Grasscut are Andrew Phillips (music, words, production, vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Marcus O'Dair (management, keyboards, double bass). Since opening the main stage at The Big Chill in 2009, the duo have gone on to perform at Tate Britain, Koko, Cecil Sharp House and the ICA. Overseas, they have played The Pompidou Centre as well as venues in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland and Slovakia. For the Unearth shows, Grasscut come replete with live drums and strings.
As well as cutting grass, Andrew is a composer of music for film and television. Of his last three scores, one won the Grierson Award for Best Arts Documentary; one has been nominated for the BAFTA Craft Award 2012 for music; and the third has been nominated for an Emmy for music and sound. Marcus is a journalist, broadcaster and lecturer, currently writing the authorised biography of Robert Wyatt.
Grasscut’s debut album, 1 Inch: ½ Mile, came with a map depicting a walk around the lost Sussex village of Balsdean, together with sonic clues leading to a concealed artefact. Released on Ninja Tune in 2010, it received airplay from BBC Radio 1, 2 and 3, as well as 6Music and Xfm. Grasscut have remixed Coldcut, Bonobo and Jaga Jazzist and, in turn, have been remixed by Nathan Fake and Bibio.
In 2012 they release their sophomore album Unearth, a spectral, double-exposed collection of songs inspired by fragments of the past that endure into the present. Unearth is also an invitation. Grasscut have hidden ten boxes around the country. Each contains a Walkman and a cassette, comprising not only the relevant album track but also a unique shadow version of the same piece. Video and GPS clues as to the location of these boxes are available at grasscutmusic.com.
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 16714 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => grasscutmusic [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Grasscut [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:59 [modified] => 2013-01-07 15:12:45 [slug] => grasscut [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Grasscut are Andrew Phillips (music, words, production, vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Marcus O'Dair (management, keyboards, double bass). Since opening the main stage at The Big Chill in 2009, the duo have gone on to perform at Tate Britain, Koko, Cecil Sharp House and the ICA. Overseas, they have played The Pompidou Centre as well as venues in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland and Slovakia. For the Unearth shows, Grasscut come replete with live drums and strings.
As well as cutting grass, Andrew is a composer of music for film and television. Of his last three scores, one won the Grierson Award for Best Arts Documentary; one has been nominated for the BAFTA Craft Award 2012 for music; and the third has been nominated for an Emmy for music and sound. Marcus is a journalist, broadcaster and lecturer, currently writing the authorised biography of Robert Wyatt.
Grasscut’s debut album, 1 Inch: ½ Mile, came with a map depicting a walk around the lost Sussex village of Balsdean, together with sonic clues leading to a concealed artefact. Released on Ninja Tune in 2010, it received airplay from BBC Radio 1, 2 and 3, as well as 6Music and Xfm. Grasscut have remixed Coldcut, Bonobo and Jaga Jazzist and, in turn, have been remixed by Nathan Fake and Bibio.
In 2012 they release their sophomore album Unearth, a spectral, double-exposed collection of songs inspired by fragments of the past that endure into the present. Unearth is also an invitation. Grasscut have hidden ten boxes around the country. Each contains a Walkman and a cassette, comprising not only the relevant album track but also a unique shadow version of the same piece. Video and GPS clues as to the location of these boxes are available at grasscutmusic.com.
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [1] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10557 [date] => 2012-11-24 [artist] => Part 2 [city] => London [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Bush Hall [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=530527&referral_id=tw_uk_buyat&camefrom=CFC_UK_BUYAT_73074 [image_upload_id] => 4041 [created] => 2012-09-10 15:42:39 [modified] => 2012-09-10 15:42:39 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 24 [slug] => part-2-london-bush-hall [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 4041 [media_type] => image [artist] => Part 2 [title] => Promo Shot (Migrated) [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/part-2/part-2.jpg [checksum] => c21c13627bccfe361c448758e30be3f9 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 949408 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/part-2/part-2.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => part-2 [slug] => promo-shot-migrated-216 [created] => 2010-11-24 04:00:36 [modified] => 2010-11-24 04:00:36 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 63 [name] => Part 2 [description] =>In a production career spanning the best part of a decade, Part 2 has been consistently ahead of the game, many of his innovations pre-figuring the current Black Music renaissance in this country. As producer for New Flesh he has been described as "a master of a variety of styles" (Sunday Times Culture), "the sound of the UK underground at its most sublime" (The Face) and an "unassailable" producer (DJ). In addition, Part 2 has remixed and produced for a range of artists including Roots Manuva, Ty, Serge Gainsbourg, Trilok Gurtu, Wu-Tang's Killah Priest and Saul Williams. Alongside this, he has had a highly successful career as a spraycan artist, exhibiting in the UK and across Europe and universally respected as one of the pioneers of the hyper-realist style. In addition to his production work on the the three New Flesh albums, Part 2 released one solo album for Big Dada in 2005, "Live From The Breadline."
