shotters/blotter/HMP…”). The slang itself evolves within the grime community and takes dedicated listening by an outsider to decipher. Talking to Skepta, his approach seems to be a process of lyrical self-clarification, both in vocabulary and delivery, to ensure his message is heard and understood. It’s about knowing your audience, he believes: speaking to 50 grime fans on London pirate radio is not the same as MCing to 1000 clubbers in Russia or wherever.

I mentioned this at the Frukt round table and Plastician, who’s tight with Skepta and has spent time on tour with him, attested to this change in approach by Skepta when facing audiences abroad. Lots of the Frukt debate centred around “what’s next for dubstep?” with many inevitable comparisons to drum & bass. “Will dubstep become ‘coffee table’ music?” went on line of questioning. Will we see dubstep-lite on adverts like we saw drum & bass-lite selling shampoo and conditioner in the late ‘90s?

Whether we will or won’t can only be speculation. The bigger question is, will it still be dubstep if it is? How much do you have to compromise for it no longer to be recognisable and furthermore, if the price of compromise is a complete loss of everything that made your art form unique and interesting in the first place, was it worth it?

The Mary Anne Hobbs interview was a strange experience. Putting headphones on in a broadcast studio so you can hear your own voice – and only your own voice – reverbed, and then being asked emotive questions you feel deeply about, gives the an effect that’s not unlike having the entire room be able to hear your deep, near-subconscious thoughts.

During the interview this “future of dubstep” question came up and also “should dubstep go down the ‘live’ route” and I thought back over the Skepta, Frukt and Dizzee encounters. Then an analogy came to me, that I’d been mulling over for some time, that applied to all the situations.

Imagine a political party with a brilliant, nation-changing idea. They do everything to gain power, except in doing so, have to compromise the one idea that made them unique and important. You’d have to ask, as a voter, was it all worth it? The same question applies to dubstep and grime.

I try wherever possible, to remain positive and idealistic about music. But I appreciate that with a few exceptions (Dizzee’s “Boy In Da Corner”, Burial’s “Burial” and Lethal B’s “Forward Riddim” aka “Pow”), access to the mainstream audiences – if an artist wants to go down that route – requires some degree of compromise. I guess then, the crux of this arguments then reduces itself to, what compromises are acceptable for the two genres if they’re to retain what makes them unique, vital and interesting?

The original nuttah

Blackdown: So Trim, here we are in your ends, the Isle of Dogs, just standing on a wall. To start with, how did the Soulfood mixtape series come about?

Trim: Wiley asked me for a name. I said “Soulfood.” That was it. He said “why Soulfood” and I said “because there’s drugs out there that fuck with people’s souls.”

B: That’s deep… the name has a funk feel to me though. Like James Brown.

T: We found out afterwards that there’s a record label called that so I’m just going to do 1-5 and then I’m gonna change it. But yeah it’s a good little theme.

B: The mixtape thing: it’s like having your own albums out. Do you see it like that or do you see it differently to albums?

T: Way differently to albums because I’m not putting 100% effort in, I’m only giving you 75%... 50%. But I’m peaking at the minute so I’m going to keep trying, keep going on until I think, this is as far as I can go.

B: So vinyl… there was the "Boogieman" 12” with the diss thing on the flip…

T: It’s now 2007: we have evolved. [Laughs]. Those are the classics. They were hot stuff but yeah, we just keep going on from there and hopefully every tune’s a hit.



B: So tell us about your new crew, The Circle?

T: So The Circle are a new group of people that I know, that I want to work with, from around here and everywhere. From all walks of life. What it is it, I was working with some people I already knew and we always have arguments, another one’s occurred, so I can’t live with them, I cant work with them, never gonna work with them, not mentioning no names but you’ll just not hear them on my mix CD again. Or anything to do with me. But yeah. The Circle is going to be a sick thing.

B: So I know about Crunch…

T: He’s the front runner at the minute. He’s gonna be the next guy. He’s got a lot to say for himself. But there’s a line of youngers ready to go, like soon. I’m setting them up, getting them all together… there’s producers involved, like T-Spark [or this one].

B: One of the things I liked about Soulfood vol 1 is that you seemed to be working with a whole bunch of new producers, like DVA, Mega, Jerzy…

T: Yeah man because I’ve veered away from Roll Deep and just wanted to let the world know… we always used to have arguments because they didn’t want to do the same music as me, it was always the case that I had to do tunes that I didn’t want to do, so I went and found tunes… “…My Playground” was made by Maniac but not credited to him – he’s so upset about that. He’s a good producer, a good producer from E3 … we’re from E14 but it’s a different thing, Chrisp Street.

B: [Trim mentions Chrisp Street in the tune we’ve done together called The Bits so I’m curious about it.] Where is Chrisp Street?

T: It’s just up the road from here. About two miles away, it’s the bits, my bits. Limehouse is also E14, Stepney is E14, so E14 is quite big, not just Chrisp Street and Isle of Dogs. There’s so much to it.

B: So what about the early days, when did you start MCing?

T: Everyone asks that question and I always tell them, it’s really hard to believe but I started … the first time you heard me on the radio. I had about seven lyrics [laughs].

B: Is this [his old crew] Bomb Squad days?

T: So I’m 23 now and this was about five years ago, so when I was 18. Maybe 17. Fresh outta jail, packed with lyrics…

B: Did you write lyrics in jail?

T: Nah that wasn’t the case.

B: Because when a lot of MCs that go to jail, like say Riko or Goodz, seem to store up lyrics and come out really hungry for MCing.

T: I had bars that no one had heard before I went to jail anyway. So I needed to get them ones across first. Obviously you can get pen and paper, but that wasn’t the focus of jail.

B: What was jail like?

T: Normal. Like a boarding school. Jail’s like a boarding school with no girls. That’s it.

B: But like, really harsh or bearable?

T: It’s bearable but I’m a strong minded person, if you’re not, if you’re a weak minded person it’s not bearable. I’m a strong minded person so I dealt with it.

B: You make it sound like it’s literally bearable, where most people would try everything to avoid it.

T: Yeah I’m trying to avoid it obviously, I’m not trying to get locked up in a cage, I’m no bird, but yeah bruv… if you can avoid it, avoid it. It’s not something I’m planning to do. Holidays: that’s what I’m out here for…

B: What about Ayia Napa, can you go there again?

T: Hahahahaha… I dunno, can I? Let’s ask Marcus [NASTY], phone him up and see if he’s dropped the case.

B: OK. I take it you haven’t been this summer?

T: No but I’ve been to Malia, Kos, Faliraki. I’ll be going next year so if you want to see Trim n Scratch, we’ll be there. Scratchy wasn’t there this year, he went for about two days but came back because he got arrested. Yeah dawg, they just wanna take your money when they know you’re working in the rave as well, wait ‘til you get drunk, come out on your bike and then nick you…

B: Who’s they?