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 4041 [label_id] => 2 [twitter_username] => [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 0 [sortname] => Part 2 [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:59 [modified] => 2012-11-29 16:40:14 [slug] => part-2 [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>In a production career spanning the best part of a decade, Part 2 has been consistently ahead of the game, many of his innovations pre-figuring the current Black Music renaissance in this country.
As producer for New Flesh he has been described as "a master of a variety of styles" (Sunday Times Culture), "the sound of the UK underground at its most sublime" (The Face) and an "unassailable" producer (DJ). In addition, Part 2 has remixed and produced for a range of artists including Roots Manuva, Ty, Serge Gainsbourg, Trilok Gurtu, Wu-Tang's Killah Priest and Saul Williams. Alongside this, he has had a highly successful career as a spraycan artist, exhibiting in the UK and across Europe and universally respected as one of the pioneers of the hyper-realist style. In addition to his production work on the the three New Flesh albums, Part 2 released one solo album for Big Dada in 2005, "Live From The Breadline."
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [2] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10566 [date] => 2012-11-24 [artist] => Mr. Scruff [city] => Coventry [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Butterworth Hall [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => [image_upload_id] => [created] => 2012-09-10 16:44:25 [modified] => 2012-09-10 16:44:25 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 24 [slug] => mr-scruff-coventry-butterworth-hall [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => [media_type] => [artist] => [title] => [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => [checksum] => [mime_type] => [size] => [external_url] => [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => [active] => [processed] => [artist_slug] => [slug] => [created] => [modified] => [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 40 [name] => Mr. Scruff [description] =>A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff, making a name for himself under the shadow of Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Releasing three critically acclaimed albums, selling over half a million records worldwide and playing countless tours and club events has cemented his now legendary DJ status; this is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity London KoKo armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare packets of teabags.
More than that, Scruff has established himself as a general guarantor of quirkiness and quality, so much so that when his range of speciality teas were launched they became the 5th best selling grocery product in the long and illustrious history of Selfridge's Food Hall (see www.makeusabrew.com for more tea shenanigans). His 'CUP' tea shop in Manchester packs in the punters and the now legendary travelling tea stall is a firm favourite at Scruff gigs & festivals all over the UK. Meanwhile, his wobbly potato people adorn t-shirts, brollies and even people's bodies worldwide (Ninja Tune has been sent documentary evidence of this phenomenon...)
But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy...
Greetings! I am Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker. As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks and loads more. I make music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek and good humour. There follows a rambling overview of what i have been up to for the last 20-odd years...
The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early 1980's when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father's original Blue Beat 7"s, including several Prince Buster songs that had been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world which had just been revealed to me.
I encountered mixing as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of mine played me his uncle's electro records, notably the Streetsounds' LP 'Crucial Electro Volume 2'. At first, I assumed that the reason for there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl, it didn't occur to me the mixing was a creative part of the presentation, and had been carefully thought out.
Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes, inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations such as Piccadilly, and Radio Lancashire & Southside. These shows exposed me to a wide range of dance music, which at the time was a blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip-hop to soul, reggae and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.
As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix played on Waxmaster's show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.
Fuelled by this exposure, I took a part time job at Kwik Save and ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge of electro, hip hop, house, & 80's soul, and was busy expanding my knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, African and Latin music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and now runs the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig, in Dry Bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to local label Rob's Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12" single.
I gained regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves & Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.
On the recording side, I released further singles for Rob's Records subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4-deck club performances, including friendly 'battles' with DJ Food, which introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food megamix for their 'Refried Food' box set in 1996. Then more gigs followed.
Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in the mid to late 1990's, and following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1999, I did several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album 'Keep it Unreal' also kick started my Manchester club night of the same name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate 'Keep it Unreal' in different venues, and play for the whole night. A similar situation occurred in Brighton, where after 7 years of regular gigs with Tru Thoughts' Robert Luis, we started the monthly Etch residency at the Concorde 2 in 2001.
Another logical step for me was radio. It was such a vital part of my own musical education that I jumped at the opportunity to guest on shows such as First Priority's late night function on Kiss 102 in the mid 1990's, as well as the many RSL stations that had one month licences. It was on these that I joined forces with Treva Whateva to present the 'Hot Pot' show. The show then progressed to the national Student Broadcast Network for a few years, and then onto Manchester's Key 103 in 2002 for an 18-month run, as well as a year long stint on the Virgin Trains onboard radio channel.. I am not doing a regular radio show at the moment, although my mixes do feature regularly on shows such as 'Futureboogie' on Kiss 101, and 'Unfold' on Juice 107.2.
I am now in a position where as a DJ I can play a lot of esoteric and unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall, electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat, and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the music has to have soul!
Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that moment.
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 4258 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => mrscruff1 [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Mr. Scruff [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-01-08 14:17:25 [slug] => mr-scruff [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff, making a name for himself under the shadow of Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Releasing three critically acclaimed albums, selling over half a million records worldwide and playing countless tours and club events has cemented his now legendary DJ status; this is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity London KoKo armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare packets of teabags.
More than that, Scruff has established himself as a general guarantor of quirkiness and quality, so much so that when his range of speciality teas were launched they became the 5th best selling grocery product in the long and illustrious history of Selfridge's Food Hall (see www.makeusabrew.com for more tea shenanigans). His 'CUP' tea shop in Manchester packs in the punters and the now legendary travelling tea stall is a firm favourite at Scruff gigs & festivals all over the UK. Meanwhile, his wobbly potato people adorn t-shirts, brollies and even people's bodies worldwide (Ninja Tune has been sent documentary evidence of this phenomenon...)
But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy...
Greetings! I am Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker. As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks and loads more. I make music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek and good humour. There follows a rambling overview of what i have been up to for the last 20-odd years...
The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early 1980's when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father's original Blue Beat 7"s, including several Prince Buster songs that had been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world which had just been revealed to me.
I encountered mixing as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of mine played me his uncle's electro records, notably the Streetsounds' LP 'Crucial Electro Volume 2'. At first, I assumed that the reason for there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl, it didn't occur to me the mixing was a creative part of the presentation, and had been carefully thought out.
Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes, inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations such as Piccadilly, and Radio Lancashire & Southside. These shows exposed me to a wide range of dance music, which at the time was a blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip-hop to soul, reggae and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.
As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix played on Waxmaster's show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.
Fuelled by this exposure, I took a part time job at Kwik Save and ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge of electro, hip hop, house, & 80's soul, and was busy expanding my knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, African and Latin music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and now runs the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig, in Dry Bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to local label Rob's Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12" single.
I gained regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves & Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.
On the recording side, I released further singles for Rob's Records subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4-deck club performances, including friendly 'battles' with DJ Food, which introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food megamix for their 'Refried Food' box set in 1996. Then more gigs followed.
Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in the mid to late 1990's, and following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1999, I did several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album 'Keep it Unreal' also kick started my Manchester club night of the same name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate 'Keep it Unreal' in different venues, and play for the whole night. A similar situation occurred in Brighton, where after 7 years of regular gigs with Tru Thoughts' Robert Luis, we started the monthly Etch residency at the Concorde 2 in 2001.
Another logical step for me was radio. It was such a vital part of my own musical education that I jumped at the opportunity to guest on shows such as First Priority's late night function on Kiss 102 in the mid 1990's, as well as the many RSL stations that had one month licences. It was on these that I joined forces with Treva Whateva to present the 'Hot Pot' show. The show then progressed to the national Student Broadcast Network for a few years, and then onto Manchester's Key 103 in 2002 for an 18-month run, as well as a year long stint on the Virgin Trains onboard radio channel.. I am not doing a regular radio show at the moment, although my mixes do feature regularly on shows such as 'Futureboogie' on Kiss 101, and 'Unfold' on Juice 107.2.