T: The police. But yeah, I had a different case. Long story but it’s definitely not water under the bridge.

B: OK… so tell me about your use of wordplay? It’s kinda unique in grime.

T: Yeah I’d say I’m an artist, wouldn’t you? I can play with words, do anything. I’m that guy.

B: I don’t really know anyone else in grime who does this though. Most guys spit standard bars…

T: I don’t spit standard bars because I’m not a standard person, I’m not thinking like these guys, I’m not from the same place as these guys, they’re from E3, I’m from E14, I’ve got a different set of words in my head and I play with them. Wordplay: it’s just what words come to your head and how you say it. You can always say the simple words but I always try to look for the thing you’re not looking to hear next. So you’re always on the edge of your seat.

B: Tell me about remixing your own bars because you do that thing when you take one of your own lyrics that everyone knows from radio, you hear it again, you think you know where it’s going and then – bang – it’s gone the opposite way…

T: Yeah man, you have to keep people on their toes, like: are you listening? I want people to be listening, and if you ain’t listening, you’re just gonna think it’s the same old bar and switch it off.

B: On "The Bits" you use the lines “speedboat/I’ll leave the rowing to you.” That’s pretty abstract.

T: Yeah cos like, rowing… speedboats, it’s got a lot to do with Roll Deep, it’s on my conscience, I cant get them out of my head.

B: It must have been hard going from being part of something like Roll Deep to being by yourself, what was that like to deal with?

T: It wasn’t hard, it’s always been just me. Just me. No one else. [looks around him, into an empty residential street] I’m just here on my ones. But there are other people supporting me, and my family, but yeah I’m my own guy really.

B: Back to wordplay, what’s that “coco butter” bar about?

T: Bruv, it’s that black brown that you never see on TV advertised but every black person uses it.

B: I love the lyric because it had that extra meaning that other people don’t notice. Plus it references the jungle classic “Original Nuttah.”

T: Bigup the Apache Indian!

B: I know Goodz memorises all his lyrics, some MCs have a pad by their bed. How do you go about writing your lyrics?

T: I’m in seven states of mind. Sometimes I’ll be in a state of mind to write a lyric, then I’ll know it’s there and think “OK, where’s the beat! Get the beat!” Whatever comes out, I try and talk myself into what I’m saying. I write stuff down, say it, write it down… once the first line’s down I’m away. It’s like a zone and I’m in dere. You see something, or someone says something, it triggers a part of your brain and you have to say something. I’m trying to paint a picture for you, so you can see what’s going on, not leave you blind.

Like the tune “I’m Not” that ends Vol 1 and starts Vol 2. “I’m in a playground full of hobbits/And on-screen goons.” Now THAT’s a bar. You’ve got to look into that. “On screen goons” because they’re only goons when they’re on screen. Gollum’s another character I chose for myself, he’s another person’s that gonna be in The Circle. The character with three personalities.

B: An alter ego of yours?

T: Yeah, he’s mine, it’s mad. Like a mad person bwoy.

B: Trim, Trimble, Trevan, Trimvan, Trimothy, Trim Trim Cheroo: you’re amazing at playing with your actual name, especially when names are very important to MCs in terms of their identities and reputation…

T: Like I said I’m in seven states of mind, so I’ve got so many names for each state of mind. There’ll be different days and different moods. We’ve all got different moodswings and those moodswings are my names.

B: What’s your original name?

T: My original name is Javan. My surname is [censored] it’s French.

B: How did you get the name Trim?

T: It came from road. But you can have Javan but don’t put my surname out there…

B: Where did the French surname come from?

T: My parents are St Lucian, they speak broken French.

B: Do you speak any French?

T: Nah nah. I don’t speak no French, call JME for that job. English is the most: I don’t really need to know French.



B: OK so, you have a reputation for being fearless in ‘war,’ aren’t you ever concerned about starting things?

T: Concerned? About? Nah, nah, most of the people in this game we know of them, that’s it. So whatever they’ve got to say, they can say it. We’re out here.

B: You’re never concerned?

T: I can’t see what they possibly could say. They stick n stone can break your bones…

B: It’s not saying, it’s doing though.

T: Yeah but when I’m saying stuff, I’m willing to do it, but I won’t do it unless I’m forced to do it.

[Trim has two phones, held together, back to back, by a rubber band. One of them rings, but after a short conversation, he returns to the interview…]

B: So, were you born around here, the Isle of Dogs?

T: I was born in Mile End. E3 but yeah, f-that.

[Phone goes again. OK he’s back now…]



B: Do you still play football on a Sunday?

T: Yeah but I’ve currently stopped because I’ve dislocated my big toe getting away from police, and I didn’t get away, because obviously I dislocated by toe, but I got rid of the food so I was alright. But the leg’s getting better so I’ll be back playing football on a Sunday. I don’t play for a team, I just play with the local goons, the mandem from the area.

B: Where do you play?

T: I’m got going to tell you because there’s so many goons there I wouldn’t want no one to come and feel that they’re safe there. They’re not really safe there.

B: Is this the same game the one Roll Deep play against Ruff Sqwad on a Sunday?

T: Nah, but I’ve played in that game. Ruff Sqwad are a good team, healthy people. And they’ve got heart so they won’t let Roll Deep just win, though Roll Deep have won on a few occasions.

B: Who in grime is good at football?

T: Me personally, I think I’m one of the best guys…

B: You would say that!

T: I would because I’m really not shit at football. But um, Tinchy’s quite good but he’s little so gets barged off the ball. DJ Begg from Ruff Sqwad. Riko, he’s a striker, you put him up there and he will score. Jet Li. Wiley can have a good game. Scratchy’s not into football. Flow Dan plays basketball… thinks he’s American.

B: You likely to work with Scratchy again?

T: Yeah he’s on two tunes on Vol 3. Yous are behind me now, because I’m on Vol 5 now.

B: What’s the 12 Monkeys theme about on the artwork?

T: The film was not used the right way, they never had 12 real goonbags. Ha. I think that the 12 monkeys that represent the circle that are gonna be here when I’ve left. And I’m not saying “left” as in getting a record deal I’m saying if I don’t get a record deal by the end of this year, I’m leaving and I’m gonna make sure these people have got a better chance than I have.

B: You’re gonna leave MCing?

T: Yeah I’m not gonna force it too much just do these mixtapes, start another project, get onto it by the end of the year and then by January if I haven’t heard anything, I’m outty.

B: You can’t leave Trim!

T: I can’t leave? Watch me! Wiley said he was leaving, he came back. I’m not Wiley, I’m not gonna come back. So these labels better fix up, look sharp. Holler at a boy because I’m willing to work. I got the words. The scene better not let me leave, I want to get a record deal.