I am now in a position where as a DJ I can play a lot of esoteric and unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall, electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat, and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the music has to have soul!
Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that moment.
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [3] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10583 [date] => 2012-11-24 [artist] => Kid Koala [city] => Washington, DC [state] => [country] => US [venue] => U Street Music Hall [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.ticketfly.com/ purchase/event/163297 ?utm_medium=bks [image_upload_id] => 17066 [created] => 2012-09-11 11:15:02 [modified] => 2012-09-13 12:11:59 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 24 [slug] => kid-koala-washington-dc-u-street-music-hall [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17066 [media_type] => image [artist] => Kid Koala [title] => Kid Koala 12 Bit Blues Tour Flyer [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/kid-koala/12bitadmat-4.jpg [checksum] => 2d42b53a93c92c243431a9e96c0239f2 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 82954 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/kid-koala/12bitadmat-4.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => kid-koala [slug] => kid-koala-12-bit-blues-tour-flyer [created] => 2012-07-11 12:17:28 [modified] => 2012-07-12 12:13:09 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 122 [name] => United States [longname] => United States of America [numcode] => 840 [iso] => US [iso3] => USA [currency] => USD [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 117 [lft] => 241 [rght] => 242 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 38 [name] => Kid Koala [description] =>Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In 1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the road to open for the Beastie Boys on their 'Hello Nasty' world tour.
In 2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome', which received international praise by the press for having defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own, opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.
While on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a 350-page book called 'Nufonia Must Fall', accompanied by a soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of this book came the release of his second album, 'Some of My Best Friends are DJs' complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as 'The Short Attention Span Theatre', which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new book.
Kid Koala's most recent release on Ninja Tune was 'Your Mom’s Favorite DJ' in 2006. On this record he shows that his chosen means of expression (the turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can do faster crabs than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here - woven together with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy guitars.
In 2009, Kid Koala put together 3 'Music to Draw To' performances in Montreal for which he basically invited people to come and draw while he played records. There was no dancing allowed, but people could enjoy a free cup of hot chocolate, purchase some treats and either draw or do some writing. These events were initially created just for fun, but they became a huge success. As the series progressed, he received more and more requests for us to take our event to other parts of Quebec, North America, Europe... Even South America and South Africa...
Later that year, Kid Koala embarked on another journey, that of presenting a project called 'The Slew' – live with the former rhythm section of Grammy Award-winning Australian rock band Wolfmother. Featuring drums, bass/keys and DJs working across a truly excessive six turntables, the set featured raw guitar cuts and heavy beats that set out as a one-time-only tour across North America. Due to the high demand by fans for a return and the amount of fun the band had playing together, they toured the North American Jazz Festival circuit and also appeared at SONAR Spain and Chicago. Somewhere in between their busy tour schedule the ex-Wolfmother rhyhtm section joined Kid Koala in the studio to lay down some new songs. Currently Dynomite D is working on the songs at his studio.
In late 2010, Kid Koala finsihed his latest graphic novel and soundtrack titled 'Space Cadet'. To work out the accompanying live show and gallery exhibition, he took part in an artist residence at MASS MoCA (Massachussetts Museum Of Contemporary Art) in December. The Space Cadet Headphone Concert and Gallery debuted on December 11 with 2 shows. The novel and soundtrack are set to be released during 2011 through Pigeon Press and a world tour will commence soon after.
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 4006 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => kidkoala [instagram_id] => 209219810 [instagram_username] => realkidkoala [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Kid Koala [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-05-03 14:51:56 [slug] => kid-koala [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In 1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the road to open for the Beastie Boys on their 'Hello Nasty' world tour.
In 2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome', which received international praise by the press for having defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own, opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.
While on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a 350-page book called 'Nufonia Must Fall', accompanied by a soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of this book came the release of his second album, 'Some of My Best Friends are DJs' complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as 'The Short Attention Span Theatre', which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new book.
Kid Koala's most recent release on Ninja Tune was 'Your Mom’s Favorite DJ' in 2006. On this record he shows that his chosen means of expression (the turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can do faster crabs than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here - woven together with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy guitars.
In 2009, Kid Koala put together 3 'Music to Draw To' performances in Montreal for which he basically invited people to come and draw while he played records. There was no dancing allowed, but people could enjoy a free cup of hot chocolate, purchase some treats and either draw or do some writing. These events were initially created just for fun, but they became a huge success. As the series progressed, he received more and more requests for us to take our event to other parts of Quebec, North America, Europe... Even South America and South Africa...