[Trim gets interrupted by an older guy on a bike who wants to meet him. Trim wanders off for a second, then returns…]

T: That was Richie Campbell, by the way, who does the boxing on the Isle of Dogs. I aint really a boxer but I used to do martial arts when I was younger, so I can kick and that, but it’s good for you innit? I eat good so, I wanna just tump someone in the face sometimes, my mates all do it, so I wanna show up one day and say “come on lets ‘aaaaave it!” My mates all go so I’m on jumping in the ring with some people but I don’t ever show up for the gym so Richie’s telling me “get on it.” I used to do Tae Kwon Do and Open Hand Karate. But obviously I was young and thick so I didn’t listen but I clocked a few things, the things that hurt innit, haha. But I aint trying to kick anyone so don’t look at me like I’m some kind of Karate guy.

B: OK. You mention your dad on one of your mixtape tracks, saying he was famous and to ask about him, what’s the story behind that?

T: Bruv you gotta do your history. He was a reggae artist, well I don’t know if he was… he was on… don’t know much about him apart from I’ve got pictures.

B: Do you not see him much?

T: Nah, am totally locked off from his family. There’s never been a word from each, but I spoke to his brother one day, that was it, that’s as far as it goes. I was too young to have a proper conversation with him.

B: Is he gone?

T: Nah nah, they’re about I just have to go find him but the way I live, like I’ve grown up in a set of family, I’m alright, no bad to him or nothing but one day we’ll speak, we’ll see the other people, but right now, I’ve got my own family to worry about.

B: Do you know where he lives?

T: Yeaaah, I think he has a yard near Brixton. But anyway, not that it matters. We’re talking about grime…



B: OK so tell me about the Roll Deep situation, is it completely finished?

T: Do you know what it is with Roll Deep, I don’t hate them, but it’s people that have grown differently to me and they believe in different things. I cant hate them for believing in different things but I don’t agree with everything so I just want to be on my own if I cant make certain decisions. I’m my own boss, no one cant tell me shit. That’s the best thing.

B: I suppose being on your own makes it easier to get signed for you…

T: Yeah but Roll Deep should be getting another record deal, I think they’re getting another one so they’ve gotta pull another album out of the bag. But I’m on Vol4, holla at a guy, labels: I’ll do a lot of work for yous. Let me be the only grime act. If you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, “Trim” then I’m thinking of yous.

B: What do you look for in a beat from a producer?

T: I just look for space for me. If I can hear it, I will know. Sometimes I jump on beats that are nothing to do with my kind of thing. Makes me sound a bit off but I like jumping on beats I can hear myself in.

B: What other genres of music do you like?

T: Hip hop, r&b, reggae, bashment… I don’t really like crunk and all those guys but I do believe if they gave me a beat that was serious I would move to it better than every other guy. I swear.

B: Any chance of hearing you on radio soon?

T: Yeah I’m gonna run up on Rinse soon.

B: What about grime DJs, which ones do you rate?

T: I don’t rate grime DJs, Karnage is my cousin. Boy betta know that DJ Karnage is my blood cousin.

B: Literally?

T: Yes so everybody should know that he is the best DJ. It’s not loyalty, he’s my cousin. That’s it. But there’s other DJs that are good. Johnny Skeng is good. Geeneus is one of the biggest DJs that there could ever be, I think Slimzee’s nang. Maximum is definitely nang.

B: How do you feel about funky house?

T: Um, I like it, I do like funky house. Bit of a dance and that, it’s alright man. I don’t specifically go out looking for certain raves but funky house: I will maybe make the occasion to go to those girl-raves. Haha…

B: Ahaha, I see where you’re going with that…

T: I love funky house because the girls love funky house. And if the girls love funky house, we can go to funky house.

B: The only thing is it doesn’t leave a lot of room for the MC. So we’re back to the UK garage thing, with MCs as ‘hosts.’ What happens if there’s no room for MCs anymore?

T: Yeah that would be a bit shit but I always believe there’s room out here for me. I’m guaranteed a spot haha.

B: You don’t hear grime MCs on Radio 1, but you hear funky house on adverts…

T: Yeah, I know where you’re going with it but I think there’s space for me. If there’s space for Take That, there’s space for me bruv.

B: Maybe Take That are taking up too much space, and if they took up less, there’d be more room for you?

T: Nah nah, The Spice Girls be taking up too much space…

Woooooooof Ahhhhh

In an era of full on digital submersion, you've gotta commend people willing to swim against the tide. Woofah mag, is a real, in print-magazine dedicated to all the good shit in life (reggae, dancehall, jungle, garage, hip hop, grime, dubstep and bass) and none of the bad (adverts, very high pitched noises, people who write about music they don't burn for).

It's edited by John Eden and Paul Meme, aka Grievous Angel. The latter's just finished a ragga-techno-dubstep LP: clearly he's beyond such mere mortal necessities as "sleep."

It features writing from many fellow bloggers, including Mel Bradshaw, Simon Silverdollar, Dan Hancox, and amusingly some bloke called "Martin C" taking the piss out of Forward>> who isn't me. Seriously, it's not me. Photos come from George Infinite and illustrations from Woebot. In the game of UK blogger bingo, this baby's a full house.

I'm still in the process of reading it all, but it's a total joy so far. Here are some of my favourite quotes:

"Badman don't drink Snapple"

From the Badman Commandments feature by Gabriel Heatwave

"They had no idea about dubplates, but we did. We had a certain one telling 10 things about Unique 3 - why they were going to get buried - 'Unique 3 this, Unique 3 that'. Awww, fucking 'ell it was ruff!"

Dub's Mark Iration on clashing Unique 3 in Bradford during the bleep era.

"Jungle is massive!"

Pinch on being asked which is better, Krome and Time or Photek

Woofah mag costs only £3: far cheaper than starting your own mag called Tweetah aimed at dogs, bats and all ultra sonic-hearing animals. Honest.

PF Sept 07

Pitchfork column time ft. Skepta, Dysfunktion, LV and The Bug.

Ready...

Dusk + Blackdown @ FWD>> and Keysound 004

I’ve loved Forward>> like no other club, since its inception six years ago. I’d been badgering El-B to start a night so I can’t lie, like a total fanboy, I turned up far too early to the first one at Velvet Rooms. There was no one there at first but a stush garage industry crowd soon mooched into the venue late and Jay Da Flex rocked it with a headline Ghost set.

So it’s with real excitement that, six years later, I can share with you that Dusk and I will be making our Forward>> debut, in the warm-up slot next Friday (31st August).

Although its evolved, I’ve lost count of the amazing sets I’ve seen at Forward>>. There’s Jay Da’s aforementioned Ghost set at Velvet Rooms, and several Zed Bias rinse outs there too. I recall Slimzee and Maxwell D there in the proto-grime, Pay As U Go days.

Moving to Plastic People – a far superior venue and still my favourite place in London – makes me think of Youngsta cutting up dubplate (!) doubles of “Request Line,” Roll Deep shocking out to “Request Line,” Mala b2b Loefah smacking it, Newhams pon mic, Kode9 dropping “Subkon,” and most of all those peerless 2004 headline sets by Hatcha which really set the cement in dubstep’s foundations.

Given all this, it’s a pretty serious opportunity, being given the chance to step the few yards from my favourite spot in front of the speaker, to behind the decks. But really and truly, when your name is called it’s important to step up.

Since autumn last year Dusk and I have been quietly focusing on building an entire new Keysound set. For anyone that’s tried to build, they’ll know it takes hours, days, nights, and quite often years. All going to plan, we’re hoping to present what we’ve been working on at Forward>> alongside some tunes we've cut by some of our favourite producers. As I said, we’re playing the early set 10:30-12, so if you’re up for hearing what we’ve been building, try and reach early if you can.

This is probably also a good occasion to mention our new single too. Keysound’s been a bit quiet this year, overwhelmingly because we’ve been focusing on the slow process of writing but we’re trying to ensure the pace picks up a little from here on in.

Our new single is done and will be out in October via Baked Goods:

LDN004

a) Dusk + Blackdown ft Trim “The Bits”
b) Blackdown “Northside Cheng Dub”

Audio of the single is now available on MySpace and Virb.

Both tracks are built from a master template we assembled of samples from the Chinese instrument, the cheng. “The Bits” is essentially Trim over three separate but related grime-inspired cheng riddims, juggled together. “Northside Cheng Dub” is also built from cheng samples but is more dubstep focused. Together we hope they form a kind of dark Sino sonic reflections of the London experience. I hope you can join us for their airing, next Friday at Forward>>.

FWD>> and Rinse @ The End

For the last three years or so, grime couldn't get a club night in central London. For large parts of the 2001-2005, dubstep couldn’t get an audience. If you came to some of the many Forwards>> when there were more bar staff than fans, hold tight you. So even in a year when Mala and Benga can play to 8,000 fans at Roskilde, or Oris Jay, Skream and Kode9 can take down Sonar, it still makes me smile to come down New Oxford Street at 10:24pm and see a queue for Rinse and Forward>> at The End that stretches from the front door, around the side and all the way down the length of the building to the main road. It was a roadblock.

I’d come down early to see Appleblim, who’s deep, delayed and techy sets have been a real pleasure recently. Funny thing was, there was almost too much delay, so that in a room of that size (the main room at The End), his whole set felt drenched in reverb, all reflection and no signal, so that you couldn’t tell any of the detail.

This wasn’t ‘Blim’s fault though: throughout the night it was apparent how much of the ‘big room’ clubbing experience this was, sonically, with only the most obvious parts of the track cutting through the cavernous room. With scale, you gain audience but loose detail.

But this was not a night for audio purists, it was a full on, hot, rammed, hyped rave – and the energy was really enjoyable. The crowd was an welcome blend and the press surrounding the night (Radio1, Metro, The London Paper to name but a few…) seemed to bring headz out from all sides, so that even though it was on such a massive scale, the community vibe absent at other raves of late, returned. So in no particular order hold tight: Mel B, Dan Hancox, the mighty Farrah, Rahul Virma from Metro/Knowledge, Sarah “where have you been, girl?!” Bentley (please send me the Mavado transcript!), Chris Blacklay from Kiss, Stu Give Up Art, The Bug, Terror Danjah, Henny G, Mr and Mrs Spaceape, Artwork, N Type, Markle, Luke Envoy, Mary Ann Hobbs and of course Soulja and Geeneus. Beats are one thing, but I’m increasingly reminded how much people make the night.



I also enquired about the no camera rule and got, surprise surprise, a perfectly reasonable answer. At a rave of the size of this one, you could easily have had half a dozen waste-DVD makers pushing cameras in the face of the DJs and shoving the punters away from the small, floor-level DJ booth, both of which you have to agree, would detract from the night. Who remembers all the annoying photographers and German TV crews climbing all over the booth at DMZ?

In addition the lack of visual record keeps a mystique to the night, so that to see it, you had to come along. Ammunition are not filming it themselves, instead preserving the sacredness of the live moment, in a similar way to why Mala doesn’t do many radio mixes, to preserve the surprises of his (amazing) DJ sets. Anyway all this seems pretty reasonable: people really need to calm down with the knee jerk conspiracy theories.

The first real peak of the night was Wiley and Karnage – Trim was sadly a no show (hold tight Boomnoise’s builder’s mystic prediction). Karnage began flicking through one raw grime instrumental after another: think variations on Maniac’s “Bow E3” beat. It was Wiley that really made the set come alive, shooting around the booth with a muscular energy, taking request-shouts from the crowd before spitting a greatest hits set of his bars. He looked hungry and ready for battle, which is Wiley at his strongest.

The biggest tunes of the night seemed to be either Benga and Coki’s “Night” or Rusko’s “Cockney Thug”, the latter of which N Type finished with and was the perfect kind of tune to cut through the immense noise in the venue: it’s got one big wobble sound and some swearing. Little else can nor needs to be heard. Cue the reload.



The next highlight was Kode9 ft Flowdan and Killa P. While Kode played a mix of really percussive, kick-lead housey stuff (esp. Mala’s “Lean Forward”), it was the live versions of “Skeng” and “Jah War” by Flowdan that killed it. Between Loefah, The Bug and Flowdan, they really have nailed the dark, intense, dread-war halfstep anthem. Both tunes and their mixes are stone cold ruffness.

I couldn’t help but make sure I wandered through to see Rinse’s Supa play in the bar. Soulja seems to be using the term “UK house” for the London funky house movement, but while I get how it’s new in terms of its audience, to me I’m still waiting for a musical “wow” moment. I got the same reaction I always get: I wander in, think “oh this is nice.” 30 minutes later it’s still “nice,” the tune doesn’t seem to have changed at all and I’m bored. Still, it was good to see Crazy D bouncing around to it and Arthur Artwork, ohmydays, did he dress up for the occasion? It’d have to be a wedding or funeral to get me in such a dapper suit and tie. I salute your style Mr Smith.

Back in the main room Geeneus and Tubby were doing a ferocious back 2 back, with the tunes crazily pitched up. Footsie and D Double were hyping things to great effect but for me at least, the pain barrier was reached and it was time to fall asleep on the night bus. Again.

Tempa special

7 years after Gorgon Sound, Benny Ill getting his dues on Radio 1...

Last night, if you listened to Mary Anne Hobbs’ Radio 1 show, you’ll have heard a bunch of us up on her show. The plan was to celebrate the early days of Tempa, as well as to look to the future of the Ammo stable, starting with tonight’s massive Forward>> & Rinse presents rave at The End. The whole thing was fun.