Later that year, Kid Koala embarked on another journey, that of presenting a project called 'The Slew' – live with the former rhythm section of Grammy Award-winning Australian rock band Wolfmother. Featuring drums, bass/keys and DJs working across a truly excessive six turntables, the set featured raw guitar cuts and heavy beats that set out as a one-time-only tour across North America. Due to the high demand by fans for a return and the amount of fun the band had playing together, they toured the North American Jazz Festival circuit and also appeared at SONAR Spain and Chicago. Somewhere in between their busy tour schedule the ex-Wolfmother rhyhtm section joined Kid Koala in the studio to lay down some new songs. Currently Dynomite D is working on the songs at his studio.
In late 2010, Kid Koala finsihed his latest graphic novel and soundtrack titled 'Space Cadet'. To work out the accompanying live show and gallery exhibition, he took part in an artist residence at MASS MoCA (Massachussetts Museum Of Contemporary Art) in December. The Space Cadet Headphone Concert and Gallery debuted on December 11 with 2 shows. The novel and soundtrack are set to be released during 2011 through Pigeon Press and a world tour will commence soon after.
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [4] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10628 [date] => 2012-11-24 [artist] => Fink [city] => Amsterdam [state] => [country] => NL [venue] => Paradiso [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.ticketmaster.nl/event/fink-tickets/101579 [image_upload_id] => 15102 [created] => 2012-09-20 14:33:24 [modified] => 2012-09-20 14:33:24 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 24 [slug] => fink-amsterdam-paradiso-3 [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 15102 [media_type] => image [artist] => Fink [title] => Fink Artist Press Shot 2010 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/fink/fink-artistpress-72dpi.jpg [checksum] => 5351e0e8130b7122c12a4d3ae4134162 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 365184 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/fink/fink-artistpress-72dpi.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => fink [slug] => fink-artist-press-shot-2010 [created] => 2011-01-18 12:34:08 [modified] => 2011-01-18 12:34:08 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 234 [name] => Netherlands [longname] => Netherlands [numcode] => 528 [iso] => NL [iso3] => NLD [currency] => EUR [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 226 [lft] => 465 [rght] => 466 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 4 [name] => Fink [description] =>Fin Greenall, who is the voice and heart behind Fink, often gets mistaken for other people.
At the BMI Awards in the US, a ‘roomful of gangstas and playas’ were convinced the Cornwall-born, Bristol-raised Englishman was a lawyer, and not a songwriter picking up an ‘American Urban’ gong – one of three BMIs he received for his work with John Legend on the soul singer’s Evolver album.
In Berlin, clubbing capital of the world, they think he helps run a small minimal techno label. In certain London circles he’s known as the hardworking insider whose past roles at DefJam, Sony Music, Talkin’ Loud, and Source saw him work with a range of artists longer than the horizon. At the BBC, they imagine Fink as perhaps the only musician who has played both the Electric Proms and the actual Proms (was that really the same guy leading a 120-piece orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in an ‘immense’ cover of Roy Ayers’ Everybody Loves The Sunshine?).
In record company circles, he’s the producer who worked on the first demos by Amy Winehouse and the writer who’s been crafting hooks for Professor Green. In big-room booths around the world, he’s the internationally-renowned DJ and Ninja Tune stalwart who finally hung up his Sennheisers with a valedictory set at London’s Fabric in 2003. ‘My skillset just seemed so old compared to these guys that could DJ for six hours without one high-hat out of place using Ableton or something,’ he notes admiringly.
Who is Fin Greenall? All of the above.
Yes, the now-Brighton-based musician acknowledges, he has done – does do – all of those things. ‘But none of that is as important as how I feel when I write songs like "Fear is Like Fire" and "Perfect Darkness". The Fink thing is my main thing.’
As a kid, the one thing of his dad’s that Fin Greenall wasn’t allowed to touch was the old Martin acoustic guitar. ‘It was his one possession where he said, “everything in this house is owned by everybody – apart from that.”’ But with age – and the burgeoning of his son’s skills as a player – came a relaxation of the exclusion zone: Greenall plays the Martin on the punchy, Jeff Buckley-covering-Radiohead-esque "Fear Is Like Fire". It’s sure to become a live stand-out on Fink’s upcoming, 18-month-long world tour. ‘It’s all about trying to look at fear and be optimistic – you can be really negative or fucking embrace it and use it.