It began with dubstep staging a mini flash-mob outside Radio 1’s foyer. Anyone trying to get into Radio 1/1Xtra would have had to fight through Skream, Skream’s Stella collection, Youngsta, Soulja, Geeneus, Horsepower, N Type, Benga, Benga’s afro, Jon Rust, Headhunter, Appleblim and some of the guys’ girlfriends. It was a bit like being on a school trip again, with Soulja doing head counts and N Type describing the animals he’d seen in the zoo. Skream was winding Youngsta up that there was going to be crap decks in Radio 1 and using the intercom to make voices appear out of the wall behind Benga’s head. Weasel crew on tour!



We then descended into the bowels of Radio 1, to spend two hours sitting in the Live Lounge, until we were called in pairs for our part in the show. On one side daytime DJ Scott Mills was doing his thing, on the other Zane Lowe was recording. Grooverider wandered past. Benga broke into the Zane Lowe’s broadcast for a chat, but not knowing who he was, didn’t mention that he has the biggest tune in Ayia Napa right now.

I thought something was up when Target played Benga and Coki’s “Night,” mixed into some funky house last Sunday on 1Xtra. He then described how he’d heard Roll Deep’s Maximum playing it and demanded a copy.

Killing time in the Live Lounge, I asked Geeneus about “Night.” Turns out the Target trail comes back to him, as he slipped Maximum a copy. Since then Skepta – a real pan-genre music fan and the one who championed Skream’s “Request Line” to the grime guys – has hyped it across the isle.

The crazy bit is it’s big with funky house DJs too, confirming my suspicions that Napa 07 may be a crucial ‘nuum melting pot this summer where grime, (southern) funky/UK house and (northern) Niche/bassline house will collide. Thing is, it looks like dubstep’s a massive part of that too. “I’m a house producer now,” joked Benga on several occasions, but the reality is that despite all the inroads into electronica/d&b/experimental territory and despite all the derision from grime fans over the year, dubstep and grime have never been closer – which can only be a good thing

As is usual with big instrumentals, there’s talk of a vocal version of “Night.” Given it’s not happened yet I don’t want to jinx it, but let’s just say they’re aiming very high in the MC game. We’ll see.

Two by two, we got called in to the studio for interviews, and I was honoured to be called in with Soulja, someone I have so much time and respect for. Maybe the journalism training helps, but I felt pretty comfortable on the mic, in fact it felt fun. Someone asked me afterwards did I forget what I was going to say. R U Dumb? This shit’s in my blood, I have to find ways to think about it less, not more.



Soulja and I got two interview spots and it was good to see her finally talking about what she does. She’s a relentless powerhouse, someone who takes little credit but makes so much happen. It’s literally true that without her there would be no dubstep, as in the scene would have died when Ghost imploded and would have never been given the chance to incubate at Forward>>, on Tempa and through her bridge-building, on Rinse (a vital lifeline in 2004/5). She was even there when her then business partner, Neil Joliffe, invented the word “dubstep.”

It was great to Benny Ill finally getting some high level props. If you look at the first 14 releases on Tempa – a run only Hyperdub and DMZ can really match in depth and quality – Benny’s influence dominates them. They didn’t sell much then but they’ve stood the test of time. To me, like Burial, Kode or Mala’s output they really are a benchmark of quality, a yardstick of how good dubstep can be.

I was totally honoured, then, to close the dubstep section of the show out with my choice “Sholay” by Benny Ill and Goldspot, a deep, deep persyingle of a tune. I tried to describe how good it was to Mary Ann, but really and truly, like the Ghost tune, “words can not express.” “Never forget,” indeed.

Preparing for the show, I wrote down the following, by way of explanation of the setting for the emergence of Tempa:

If you think about 2000/01, we were very much in the UK garage era, and when the first Ghost, Shelflife and Tempa 12"s came about, nothing really sounded like them. UK garage is essentially a hybrid of US r&b and house with some UK jungle bass - and was mostly vocal.

But around 2000 there were a few people who both liked UKG but missed the edge of jungle, the synths of Detroit, the dub of Jamaica and Berlin and wanted more. To them, me being one of them, Horspower's first singles, esp "Gorgon Sound" (Tempa 002) was the best of both worlds, combining the sexy percussive swing of UK garage with the edge of the other sounds like jungle, dub, techno and more.

Horsepower brought more too - esp a sense of new sample sources from around the globe ie India and China, not just the usual US/JA axis and a love of cinematic atmosphere. Their first LP "In Fine Style" is peerless in dubstep, still one of the two or three best LPs from the genre. Its like an entire world in one LP, brought to the listener via the power of samples and diaglog from film.

I interviewed Horsepower for Jockey Slut around the time of the first LP, which I could dig out if people want. My interview from Deuce for their second LP is online here.

Mary Ann also dragged something out of Souljah and I that we’ve been working on for over a year. If you didn’t hear the show, it’s true, we’ve been working on:

Ammunition and Blackdown present: The Roots of El-B

After the Roots of Dubstep, a process which was a total joy to do, compared to dealing with 679 for Run the Road 1, I began to wonder how the compilation could be furthered. “The Roots of Dubstep 2” would have been easy to do, but would it have been better? Instead I decided to build out the El-B section, to focus the whole next compilation on him. Of the three founding trinity – El-B, Zed Bias and Horsepower – the latter two have CD albums you can find. Yet El-B’s peerless material, as Groove Chronicles and as part of Ghost, is scattered across 40 or so obscure and long since gone white labels. The El-B LP never happened: I have a recording of the DAT of what did get done, but in truth his best work came out on the 12”s. The plan is to pull them all together. As I said on Radio 1, this is unfinished business.

It’s also timely, I feel. Burial’s comments in interview about the lost, secret art of swing created some interest, but as I’ve said on the Dubstep Forum recently, the focus on groove, swing and percussion is being obliterated right now. Perhaps this release will help redress the balance.

Nightdriving again

A funny thing happened to me last night.

So I’m driving Dusk home late last night from studio and we’re clipping over the flyover. Goodz’ “The Music” is blaring out and I’ve got goosebumps from how amazing it is, when the “no petrol” light comes on in the car.

Fuck.

So I drop Dusk off and head back towards Tottenham, the nearest likely place to fill up. After two laps of Tottenham Hale’s confusing gyratory, I pull into a petrol station.

It’s deserted, apart from the attendant locked inside the shop. Oh and there’s three guys hanging around the air pump.

Hmmm…

It’s 1am in Tottenham. What are three kids doing in a petrol station, hoods up, without a car or a motorbike?

Hmmm…

So I’m filling the car, trying to have eyes in the back of my head, and I can hear some distant discussion. I look up and sure enough, one of them is coming over to me.

OK I think, now it’s on top.

The kid’s about 16, white, rocking a tracksuit and looking a bit lean.

“’Scuse me mate, you couldn’t spare me some change could you?” he goes. “My Auntie’s kicked us out.”

When people ask for change, I usually give them some. It’s not that I think the money will or won’t be used for drugs as well as bus fare, but it’s a dignity thing. If someone has opened themselves up enough to admit they need to ask for change, it’s hard to kick ‘em when they’re down.

“Sure,” I say and reach into my pocket, giving him a few quid. “It’s all the change I have.”

“Thanks mate,” he says and leans towards me.

1am, petrol station in Tottenham. Kid tryin’ a ting. Not being funny, but lets be real: now it’s really on top.

In an instant he’s really close. His lips look a bit white and flakey. Then he says pretty much the last thing I expected to hear: “give us a hug?”

Before I can really answer he’s giving me a hug. Damn this is strange, but OK, no trouble so far.

Then he really does it.

As he pulls out of the hug, he kisses me on the neck.

Whatthefuck??

He chips back to his mates and the three of them shuffle off, god knows where to, since Tottenham Hale is an industrial wasteland, especially at that time of night.

I pay the attendant and head off home, getting mildly lost to the excellent Kush Arora CD. I’m a bit stunned but … damn, you gotta see the funny side.

It's all Goodz

Pitchfork time featuring exclusive Goodz news, Jason H, Dubwar's podcasts and silly season in dubstep (Skream, Pokes and Boomnoise - yourtime :) ).

NYC reflections

Scorching heat, bright yellow cabs, grey ventilation units, brown rusty fire escapes… welcome to New York.

New Yorkers have a reputation for being unfriendly; rude and brash even. And you know what? It’s total bollocks… or should I say, total bullshit, man. Ten days ago I had my first visit to this legendary city transformed by the warmth and generosity of New Yorkers, in particular by Dub War’s Dave Q, Sekkle and Juakali. This is some of my NYC reflections.



I posted here I was in going to be in the city. It speaks volumes about the place that people then fell over themselves to send me recommendations, guides, ideas and general blasts of enthusiasm about NYC, so much so that like the city itself, even the run up to the trip was a sensory overload. Between a 500 page Rough Guide (useful for knowing what’s what) and about 4000 words of personal recommendations (useful for knowing what’s hot), I felt supremely well prepared for the Big Apple. Honourable mentions must go to Dave Q, Rick Herron and the Dissensus vinyl heads for particularly insightful must-see recommendation guides.

My feelings towards New York have changed over the years. In the mid ‘90s I discovered hip hop, a time of Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Gangstarr, a time when many MCs both talked loud and said something. Then came house and garage, with Body & Soul this mythical, enticing place of Afro rhythms and Cuban percussion. Love affairs with other musical cities ran in parallel, through Chicago’s house and Detroit’s techno. Yet come the early 00s and an awakening occurred for me through late UK garage and early dubstep/grime, that made me realise I was surrounded by an amazing city and that if no one was feeding me grand narratives to match those of the US, then I should go out and actively find them myself in London. In the end the New York trip during the NY adoration years never came about while my fever was at it’s peak. Better late than never I suppose.



So here it is, some reflections of New York. Given how photographed, filmed and documented New York is, I don’t think anyone needs me drone on about every last detail, but I can’t help but share some of the best bits of six intense and amazing days. So here are my NYC highlights:

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the Brooklyn sun



So it’s clear blue day, a baking 40°C. Perfect for a nice stroll? Perfect for an entertaining English schoolboy error. Both Dave and Rick had recommended Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Looking at it on the map, well, it didn’t seem to far from downtown Brooklyn. Why not walk from one to the other, explore a bit? I mean, it’s by the river and everything. So began a compelling but gruelling, two hour trek across a baking hot industrial wasteland.

The wander began in “hipster ground zero” aka the area around Bedford Avenue subway. Think gentle record stores, coffee shops, wine merchants, novelty furniture shops and rough industrial loft-y living that looks cheap and cheerful but apparently isn’t, (cheap that is).

The walk followed south on Bedford Avenue and the boutique stores soon gave way to industrial and residential architecture, though sometimes the divide between the two wasn’t clear. Every country has it’s distinctive building styles and the US is no different. But walking through the 40°C furnace, there was something foreboding about these huge, windowless, airless buildings, air conditioning units poking out like a city-wide art experiment to re-use dead toasters. And these windowless buildings, are they internally darkened to exclude the heat or in fact sealed sweatboxes?

Ducking under the Williamsburg Bridge, the scenery became bleaker, poorer and more industrial. There were few people about, except in one big Project, where kids played in spraying fountains and a Puerto Rican-looking gang took shelter under the tower block eves.



Huge industrial buildings, fenced off by razor wire sat by the river. In the midday heat it was quiet, dead quiet. Sekkle had explained this is where the Mafia roll the bodies out of cars at night and into the East River. I’d remembered he’d said this, except amusingly, I thought he’d meant the other side of Brooklyn (the Jamaica bay side). Oooops.



The area became increasingly Jewish, Nursery school teachers filling a gaggle of kids onto one of the classic American school busses. Broken warehouses were adorned with Hebrew advertising. Dave Q later explained that this is a massive Hasidic Jewish community, possibly the largest outside of Israel. How these guys survive the heat in so much long, black clothing is beyond me.



After the Jewish nursery school, flyovers loomed. Then a turn onto Flushing Avenue, came the Navy Boat Yard, all “no trespassing” signs and more airless multi-story brutalism By this point, almost an hour and a half in, the heat was becoming really oppressive. Flushing stretched long into the distance, and the street had an eerie emptiness to it. Signs painted by school children read “Crime Hurts.”



After a long trek down Flushing, decaying buildings grew out of the trees. While you could see they had once been beautiful residential houses behind ornate wrought iron gates, in stark contrast to the naval industrial buildings and gritty warehouse units, they were now in a state of total disrepair, balconies spilling down. Later Dave Q would explain that they were once the Naval Officer’s quarters. Now they face into the Projects.




Half an hours’ walk from Flushing leads you to the contrast of Fulton Street, downtown Brooklyn. The borough obviously has a long history of association with hip hop, with Bedford-Stuyvesant to the east and a whole host of hip hop royalty living in Forte Greene. Junior’s, the Brooklyn soul food/cheesecake institution sits at one end. But even in spite of all this, I’d never expected to find a shopping district so damn hip hop it hurt.

If you like trainers bwoy, this one’s you.



Imagine London’s Oxford Street, from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road, where every other shop is like Footlocker for kicks, but better. There were shops that had 20 foot walls of Nu Era caps that they’d personalise for you. It was nuts. With the pound strong against the dollar, shoes are basically half price for UK visitors. Air Max US = $89. Air Max UK = £89. The solution? Buy two pairs.