‘The great thing about growing up in a house where music is a big factor,’ he continues, ‘was the fact that music being part of your life was a perfectly natural thing.’
Music, it seems, became more than that: it was Greenall’s life. He hoovered up the sounds he heard on John Peel: ‘The Cure, The Smiths, The Orb, African music, Japanese hardcore’. He embraced skateboarding, the music and the fashion – ‘it was an awesome way to grow your own culture’. At university in Leeds, electronic and dance music became everything.
‘It was definitely about wanting to be part of a revolution that I could call my own,’ he recalls. ‘A couple of friends and I clubbed together our student loans and bought equipment to make ambient techno – we were really inspired by Aphex Twin and The Orb and Moby. We were amazed at how fucking easy it was to make ambient techno. It wasn’t easy to make good ambient techno,’ he laughs. ‘But it was easy enough to make techno good enough to get us signed after six months of mucking around at uni.’
The young techno warrior was messianic.
‘I thought the song was dead, the chorus was dead, playing drums and guitar and bass was so old-school and outdated and why would you want to do that? Dylan did that 50 years ago! We should be part of this new revolution, instrumentalism, acid house, rave culture, techno – this stuff is a brave new avant-garde frontier and you should be involved.’
His ardour and his skills saw Greenall become part of the Ninja Tune family – first signed on the back of a cassette-tape demo - as artist, DJ, writer, producer, and remixer.
‘Brilliant times,’ he sighs nostalgically. ‘Sometimes you’d just have to pinch yourself. Then, other times, you wake up in Bratislava on a Tuesday morning and you’re reminded that there is hard work to all of this.’ All that crate-digging wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be either: ‘You can’t be shit!’ Greenall grins. ‘And because of the community that Ninja has worldwide, if you are shit everybody knows about it the next day. Eight years of DJing have given me an obscenely huge record collection. I just cleared out the breaks section – four crates of twelves that were total pony!’
So the wheels of steel started to fall off.
‘It wasn’t until I’d run that right the way through to its natural conclusion – I’m an international DJ on the biggest DJ label in the world – that I thought: I’m kinda over it. And it was actually working with a young artist straight out of school called Amy Winehouse that inspired me to go, “wow, songs are great! Now I get how difficult it is, and how much talent there is involved in this. It’s more of a challenge than clubbing.”’
Greenall melted down his turntables and recast them as a guitar and a stool. Metaphorically speaking. His parents were pleased. ‘My career only made sense to them when I picked up a guitar and started to sing,’ he says. ‘All of a sudden I was doing music, I wasn’t just mucking around. But in my rave days, DJing techno and breaks, they didn’t get that at all. That’s probably why I did it in the first place.
‘But I realised: if your music had songs in it, it had a much greater reach. Not in business terms, but if a singer of, say, Amy’s calibre sings over this beat, it becomes so much bigger than just a beat. I can’t get rid of my clubbing past, not that I’d want to. But the linear nature of some of my music is definitely because of all those years spent clubbing and DJing, when a very simple idea can make the best club record. And it’s the same with songs – I’m after a really simple riff or really simple lyric or melody. And it’s about keeping that beautiful moment going for as long as you can.’
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 15102 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => Finkmusic [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Fink [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-01-07 16:15:06 [slug] => fink [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Fin Greenall, who is the voice and heart behind Fink, often gets mistaken for other people.
At the BMI Awards in the US, a ‘roomful of gangstas and playas’ were convinced the Cornwall-born, Bristol-raised Englishman was a lawyer, and not a songwriter picking up an ‘American Urban’ gong – one of three BMIs he received for his work with John Legend on the soul singer’s Evolver album.
In Berlin, clubbing capital of the world, they think he helps run a small minimal techno label. In certain London circles he’s known as the hardworking insider whose past roles at DefJam, Sony Music, Talkin’ Loud, and Source saw him work with a range of artists longer than the horizon. At the BBC, they imagine Fink as perhaps the only musician who has played both the Electric Proms and the actual Proms (was that really the same guy leading a 120-piece orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in an ‘immense’ cover of Roy Ayers’ Everybody Loves The Sunshine?).