In the stores (and it is “stores” not shops), they blast you with hip hop videos. With the sheer selection of trainers on offer, it was an intoxicating and smothering mix.

Every so often, Common would come on the screens. His great new single intones “you know how we do/we do it for the people” (check the video on YouTube here) Yet with a new album to plug, he’s joined forces with a trainer company for a set of ads based around the theme of “revolution.”



“Make a change…” it said boldly, before continuing, leaning out of the screen, “…buy a shoe.”

Make a change, buy a shoe? How does that help “the people?” How about: make a change, don’t buy a shoe Mr Common?

As Common reached out to the store’s occupants, it was easy to see what a complete and self-reinforcing culture this was. Here’s one of Brooklyn’s most celebrated residents, telling me from fourteen different TV screens in a Brooklyn shoe store, to step into his shoes because it would change the world. On YouTube he told me to buy a T shirt, because that would change the President too.

Intoxicating, smothering, 360 degrees of consumerist rhetoric: I bought some shoes, but not because Common had told me to.



Later in the trip, in the far more ostentatious – yet fitting – surroundings of the Marriot Hotel Times Square’s rotating bar, I got into the usual discussions with an American friend about UK v US culture, while being served by an over friendly waiter who insisted we use his first name (“OK Damon, nice to meet you too Damon…”). Recently returned from working in the UK, my friend raised an oft-heard gripe about the UK but took it further. Service in the UK is shit, he insisted. Service is expensive, fake and unfair in the US, I returned.

In the UK waiters or bar staff are guaranteed a minimum salary. This is fairer because regardless of customer whim, they get a steady, predictable income. Furthermore they don’t act like your new best friend because realistically, they don’t know you – and for British people, that that’s fine. The situation in the US is that you tip many people in the service sector (don’t ask me exactly which, it’s still a mystery) around 18%. This creates an incentive for the server to give good service and makes the customer feel satisfied. More spending from the customer drives consumer business. And consumer spending is the driver for the global economy, because without it, he continued, there’d be no business-to-business economy and then we’d all be unemployed. Ergo the woman who greets you in the shop doorway is the front person for the entire global economy. Have a nice day.



The Marriot, Times Square, 6th avenue, Macy’s (1 store = 1 billion square feet), the food portions, the 5XL t-shirts in Brooklyn (like tents), the sky scrapers: everything’s so large and glittering here – and like the Common-endorsed trainer-walls of Fulton Street, it’s intoxicating. This emphasis of consumption and capitalism as the central pillars of society seem to be such a defining US trait. American have such a positive, can-do, anyone-can-be-President (especially if they’re vastly wealthy) attitude which you do have to admire. And, as the richest country in the world, their successes speak for themselves.

But personally, I just feel uncomfortable making such a central emphasis on capitalism. I wonder, what’s truly important: how rich we are? Or is it what we think, what we believe, whether we’re fair and inclusive? There might be, in theory, equal opportunity for anyone to become rich, but in practice the rich tend to get richer and the poor, poorer. Times Square gets brighter, the Projects of Flushing, Brooklyn get poorer. Nike rewards it’s shareholders, child labour in an Export Processing Zone gets exploited. And I can’t accept it’s that poor people don’t work hard enough (one unpleasant argument I heard this trip), it simply has to be that the playing field of opportunity (educational, health, financial…) isn’t equal, and that to me is an inequality that should be fought against. Have a nice day y’all – and I do mean all.

Sekkle’s Sights



A paradox of Manhattan is that while it’s big in wealth, aspiration and vertical skyscraper ascent, along the ground it’s actually not that wide. As a consequence, exploring the various patchwork neighbourhoods that make up Manhattan is easy by foot – far easier than my foolish attempts to walk across a “small” town in California.

Another paradox that becomes apparent to visitors is that while the city has a reputation of being shiny and new, there’s far more sense of history embedded in the buildings that outsiders might initially anticipate. This became clear during two wonderful days spent exploring with NYC enthusiast and closet historian, Sekkle, of Dub War and Dubstep Forum fame.

The first journey began on Wednesday eve. We’d planned to see Femi Kuti and band in Central Park – how sick would that have been? – but despite the week’s 38°C heat wave, the heaven’s opened. We had to shelter from the Monsoon in the Apple store which, with stairs descending from the ceiling, resembles the glass structure in the Louvre. And damn the iPhone’s a good look – Dave Q’s bagged one. Cos he’s got it like that.

Instead of Femi we headed to SoHo for Thai food and when the rains had passed, we began wandering. Essentially we walked in a big circuit, taking in SoHo, the West Village, Greenwich Village and Astor Place. We had a pint in a sports bar (Argentina were tonking someone in the Copa America), saw tiles painted by school kids for 9-11 victims and came across Love – the new Dubwar Venue that has a soundsystem to fully rival Plastic People and 3rd Base I’m told. Next to Love is Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studios and beyond that the park he used to jam in during session breaks.

One definite highlight was the KGB bar that Sekkle lead us to. According to Sekkle, the venue used to be the home of the KGB during the McCarthy/Cold War era but masqueraded as an arts venue. These days it’s an enjoyably low-lit, grimey venue, with hip hop dudes eating fried chicken at tables next to the arts crowd. Naturally the venue’s red, with posters of Lenin above the vodka collection. The barman sounded American-Chinese (China: last true stronghold of communism?) and it only added to the atmosphere of the venue that Sekkle wouldn’t let me take photos.

But the evening’s real highlight was the beautiful Brownstones of the Greenwich and the West Village. While you always knew you were in New York – the stairs and dark stone never let you forget – with the old trees and quiet ambiance, there were definite parallels with London, old west London. Sekkle himself was a wealth of information about the differing buildings, pointing out ship-style windows, restorations or classic examples of architecture built next to cheap newer alternatives.



This amazing insight into the city continued the next day, when Sekkle Sights led us uptown, north of Central Park and into Harlem. With the benefit of two essential assets: local knowledge and a car, Sekkle’s offer of a trip through the historic black centre of Harlem was much appreciated. Harlem essentially covers the north tip of Manhattan. Columbia University is situated there and the immediate surroundings to the campus are gentrified and safe, but the reality is that while daytime is fine, as a white visitor, trips on foot in Harlem by night are not advised. I’d simply stand out.

Rolling in Sekkle’s car, we were listening to an old but special Rinse set: Kode9 b2b Mala b2b Joe Nice (shoes off), Orson inside. It was summer 2005 but already it feels like a long time ago, sonically at least. Then, as we hit the top of Harlem, who should call but Joe on his way to DMZ. There was some hollering in the car, I can tell ya.

A few days later, after we’d walked near some of the Projects off Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, one of Dave Q’s mates questioned what the interest in places like these is. It’s a fair question and one I’d been asking myself while rolling through Harlem with Sekkle.

The answer comes in several parts. Firstly, there’s the buzz of exploring, of going where I really don’t belong. Secondly for anyone raised on hip hop from an early age, their minds are flooded with these grand narratives made from location-based identity. “Where’s Brooklyn at?” “The South, South Bronx…” “Strong Island!” “Bedford Stuyvesant.” Sugarhill, Harlem. Hook after hook sticks in your mind, so much so that you feel compelled to see some of these places. And finally it feels important to acknowledge that New York is not just Macy’s and Manhattan, that there are other lives and other ways of living beyond the glitz and glamour of affluent downtown.

All that said, by day and by car, Harlem was deceptively quiet. The only way to tell that a given road was a crime hotspot or drive by shooting location, was the density of CCTV cameras, two per door, on every door in a given street, to monitor the drug dealers, explained Sekkle. Despite America’s reputation for segregation, Harlem had that jumbled proximity quality, where in three streets you could go from des-res to do-not-enter, without much visual change in the surroundings.

The surroundings in Harlem were at times very beautiful, row after row of Brownstones. Other blocks were imposing and physical, chunkier than many London buildings. We also passed the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated, the mosque where he practiced and the boulevard that’s now named after him. Sekkle’s sights then looped us over the bridge and into the South Bronx for a few moments, passing the once legendary jazz Cotton Club and Yankee Stadium, before we headed off to eat.

MoMA



Another unexpected highlight was the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Museums of this weight are foolish to try and tackle in one attempt, so we picked our point of attack.

En route you can’t miss the drawing on the four-storey wall by Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi. MoMa has YouTube links of him drawing them here. People were dotted around this space, just stopped wherever they were when they noticed the drawings. Each is simple but cheekily political, a comment-puzzle on current living that invites the brain to decipher it. There’s a great photo on Flickr here

Next we headed into the Richard Serra exhibition, as recommended by Rick Herron. Serra’s most impressive work in this exhibition is a series of massive, curved, sculptures. Built from rusty sheet steel and folded gracefully into 20 foot or so high, meandering abstract structures, you are at liberty to wander between and around them, the curves engulfing you and then spitting you out.





The exhibition notes talk of the work “engaging with memory – with the inevitable inability of the viewer to construct any distinct memory of these almost indistinguishable and ever-changing spaces.” Yet my impressions were instead of a sense of majestic rhythm mixed with a playful joy. Close inspection of the rusty steel revealed marks from running water, which made me question the artists’ intent. Were all the marks on the steel as the artist had intended, was decay and weathering part of his message, or were these random defects incurred post-construction?

We wandered up to the photography floor. A few rooms clustered disparate black and white photographs together, including Cartier-Bresson’s famous Behind the Gare St. Lazare, Paris. Most amusingly, amid all the black and white American shots, was a photograph of Croydon airport, circa 1920. A dubstep head goes half way around the world and enters the best modern art gallery in town, and what does he see? There’s no escaping Croydon ;-)



I’d bumped into Loefah in the street in central London a few days before I’d flown out, and it had reminded me of something he’d said in our interview about how photographed NYC was, how iconic it seemed, especially to music fans who’ve grown up with it as a backdrop to the music of their youth, and how familiar that made the city feel at regular places. Now I was in NYC myself, looking at iconic imagery of Loefah’s south London…

The other highlight of this floor was the Barry Frydlender. In contrast to the small, black and white shots of previous rooms, Frydlender delighted in massive, colour panoramas that ostensibly told the tale of everyday life for Israelis and Palestinians. What made the shots to absorbing was the level of detail visible at this size. Closer inspection drew you in until you realised that many of the characters in the shot appeared twice, if not more. Israeli soldiers, armed to the teeth with M16 assault rifles and dogs, raided militants’ homes: when you noticed one of them staring right back at you, it stopped you dead. Other panoramas depicted Arab revellers of an evening, settlers being removed or heavily-dressed orthodox Jews at hot, outdoor ceremony.

The museum’s final highlight that we encountered was a room that not only hung Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, but twenty or so preparatory sketches and paintings, many of which revealed quite different discarded features, such as men amongst the prostitutes for example. The influence of African tribal masks was quite apparent. After gliding past some of Monet’s soothing water lilies (MoMA is a bit like Now That’s What I Call Modern Art in places), it was time to leave.

The Met Museum wasn’t a priority on the New York agenda, but stumbling across the armoury on a hot day was a welcome break. Armour’s never been a huge fascination of mine, probably because of its use for killing and warfare, but the Japanese swords and Arabic scimitars were breathtaking. The Japanese armour is hilariously shaped, with evil faces and shaggy beards built in. Their master sword makers fold their steel hundreds of times and the blades remain elegant, centuries later. Arabic swords were mostly used in rituals, one that took precedent over the coronation: the Met has one scimitar who’s owner went insane between becoming the ruler and having is ceremony. Unfortunate.

Record shop worth shouting about: A1, Manhattan:





Yes, that’s Premier in the signed Polaroid. How many Salsoul 12”s is that?

Records/CDs bought

· The Watts Prophets “Rappin’ Black in a White World” (Ala records)
· “Music of Iran vol 3: Santur Recital” (Lyrichord)
· “Caravan: Melodies of the Middle East” (Orient Record Co)
· Shanung “Music of Confucius’ Homeland” (Lyrichord)
· Aaliyah “One In A Million (LP promo)” (Be)
· Aaliyah “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number” (Jive)
· Dr Martin Luther King Jr “Memorial Album: New Wine in Old Bottles” (Napamy)
· Pandit Pran Nath “Raga Cycle Palace Theatre Paris 1972”(Sri Moonshine CD)
· Konono N°1 “Congotronics” (Crammed CD)

Other highlights:

· Lower East Side: probably my favourite part of Manhattan. Funky, run down, cool. We wandered into Hamilton Fish Park lido. If it had been 38°C in my estate and I was 12, I’d have been in that pool too.
· DUMBO: walk over Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, only look back at the midpoint. The head left to the riverside park nestled under Manhattan bridge. Views to die for



· Tubes that are air conditioned: how fucking civilized?
· Passing famous landmarks: “oh, there’s The Blue Note”
· Meeting Hank Shocklee of Bomb Squad fame. He’s making a dubstep album…
· Ron Trent at the glittery Deep Space nice. Sweeet soundsystem



· The Pickle Guys and Essex Street market, Lower East Side
· Grimaldi’s Pizza’s, DUMBO
· The Nuclear Bunker signs on Harlem and Brooklyn houses

Had to grab a shot of this…



The “for next visit” list

· VP Records, Queens
· Arthur Kills Boat Yard, Staten Island
· Dub War@Love



Dave Q on the decks