In record company circles, he’s the producer who worked on the first demos by Amy Winehouse and the writer who’s been crafting hooks for Professor Green. In big-room booths around the world, he’s the internationally-renowned DJ and Ninja Tune stalwart who finally hung up his Sennheisers with a valedictory set at London’s Fabric in 2003. ‘My skillset just seemed so old compared to these guys that could DJ for six hours without one high-hat out of place using Ableton or something,’ he notes admiringly.
Who is Fin Greenall? All of the above.
Yes, the now-Brighton-based musician acknowledges, he has done – does do – all of those things. ‘But none of that is as important as how I feel when I write songs like "Fear is Like Fire" and "Perfect Darkness". The Fink thing is my main thing.’
As a kid, the one thing of his dad’s that Fin Greenall wasn’t allowed to touch was the old Martin acoustic guitar. ‘It was his one possession where he said, “everything in this house is owned by everybody – apart from that.”’ But with age – and the burgeoning of his son’s skills as a player – came a relaxation of the exclusion zone: Greenall plays the Martin on the punchy, Jeff Buckley-covering-Radiohead-esque "Fear Is Like Fire". It’s sure to become a live stand-out on Fink’s upcoming, 18-month-long world tour. ‘It’s all about trying to look at fear and be optimistic – you can be really negative or fucking embrace it and use it.
‘The great thing about growing up in a house where music is a big factor,’ he continues, ‘was the fact that music being part of your life was a perfectly natural thing.’
Music, it seems, became more than that: it was Greenall’s life. He hoovered up the sounds he heard on John Peel: ‘The Cure, The Smiths, The Orb, African music, Japanese hardcore’. He embraced skateboarding, the music and the fashion – ‘it was an awesome way to grow your own culture’. At university in Leeds, electronic and dance music became everything.
‘It was definitely about wanting to be part of a revolution that I could call my own,’ he recalls. ‘A couple of friends and I clubbed together our student loans and bought equipment to make ambient techno – we were really inspired by Aphex Twin and The Orb and Moby. We were amazed at how fucking easy it was to make ambient techno. It wasn’t easy to make good ambient techno,’ he laughs. ‘But it was easy enough to make techno good enough to get us signed after six months of mucking around at uni.’
The young techno warrior was messianic.
‘I thought the song was dead, the chorus was dead, playing drums and guitar and bass was so old-school and outdated and why would you want to do that? Dylan did that 50 years ago! We should be part of this new revolution, instrumentalism, acid house, rave culture, techno – this stuff is a brave new avant-garde frontier and you should be involved.’
His ardour and his skills saw Greenall become part of the Ninja Tune family – first signed on the back of a cassette-tape demo - as artist, DJ, writer, producer, and remixer.
‘Brilliant times,’ he sighs nostalgically. ‘Sometimes you’d just have to pinch yourself. Then, other times, you wake up in Bratislava on a Tuesday morning and you’re reminded that there is hard work to all of this.’ All that crate-digging wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be either: ‘You can’t be shit!’ Greenall grins. ‘And because of the community that Ninja has worldwide, if you are shit everybody knows about it the next day. Eight years of DJing have given me an obscenely huge record collection. I just cleared out the breaks section – four crates of twelves that were total pony!’
So the wheels of steel started to fall off.
‘It wasn’t until I’d run that right the way through to its natural conclusion – I’m an international DJ on the biggest DJ label in the world – that I thought: I’m kinda over it. And it was actually working with a young artist straight out of school called Amy Winehouse that inspired me to go, “wow, songs are great! Now I get how difficult it is, and how much talent there is involved in this. It’s more of a challenge than clubbing.”’
Greenall melted down his turntables and recast them as a guitar and a stool. Metaphorically speaking. His parents were pleased. ‘My career only made sense to them when I picked up a guitar and started to sing,’ he says. ‘All of a sudden I was doing music, I wasn’t just mucking around. But in my rave days, DJing techno and breaks, they didn’t get that at all. That’s probably why I did it in the first place.
‘But I realised: if your music had songs in it, it had a much greater reach. Not in business terms, but if a singer of, say, Amy’s calibre sings over this beat, it becomes so much bigger than just a beat. I can’t get rid of my clubbing past, not that I’d want to. But the linear nature of some of my music is definitely because of all those years spent clubbing and DJing, when a very simple idea can make the best club record. And it’s the same with songs – I’m after a really simple riff or really simple lyric or melody. And it’s about keeping that beautiful moment going for as long as you can.’
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [5] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10778 [date] => 2012-11-24 [artist] => Speech Debelle [city] => London [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Tate Britain [promoter] => [description] =>Saturday 24 November
13:00 - 17:00, Tate Britain
FREE
Saturday 24 November
13:00 - 17:00, Tate Britain
FREE
Speech Debelle is a rapper and musician from South London, probably best known for winning the Mercury Music Prize for her debut album, "Speech Therapy" (2009), most of which was co-produced by Big Dada label mate Wayne Lotek. In 2011 she released her second album, "Freedom of Speech," this time with production from Kwes (Warp).
She has also been politically and socially active with a number of charities and movements, and hosted the BBC documentary Hidden Homeless.
www.speechdebelle.com
Facebook
Twitter
Myspace
Speech Debelle is a rapper and musician from South London, probably best known for winning the Mercury Music Prize for her debut album, "Speech Therapy" (2009), most of which was co-produced by Big Dada label mate Wayne Lotek. In 2011 she released her second album, "Freedom of Speech," this time with production from Kwes (Warp).
She has also been politically and socially active with a number of charities and movements, and hosted the BBC documentary Hidden Homeless.
[links_clean] =>www.speechdebelle.com
Facebook
Twitter
Myspace
Brendan Angelides aka Eskmo is a San Francisco based electronic music producer and live performer. His multi-genre compositions have been featured on influential labels like Warp Records and Planet Mu, though while Eskmo's tracks encompass a wide range of electronic styles, he avoids classification. Bleep.com called his tracks "masterfully produced...sophisticated, post-Dilla hip-hop funk" while sites like Boomkat describe his music as "[putting] Eskmo on his own electronic plateau.
In the past five years Eskmo has released over a dozen singles and EPs, most recently a collaboration with Amon Tobin as Eskamon, as well as touring as a live act throughout North America and Europe, opening for Flying Lotus, Amon Tobin, STS9, and The Glitch Mob amongst many others. Over time, he has come to be recognized by top-tier producers as having his own distinct 'Eskmo Sound'; as Pendulum said this in a recent interview, "There are good producers, then there are dudes who..you never catch..and don't even try. He's one of those guys."
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 4225 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => eskmowelder [instagram_id] => 4094917 [instagram_username] => eskmowelder [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Eskmo [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:59 [modified] => 2013-05-03 14:49:17 [slug] => eskmo [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Brendan Angelides aka Eskmo is a San Francisco based electronic music producer and live performer. His multi-genre compositions have been featured on influential labels like Warp Records and Planet Mu, though while Eskmo's tracks encompass a wide range of electronic styles, he avoids classification. Bleep.com called his tracks "masterfully produced...sophisticated, post-Dilla hip-hop funk" while sites like Boomkat describe his music as "[putting] Eskmo on his own electronic plateau.
In the past five years Eskmo has released over a dozen singles and EPs, most recently a collaboration with Amon Tobin as Eskamon, as well as touring as a live act throughout North America and Europe, opening for Flying Lotus, Amon Tobin, STS9, and The Glitch Mob amongst many others. Over time, he has come to be recognized by top-tier producers as having his own distinct 'Eskmo Sound'; as Pendulum said this in a recent interview, "There are good producers, then there are dudes who..you never catch..and don't even try. He's one of those guys."
[links_clean] => ) ) ) )| Artist | Date | City | Venue | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grasscut | Saturday, Nov 24th | London, GB | Sebright Arms | Buy |
| Part 2 | Saturday, Nov 24th | London, GB | Bush Hall | Buy |
| Mr. Scruff | Saturday, Nov 24th | Coventry, GB | Butterworth Hall | |
| Kid Koala | Saturday, Nov 24th | Washington, DC, US | U Street Music Hall | Buy |
| Fink | Saturday, Nov 24th | Amsterdam, NL | Paradiso | Buy |
| Speech Debelle | Saturday, Nov 24th | London, GB | Tate Britain | |
| Eskmo | Saturday, Nov 24th | Sydney, AU | Manning Bar | Buy |